Facepalm

added Jul 27, 2009 at 05:11PM UTC

15 Comments
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About

The act of placing one’s face in one’s hands, or “facepalming” is a gesture of nonverbal-communication common among many cultures. The action conveys a message of dismay and is often a reaction toward someone’s momentary lapse of logic, judgement, or memory. This reaction may be directed toward another person or be self-deprecating.

One of the most popular facepalm images around is one of Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek the Next Generation, clutching his face in disbelief.

Notable YTMND’s include

Google Insights

Google Insights shows a continued growth trend stemming from about 2005, with no signs of slowing. “Facepalm” has yet to peak, so there’s really no telling just how wide-spread this meme will become.

Tracing the Origin

The earliest known appearance of the term “facepalm” on urbandictionary.com appeared on February 10th, 2004

Similar to headdesk
Today I locked my keys in my car. Again. facepalm
get this def on a mug Mug
by Moondog Feb 10, 2004

Facepalm first appeared in Wiktionary.com in 2005.

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15 Comments

Pterodactyl
Jul 27, 2009 at 05:29PM UTC , Pterodactyl wrote:

You mean this wasn’t already on here? W-woah.

Chris Menning
Jul 27, 2009 at 05:42PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Alright, we need to find out who first coined the term “facepalm”

Chris Menning
Jul 27, 2009 at 06:25PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Andrew had some really choice shots on this blog post that I just had to snatch up.

Blah-tan
Jul 27, 2009 at 07:36PM UTC , Blah-tan wrote:

link goes back to meme article?

Chris Menning
Jul 27, 2009 at 07:43PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Let me try that again.
http://blog.rocketboom.com/post/150230747/famous-facepalms

Chris Menning
Jul 27, 2009 at 08:57PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

So, figuring out this origin is a bit tricky.

The Picard Facepalm is obviously the most well-known, but is it the first instance of the meme?

Did the word facepalm exist prior to the image?

Captain Blubber
Jul 27, 2009 at 09:04PM UTC , Captain Blubber wrote:

http://facepalm.blogspot.com/

Here’s a blog.

I didn’t look through all that much though.

Benjamin S S
Jul 28, 2009 at 02:32AM UTC , Benjamin S S wrote:

This wasnt on here already? this dissapoints me

Dylan Hatch
Jul 28, 2009 at 03:10AM UTC , Dylan Hatch wrote:

Wait, this isn’t confirmed yet?…and it wasn’t on here before? Facepalms

Deus
Jul 29, 2009 at 09:25AM UTC , Deus wrote:

Benjamin is dissapoint

Will Sansom
Jul 29, 2009 at 01:56PM UTC , Will Sansom wrote:

here we go

http://brokershandsontheirfacesblog.tumblr.com/

cheesedip
Aug 19, 2009 at 11:18AM UTC , cheesedip wrote:

Another classic facepalm here ..
http://spacewarp.bramblingbooks.co.uk/index.html?nc=6

prokadae
Sep 09, 2009 at 12:52AM UTC , prokadae wrote:

and dun’t ferget…

de face-paw-.
which is
a. when you do something so stupid even your dog chooses to recognize it
or
b. when a furry does something so stupid even you choose to recognize it.

Andrew Baron
Sep 21, 2009 at 03:38AM UTC , Andrew Baron wrote:

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Teh1337man
Jan 05, 2010 at 08:35AM UTC , Teh1337man wrote:

If you cannot say FAIL, better do a FACEPALM.

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