If you just keep hitting “random definitions” you get such an insane spread of internet and non-internet culture. I didn’t realise UD was almost 20 years old.

One definition will be some scene kid trying to be random xD in 2007, another will be a weird sex act invented by someone trying to be funny in 2010.

There’s references to extremely online shit, extremely niche subculture shit, or just general things you’d hear in the wider discourse. There’s A LOT of people putting up extremely specific things about a person they’re into or the place they live as if they’re common parlance but they are clearly used exclusively by that one person.

I had no idea urban dictionary captured such a large time range and such a wide cross section of society. Truly fascinating. Although it is definitely mostly 12 year olds trying to be funny - but it’s interesting to compare 12 year old’s sense of humour over the last few decades I guess.

  • KobaCumTribute [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Reminds me of the "List of sexual positions" on ED some 15 years ago, where 90% of the entries were a variation on "randomly punch her and yell a catchphrase." It's horrifying in retrospect how many adults have since grown up having their minds poisoned by 4chan, even before its culture crystalized into the overt fascism it is today.

    • SorosFootSoldier [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      The internet had a really rough edgy phase around like the mid aughts that like you said crystalized into the neo-fascism we have today. You can track it's growth from Urban Dictionary, to 4chan, to ED, to gamergate, to cringe reddit and public freakout, to neo-fascism.

      • mrmarkofthebeast [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        An online space without moderation will become filled with fascists. That's why you got to salute your moderators and advocate for them to get living wages.

      • KobaCumTribute [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Maybe? I saw it a very long time ago and I only remember it through the lens of what I thought about it (that it was lazy, repetitive, and dumb).