Out of boredom, I have decided to start compiling a list of Tumblr words, phrases, and expressions, and what they mean. Feel free to add any as you see fit, or ask about any words or phrases you donât understand on here. (Iâm putting it under a cut because it is long and getting longer)
Moot: mutual. Usually an affectionate term.
Reading comprehension website: A nickname for Tumblr, referencing the often poor reading comprehension as well as a few posts. Possibly shares an origin with âpiss on the poorâ.
Piss on the poor, or âDoes ____ piss on the poor?â: A phrase that means using tumblr, often used to refer to someone who uses tumblr and has poor reading comprehension. Based on a post about how bad the reading comprehension is here.
Dash: Your feed or for you page.
Iâm bald/vanilla extract (when on polls): An option on polls used as the âotherâ or âsee resultsâ option. Vanilla extract comes from a famous post that became a site wide meme.
Goncharov: A fake movie and site wide joke and meme that was made up on tumblr based off of one personâs post asking about an advertisement for a movie that doesnât exist on a pair of bootleg shoes they got. It is extremely detailed, and many people reference it as a joke.
Breached containment (in reference to a post or joke): A post or joke that became extremely popular, sometimes to the point of leaving the site and ending up on other sites.
Blorbo: A character you like a lot, whether it be an OC or from other piece of media. Similar and often used like favorite character.
Rebageld/any other similar thing: This is just another phrases used for reblogged, often in tags. Usually just as a joking, playful, or fun way to say it.
âI am literally kissing you on the mouthâ and other similar phrases: An expression of joy, excitement, and/or gratitude from one person to another. This isnât romantic or anything, just a way people sometimes use to express how happy or grateful for something they are. In my experience it is used mostly for stories or takes, but is also used for other things.
Hellsite: Another name/way to refer to tumblr. Mostly used for tumblr. Often used in a joking manner. (Thank you dragonfanplaugedr for reminding me of this one!)
That one damn supernatural/Destiel meme: A popular meme people might refer to, that often is used to report big events (Ao3 going down, Biden dropping out, the queen of England dying, things like that and more) and is widely popular on this site.
Bot hunter/bot hunting: People who actively find, block, and report bots, especially harmful ones. This is often used when clearing certain tags of bots, as they tend to try and take over popular tags and stuff like that. Hunting the bots and destroying them.
Dashcon: An event from a long time ago, where Tumblr tried to hold a con. It was notoriously bad, and became a website wide memory and joke to mock. The ball pit is especially famed, being incredibly bad, and someone having peed in it. I was unfortunately not here for it, but you can find many posts about it. It also pretty much conned people out of their money from what I can find. Here is one short post with a photo, do more research as you please. (Here was a post announcing it too, read the reactions afterwards if you want an idea of how it went down.)
Apolloâs dodgeball: A Tumblr way of referring to posts that came true, usually strange or silly ones that accidentally predicted the future. For example, if you were to make a post joking about some big event or incident happening, and then a while later it did actually happen, it would be referred to as âbeing hit in the face by Apolloâs dodgeballâ or something similar. Basically making a stupid post that became an accidental prophecy.
Ides of march: This was the day Julius Caesar was assassinated and killed. For some reason Tumblr really latched onto it and found it hilarious, and you may see multiple posts celebrating it or referring to this historical event. Believed that possibly the love and jokes about it originated from this post.
Spiders Georg: A tumblr phrase for an outlier that causes a huge change in the average of data, causing it to be off or have not quite true results. It has since become popular, occasionally being used on other sites as well. It originated from this post.
Prev: Prev is short for previous poster and/or reblogger. (Thank you @blairthebword for reminding me of this, I forgot that some people might not know what it means yet or find it confusing!)
Gimmick blogs: blogs that have a certain gimmick, like counting all the letters in a post, finding how many words are in the Bible in the post, giving it a DnD alignment, ect., pretending to be someone (like Shakespeare), some place (like a country such as Belgium or the USA or others) or things (like Firefox or Walmart or more). Itâs all fun and games, not serious, and many âofficialâ blogs are just gimmick blogs, though there are some actual official blogs on here. Part of something apparently called the Gimmickverse, which is many or all of the gimmick blogs as far as I can tell.
Do you love the color of the sky: An incredibly long post, which became popular and INCREDIBLY ANNOYING to scroll all the way through. Several people have made references to it, as well as various remakes, some joking some less joking, and some with the sole goal of being annoying to go through. Here is the original one if you want to check it out. (And here is one of the longest continuous all one blog one Iâve ever seen, and the first one I ever saw, as a bonus)
The code/the tumblr code, ect.: A silly code that is supposed to help you identify other tumblr users in public/the wild. They/you say âI like your shoelaces.â with you/them responding with âI stole them from the president.â It originates from this post, and is occasionally referenced both as a joke and in actual use.
Tone indicators (things like /j) and all that: these are just (often shortened) indicators of tones in posts or messages, used for clarification or other such things. This isnât just a tumblr thing, and not everyone uses it, but I remember being confused by it at first so here is a brief explanation. (Here is an article on it) (and here is a website on it just in case if you prefer. Hereâs a different one that has a slightly different format and explanations on what they mean.)
Anon: Anon is short for anonymous, as in anonymous asker. Some blogs allow you to send anonymous asks, and thus with how long the word is often just shortened to anon. It can also be used to refer to a person (as in [insert descriptor here] anon sent me an (anonymous) ask) just because it sounds better or is simpler.
Some more phrases, including blorbo (mentioned before) and plinko horse, the horse we put in a plinko board, in this collection post.
blakekathryn
pixelskylines
yousharknotpass
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
prguitarman
