O RLY?
O RLY?, short for "Oh, really?" is a popular Internet meme, typically presented as an image macro. The usual conversation flow starts with O RLY?, triggering a YA RLY response, and then ending with NO WAI!!! (though sometimes OIC is used instead). An additional exchange of SRSLY? SRSLY! or YA WAI... may follow.
O RLY? is typically used in a sarcastic or sardonic manner: it may be used to mock AOL speak or indicate that the original post was blatantly obvious. One may also troll by posting O RLY? in response to a lengthy post. (see also TLDR).
Origin
The phrase "O RLY?" was first popularised on Internet forums in mid-2003 as one of many phrases that arose during a Something Awful Forums fad of compressing words by removing unnecessary letters. The earliest publicly viewable[1] archives of its use date from somewhat later, but there are older uses in the registration-only archives. The first image macros did not include (registration required)[2] the now ubiquitous Snowy Owl image macro.
The original O RLY owl image macro is based on a photo taken by nature photographer John White, which was posted by him to the newsgroup alt.binaries.pictures.animals. Posters on the random board, /b/, at 4chan photoshopped in the O RLY? phrase as a response to the wordfiltering of the word "repost" to "owl"[3].
The owl image macro quickly spread to other websites such as Fark and YTMND, spawning many more image macros involving owls. The frequent posting of the O RLY? owl has annoyed some webmasters to the point that the posting of it on some message boards will result in a user ban.
Variations
The "O RLY?" phrase finds itself included in a variety of other images. These include "O WILLY" (with an image from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), "BOB MRLY" (a reference to reggae artist Bob Marley), "The O RLY? Factor" (a parody of The O'Reilly Factor), "O R'LYEH?" (with a picture of Cthulhu), and "O BLAARGGAG??!?" (with a picture of the original owl and Abyss of Soul Calibur 3's horribly mutated teeth superimposed over its beak). There is also the "¿O VRD?" variant, showing the owl in a sombrero ("VRD" is short for "verdad," which can be a Spanish translation of "really.") Another one using the sombrero-hatted owl is "O RLMENTE?". There is a bereted owl with an "O Vrai?" and an owl with religious icons reading "O Holyrly?"
There is also a character in Soul Calibur 3, Olcadan, who has an owl's head and will say "Oh, Really?" on a random basis.
O RLY? ASCII art
ASCII art versions of the O RLY? image macro were also created.
___
{o,o}
|)__)
-"-"-
O RLY?
|
___
{o.o}
|)_(|
-"-"-
YA RLY
|
___
{o,o}
(__(|
-"-"-
NO WAI!
|
References
- ^ Something Awful Forums thread with usage of O RLY image macro
- ^ Something Awful Dictionary topic on O RLY
- ^ 4chan wordfilter thread
External links
- gallery Gallery including original concept
- Select RLY tool Site contains a widely used tool for drawing the ASCII O RLY owl in most text fields.
- orlyowl.com A site for users to upload and view other versions of the O RLY owls.