Asking for a Friend

About

"Asking for a Friend" is an expression often used as a sarcastic quip when asking embarrassing or awkward questions, indicating that the subject is so shameful it must be asked under the guise of a helpful friend.

Origin

While the origin of the quip is unknown. On May 14th, 1996, rec.motorcycles user Andy the Pugh jokingly claimed to be "asking for a friend" when asking about how to straighten fork legs on a motorcycle (shown below).^[5]

Spread

On March 1st, 2001, AnandTech Forums^[6] member Spoooon submitted a thread titled "Will photo places develop 'dirty pictures?", in which he jokingly claimed to be "asking for a friend" (shown below).

In 2010, a Yahoo Answers question asking "Does a cat know when you're masturbating? I'm asking for a friend?" was submitted to the site. In December 2012, the Asking For A Friend Tumblr^[8] blog was launched, featuring image macros captioned with embarrassing questions and the phrase "asking for a friend" (shown below).

In November 2013, the Asking For a Friend Twitter feed was launched, featuring various bizarre questions followed by the statement "asking for a friend."^[3]

On April 2nd, 2014, Mashable^[4] published a listicle titled "31 People Who Are NOT Asking For a Friend."

On August 12th, StackExchange^[2] user ellyahu-g submitted a question asking if there was a term for the practice of saying you are "asking for a friend" when asking a question for yourself. On September 16th, the internet humor site Elite Daily^[9] published a listicle of "46 questions you would never ask for yourself."

On November 3rd, 2015, Urban Dictionary^[1] user Ash1355 submitted an entry for "asking for a friend," defining it as a phrase used by someone who claims "to be asking for a friend, when they are in fact asking for themselves."

Search Interest

External References