Bae

Bae

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Updated Feb 25, 2018 at 04:41AM EST by Y F.

Added Jul 24, 2014 at 02:36PM EDT by Don.

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About

"Bae" is a term of endearment for a significant other, similar to other pet names derived from the word "baby," such as "B" and "boo." Following the popularization of the term through various hip hop and R&B songs in the early 2010s, "bae" also became alternatively interpreted by some as a backronym for “before anyone else.”

Origin

The exact origin of "bae" is unknown. On March 14th, 2003, Urban Dictionary[1] user Trong submitted an entry for "bae," defining it as a "bastardization of the term 'babe'."


50. bae A bastardization of the term 'babe' as pronounced typically in a Vietnamese accent. Have good day, bae. All done, bae. . .yeeaaaaahhhhhh. by Trong March 14, 2003 268 588

Spread

On August 11th, 2006, Urban Dictionary[6] user bubbless defined "bae" as "a lover or significant other." On December 12th, 2008, Urban Dictionary[7] user DreaBaeXXX defined the term as a Western Florida synonym for the words "baby, boo, sweetie." On September 2nd, 2011, an entry for "Bae" was submitted to the online dictionary InternetSlang.[4] On August 14th, 2012, the @TeensAdvices[5] Twitter feed listed "bae" along with several other similar terms of endearment (shown below). In three years, the tweet accumulated over 730 reweets and 140 favorites.


Teens Advices! @TeensAdvices Follow Don't call me "Boo", "Bae", "Baby", "Babe", or "Love" unless I'm the ONLY ONE you're calling that. わReply Retweet ★ Favorite More RETWEETS FAVORITES 739 142 4:09 AM-14 Aug 2012

On January 18th, 2014, Redditor drgigglez submitted a screenshot of a tweet in which a woman is shown "twerking on baes grave" to the /r/cringepics[3] subreddit, where it gathered upwards of 3,200 votes (90% upvoted) prior to being archived.


as Twerking on baes grave. Miss him so much 12:45 PM 22 Oct 13

On March 29th, YouTuber superkian13 uploaded a video titled "Do You Got a Bae?", featuring several comedy sketches in which he mocks various slang terms. In four months, the video garnered more than 1.1 million views and 3,800 comments (shown below, left).



"Before Anyone Else"

According to the Visual Thesaurus,[8] the earliest known use of BAE as an acronym for "before anyone else" was posted in a tweet from 2011:

"My girl hates being called bae but i still call her that bc it stands for Before Anyone Else"

On May 1st, 2014, YouTuber Shane Dawson uploaded a video titled "The Bae Challenge," in which he and fellow YouTuber Joey Graceffa argue about whether BAE originated as an acronym for "before anyone else" (shown below). In the first three months, the video gained over 900,000 views and 3,400 comments.



On July 4th, Twitter user Alex Thomson[2] asked followers for a definition of "Bae," to which user @NuclearTeeth replied that it is an abbreviated version "baby/babe" and a backronym for "before anyone else."


Alex Thomson @mister teei Jul 4 Right then. What does bae mean? (aka I'm sick of feeling like I'm not in the trendy gang every time I look at twitter) Werner Heartthrob @DuncanVB I Jul 4 @mister, tee it's basically "my boo" but for some reason I like it more. +ヘ 두: ★ Alex Thomson @mister tee Jul 4 @DuncanVB Thank you. (Is it an acronym? A sort of brief poem? How is it pronounced?) Emma @NuclearTeethi Jul 4 @mister tee @DuncanVB it's pronounced like bay. It's a short version of baby/babe. But it has a backronym: before anyone else:)

Bae Caught Me Slippin

On October 9th, 2012, Twitter user @NostrandAv shared a photo of a woman taking a picture herself pretending to be asleep, with the caption “Females Be Like ‘Bae Caught Me Slippin’”. The tweet inspired a series of intentionally failed "caught me sleeping" selfie photographs.


emalessbe Lilk Caught Slipping" NEWARK PAGE Follow @NEWARK GTFOH FEMALES BE LIKE 11:26 PM -8 Oct 2012 25 RETWEETS 19 FAVORITES

"Come Get it Bae"

On July 23rd, 2014, artist Pharrell Williams released the music video for the track "Come Get it Bae" (shown below).



The same day, Time Magazine[9] published an article titled "This is What 'Bae' Means," which outlined the slang term's history and defined it as a synonym for "boo" or "babe." Shortly after, Twitter user PiaGlenn[10] introduced the hashtag #TimeTitles to poke fun at Time’s coverage of trends launched by the African American community, with the first example referencing the fictional young black character Daquan.


Pia Glenn @PiaGlenn Follow Who in the world is Daquan, anyway? #TimeTitles Reply t3 Retweet * Favorite More TIME.com @TIME TIME What in the world does 'bae' mean, anyway? ti.me/1rCfgCU 5:15 PM 23 Jul 14 RETWEETS 118 FAVORITES 84 團歴響&愿図譆闇眥 8:53 PM -23 Jul 2014 Flag media

Search Interest

External References

[1] Urban Dictionary – bae

[2] Twitter – @mister_tee

[3] Reddit – I miss my bae

[4] Internet Slang – bae

[5] Twitter – @TeensAdvices

[6] Urban Dictionary – bae

[7] Urban Dictionary – bae

[8] Visual Thesaurus – Bae Watch the Ascent of a new pet name

[9] Time – This is What Bae Means

[10] Twitter – PiaGlenn

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