This page catalogues some expressions used on 4chan which I find interesting. There’s a bit of pondering at the bottom of the page, but lets start with the list:

based

Adjective that means the subject is very praiseworthy. In my mind at least, there is the added implication of the superior taste of the person making the judgement, expecting some to disagree with them.

I kneel

I kneel.

A common way to show respect is this phrase, often accompanied by the Dragon Ball Z image here or some of variant of it. The pose is sometimes more precisely referred to as genuflecting.

kino

Directly means a film that has very high artistic value. Often used to mean a great story in any medium.

this

Followed after a link to a previous post, it means “I agree with this”. Sometimes there is no other text besides the word, where it is to be understood the user wanted to highlight that post because imageboard do not have any other function such as upvotes.

underrated

Similar to “this”, is used to call attention to some other post without having anything particular to say.

filename

Similar to the above, a reply may call out attention to (funny) image filename of another post, which is directly shown in the post but is often overlooked.

t. [person]

Probably originating from the Finnish imageboards, it’s a Finnish way of signing letters that means “Regards, [person]”. It makes a patently false implication that the quoted post was written by the named person or party. So the real meaning of quoting another poster with “>t. [person]” is roughly “you are blindly siding with [person]”, or simply for laughs as in “[person] could have written this”.

imagine

On /a/ this refers to the post number 154427603 with image of the Konosuba character Megumin, writing:

>145cm
>roughly 40kg.

Imagine how fun it would be to manhandle her tiny body. I’d just walk around the house looking for things to bend her over and fuck her on.

The image attached here is the most common mashup of that post.

Basically, by saying “imagine” in certain contexts, the 4chan poster is telling you to indulge in a fantasy of the sort presented in that original post.

me on the right

Posted as response to image with multiple characters in some (potentially) sexually loaded situation, implying the author likes the image and wants you to imagine taking the mental position of the person on the right of the image. Obviously varies the word “right” to fit the image in question.

for me it’s

Phrase to indicate preference, for example “for me it’s tomboys”.

soul

When some contemporary art looks good on the surface but bland, it’s called “soulless”. Then by opposite, works that may look a bit dated but are very original or honest are said to have “soul”

sovl

Hopefully you know from history that the U was originally written with V until U was created. In a way to signify “authenticity”, posters sometimes substitute “v” for “u” for certain words such as the aforelisted “soul”.

Some other words/names I’ve seen use this pattern: trvthnvke, cvnt, sewerslvt

shilling

Verb that means promoting something for secret monetary gain. So for example if a thread is discussing how some game is complete dogshit and one poster keeps saying the opposite, that poster might get accused of shilling, perhaps implying he works for the company that made the game or somehow makes money promoting the game (eg as a streamer).

In reality, it seems very unlikely that money is ever involved, and the term can be taken to imply the target is promoting something for any dubious reasons.

bait

What the rest of the western internet calls trolling, 4chan calls baiting. It’s as direct translation from their Japanese imageboard ancestors where the phenomenon is called “tsuri”, literally baiting fish. The post accusing baiting is often accompanied by a black and white image of a fish and a hook, which there exist many variants of.

take your meds

Downs the target by implying they are mentally ill and posting in a “bad condition”.

spotted the [group member]

Almost always a playful suggestion that the target person has some tick or mannerism that they are not aware of, which makes them stand out as part of the indicated group. Eg “spotted the britbong”.

headcanon

Mildly pejorative, means something imagined so strongly by a fan that they think it must be true.

god tier

Tier lists of the “S A B C …” are very common these days, but on imageboards the tiers are often named, with “god” being a common one for the top level.

“peak” is another term for the most top tier. A phrase like “That series is mid.” would be short for “mid-tier”.

normalfag

Typical buyfag

Pejorative term for ordinary people, implying the imageboard users are better. I’m listing this here for two reasons: Firstly the term did not initially become used on Reddit because users there would think it gross to use the word “fag” that way, and perhaps because at that time considered themselves relative “normal”. But then the replacement word “normies” appeared on Reddit, and for the longest time it was a total taboo to use that on 4chan. You would immediately be called out to “go back to plebbit”. These days it seems quite common to use the word “normies” also on 4chan.

Secondly, there are many other words built in this fashion (sometimes ad hoc): newfag, oldfag, buyfag, dubfag, eurofag, … and not all of them are pejorative and are often used by posters to refer to themselves.

pleb

Peasant and pleb are alternative words for normalfag, which imply ironic aristocratic status for the board users.

tourist

Calling out a poster on 4chan for not being part of the culture. A related thing is to complain about “summer”, implying there are more than usual idiots/tourists around because of school holidays.

brother

At least on some boards the users like to think of themselves as kindred souls and often affectionately call other posters “brother”, “my nigga”, “fags”, “gentlemen”, or something like that. On the female imageboard Crystal Cafe the users call each other “sisters”.

A great phrase I once saw: “my brother of another mother”

no homo

While the words “gay”, “fag”, “faggots” are sometimes used non-ironically, a common way to refer to actual homosexuals is to, well, call them “homosexuals” or “homos” for short. The intent of the overt formality is probably to add humor.

“no homo” is a humoristic phrase used for example when the user is “mirin” (admiring) a male body on the /fit/ness board.

/a/ likes traps. Notice the “no homo” in the corner

would

Expressions where the verb is omitted and left to the imagination of the reader. The simplest use is answering to a post with (lewd) image with the single word “would” (meaning something like “have sex with”).

would hug tenderly

Some boards, including /a/, support spoiler tags which are sometimes used like this to make the reader imagine the hidden part and then surprise them when they read it by selecting the blanked text with mouse.

Spoiler images can be used in a similar way (their thumbnail needs to be clicked to see the image). Though the most popular use for spoiling images is to hide very lewd images to not bother other users (if you can believe that).

Both spoiler text and spoiler images are used quite rarely for the original intended purpose of, well, hiding spoilers about media. You can usually expect to get spoiled about everything immediately on 4chan, which is one of the reasons I usually avoid it for new series/games I’m getting into, but later come to the threads to find new ways to appreciate the work.

2/10 would not

Refers to a category of image jokes that are overly critical, a rather common trait for board users.

why is

Lots of opening posts use a pattern like “Why is [my opinion correct]?” to state as a question a “fact” this obviously their own opinion. I guess the origins of this custom are in the old internet wisdom that the best way to get your question answered is to post a wrong answer to it.

filtered by

Means someone does not get it, and is thus “filtered” out from the set of people who do.

projecting

Used as accusation, it refers to the psychological concept.

to mog

It has the same meaning as old the school “to own/pwn”.

ngmi

Pic not related.

Short for “not gonna make it”, used for example on the art boards to indicate someone’s art is not good and that they are not going to be able to make living as artists.

dyel

Similar to previous, short for “do you even lift”, used on /fit/ in replies to people’s selfies.

wizard

A man who is over 30 and still a virgin. A common joke is that upon obtaining their wizard’s license they immediately use the power to turn themselves into a little girl.

spoonfeeding

When someone asks a dumb question they could easily have figured out be a simple Google search, and someone answers them honestly, that answer may get called out as spoonfeeding. In some ways it can be a worse offense than having made the stupid question, because the imageboards usually favor independent thinking over pointless friendliness.

pick one

Implies a contradiction in the target post by listing words, as if they form an oxymoron. Perhaps easier explain with an example:

What gacha games are you playing right now?

is replied by

>Gacha
>Game
pick one

where “pick one” is sometimes completely omitted or replaced with something similar.

yes

When someone posts a very long and confusing question, or perhaps one that lists several alternatives all of which are desirable, it’s quite common to reply with the single word “yes”. The intention is probably to poke fun and make the poster reflect, as always.

fixed that for you

Accompanied by a misquote of another post that this poster has “fixed”, usually to have the opposite meaning.

to win

On /a/, when one the numerous female characters of a series supposedly becomes the sole interest of the male MC.

your vs. you’re

Intentional typos are central 4chan writing. If you accidentally call someone out for wrong English on these ones, you are immediately identifying yourself as the newfag and will get ridiculed (but some of these words are so old that posters now think wrongly calling them out is more likely to be baiting than a mistake).

Whenever making a concise but important point and having to use either one of these words, use the wrong one.

Examples: nothing personnel, gorilla warfare, cereal killer

what is this sorcery?

Some phrases like this one are clear enough on the first reading, but the fact they are often repeated in the exact same way makes them sayings like the others on this page.

what did they mean by this?

Another stock phrase, used in ironic manner indicating the target of the comment expressed something silly and confusing, which in fact has no deeper meaning behind it.

for what purpose?

Similar to the previous, instead of being a literal question, it’s just calling attention to the target post or image.

what the fuck happened?

When comparing past to the present, usually indicating the past was better.

I don’t remember this

When posting or replying to something (obviously) fan or AI made content, as if the poster thinks it’s part of the original work.

you had one job

Used when someone fails to make an obvious joke.

Analysis

The imageboard 4chan has distinctive culture that includes unique use of the English language. A great many of their colloquialisms have since become standard internet parlance. Just last week I read The Economist declare “slop” as their word of the week, a word likely coined on 4chan. Although not all of the words and expressions listed on this page have truly been coined directly on 4chan, they have been extensively used there before becoming known to the rest of the internet.

The focus of this article is on the particular pieces of language I find interesting, and for which it may difficult to construct Google searches for. I do not list words that can be figured out easily, such as: fpbp, kek, ITT, ishiggydiggy, brainlet, sauce, /thread, jeet, qt, cringe, sage.

Also some of the language has entered the general internet so long ago that it doesn’t feel right listing them here. Examples: Redpilled, tfw, slop, trap, zoomer, npc

Things you don’t understand on the first reading

Like with all forms of language, new internet-speak needs to immediately make sense to at least some people in order to spread. But since 4chan is a large but somewhat enclosed community, customs of speaking there have been able to proliferate without having to stay comprehensible to outsiders. And the 4chan users like it that way too, so that only the most dedicated may join. This is diametrically opposite to many modern internet communities, which place inclusion first, usually at the expense of everything else.

However, even as regular board user you are often left guessing what the new expressions might mean and may have to encounter them a couple of times before making the connection. Directly asking what a word or phrase means often yields replies humoristically trying mislead you.

Wordfilters

When a user’s post contains certain words they get replaced by specific other words without warning the user. Besides humor, the intention by the mods in implementing this feature is to discourage use of the filtered words. The wordfilter lists are sometimes updated quite often so there are many examples of very short-lived replacement words. Some examples from the top of my head:

tbh -> desu
fam -> senpai
fuckers -> fvarkers

On /a/ “isekai” is replaced with spoilered version of the same word, for whatever reason.

Not to imply “fuck” is not an important word.