O RLY?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
O RLY?, short for "Oh, really?" is a popular Internet phenomenon, typically presented as an image macro featuring a Snowy Owl. The usual conversation flow starts with O RLY?, triggering a YA RLY ("Yes, really") response, followed by a NO WAI! ("No way"), and then possibly a YA SRSLY ("Seriously"). These may be used in combination with any number of other Internet slang expressions.
The phrase "O RLY?" is typically used in a sarcastic or sardonic manner, often in response to a statement that the speaker feels is blatantly obvious. Some Internet forum trolls may also reply O RLY? in response to a lengthy post (see also TLDR).
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[edit] History
The phrase "o rly?" was used on the Something Awful Forums at least as early as August 2003.[2] The original "O RLY?" Snowy 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 in 2001.[3] The snowy owl image was Photoshopped on 4chan after the word filtering of the word "repost" to "owl".[4] The typeface used for the "O RLY?" text is ITC Kabel Bold, a variant of the Kabel typeface. The owl image macro was posted or linked to on other websites, spawning many more image macros involving owls.
[edit] Use outside of the Internet
In the Game Boy Advance game Mega Man Battle Network 6, if the player tries the Humor program at Cyber Academy, Lan responds to a certain joke with "O Rly?" and MegaMan.EXE replies with "Ya Rly!". Also, if the player tries it at the Expo Site, there is a "No Wai!" joke.[5]
In the Xbox 360 version of the football game Blitz: The League, one of the hidden gamer achievements is called "O RLY?" It is "earned" by losing a Campaign Mode game by more than 24 points. The image of this achievement is, appropriately enough, of a snowy owl.[6]
In the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, there is an NPC called "O'reely" (found in Booty Bay), one called "Yarly" (found in Undercity), and a white owl called "O'reilly" (found in Tanaris). And, more recently, in the Caverns of Time there is also an NPC named "Yarly".[7]
The promotional video announcing the American license of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, "Adventures of the ASOS Brigade Episode 00: Made by Fans for Fans," features a short segment using pictures with the caption "O RLY?" in both English and Japanese. The segment starts with Yuki Nagato making a statement in Japanese, with an "O RLY?" image displayed, and with her replying, in Japanese, "Really." The segment ends with another picture saying "NO WAI!"[8]
The Australian sketch show The Ronnie Johns Half Hour included a sketch called Ham1337 in which Hamlet's "To be or not To be" soliloquy was translated via subtitles into internet abbreviations. At one point, the subtitles read "O RLY?", "YA RLY", "NO WAI!".
Noise/dub band Excepter's side (KKKK) of the Carrots/KKKK single has a track entitled "ORLY?" as well as an illustration of an owl — although not a snowy owl — on the Excepter cover artwork.
The British sitcom The IT Crowd's DVD features the O RLY owls in ASCII in the first episode's "l33t" version of the subtitles.
[edit] Computer worm
On May 10, 2006, anti-virus company Sophos discovered a computer worm known as "W32/Hoots-A", which sends a graphical image of the snowy owl to a print queue when it infects a computer.[9][10]
[edit] O RLY? ASCII art
ASCII art versions of the O RLY? image macro were also created.
___
{o,o}
|)__)
-"-"-
O RLY?
|
___
{-.-}
|)_(|
-"-"-
YA RLY
|
___
{0,0}
(__(|
-"-"-
NO WAI!
|
[edit] References
- ^ Stephen Phillips. "Internet Term of the Week", The Independent Tiger Weekly, 2006-01-18. Retrieved on 2007-02-28.
- ^ Fantastipotamus (2003-08-30). What was the weirdest/funniest answer you ever put on a test?. Retrieved on 2007-02-14.
- ^ John White (2001-02-17). Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca)003 - Silly lookingface. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
- ^ 4chan word filter thread. Retrieved on 2006-11-07.
- ^ Capcom Production Studio 2. Mega Man Battle Network 6. Capcom. (in English).
- ^ Blitz: The League Achievement List. Retrieved on 2006-11-25.
- ^ Blizzard Entertainment. World of Warcraft. Blizzard Entertainment. (in English).
- ^ ASOS Brigade - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
- ^ Staff Writers (2006-05-12). Sophos discovers hooting virus. crn.com.au. Retrieved on 2006-07-16.
- ^ Crazy owl preys on network printers, Sophos reports on Hoots worm. Sophos (2006-05-11). Retrieved on 2006-07-16.
[edit] External links
- O RLY? Gallery including original concept
- www.orlyowl.com
