O RLY?

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"ORLY" redirects here. For other uses, see Orly (disambiguation).

O RLY?, short for "Oh, really?" is a popular Internet phenomenon, typically presented as an image macro featuring a Snowy Owl. The phrase "O RLY?" is typically used in a sarcastic or sardonic manner, often in response to a statement that the speaker feels is obvious, or blatantly false and/or self-contradictory.[1] Some internet forum trolls may also reply "O RLY?" in response to a lengthy or overly detailed post (and also "TLDR").

Contents

[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 he posted 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 owl image macro was posted or linked to on other websites, spawning many more image macros involving owls, notably those with "YA RLY" and "NO WAI". O Rly? owls are similar to lolcats, which are another type of image with caption.

[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 Windows-based computer.[5][6]

[edit] See also

Look up O RLY? in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jerry Langton (2007-09-22). Funny how `stupid' site is addictive. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
  2. ^ Fantastipotamus (2003-08-30). What was the weirdest/funniest answer you ever put on a test?. Retrieved on 2007-02-14.
  3. ^ John White (2001-02-17). Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca)003 - Silly lookingface. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
  4. ^ 4chan word filter thread. Retrieved on 2006-11-07.
  5. ^ Staff Writers (2006-05-12). Sophos discovers hooting virus. crn.com.au. Retrieved on 2006-07-16.
  6. ^ Crazy owl preys on network printers, Sophos reports on Hoots worm. Sophos (2006-05-11). Retrieved on 2006-07-16.

[edit] External links