O RLY? (2003)

added Dec 12, 2008 at 08:10PM UTC

11 Comments
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part of a series on LOLspeak / Chanspeak

Origin

“O RLY?” originated on the Something Awful forums, where it was used as a deadpan response to anything you found doubtful, unimpressive or just plain dull. On 4chan it was ’shopped onto an image of an incredulous snowy owl and quickly spread out of control.

An animated GIF & Flash version featuring dialogue between 3 birds has emerged, as well as innumerable ’shops.

Controversy

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. He has since sent numerous cease & desists to those using the image.
Photo origin verified here.
Emails from John White to a John Rowly can be found here.

Usage

The correct response to “O ORL?” is “YA RLY”, often with the picture of a stern looking brown owl. The correct response to this, of course, is “NO WAI!”

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11 Comments

Max Dominik Weber
Mar 02, 2009 at 01:12AM UTC , Max Dominik Weber wrote:

ya rly

Chris Menning
May 15, 2009 at 08:45AM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Added links to verify John White’s authorship and emails asserting his ownership of the photo.

Maave
Jul 03, 2009 at 12:26AM UTC , Maave wrote:

Long time ago, someone made an O RLY virus. It would change your background to an O RLY pic XDDD

n3ko
Jul 11, 2009 at 01:30PM UTC , n3ko wrote:

NO WAI!!!

JJAAMMESS FFAAIILLAAPPAALLOOZZAA
Jul 14, 2009 at 01:58PM UTC , JJAAMMESS FFAAIILLAAPPAALLOOZZAA wrote:

One of my all time favorite Memes.

Odin Chen
Sep 06, 2009 at 12:37AM UTC , Odin Chen wrote:

The Owl RLY looks sarcastically funny.

Tehfallenangel407 WOOT!!
Jan 13, 2010 at 12:47AM UTC , Tehfallenangel407 WOOT!! wrote:

Oh ok! I liek Rofle Coptre’s one… which is the one I just said. I’m gonna get an O RLY? outta that one ain’t I?

Chris McLaren
Jan 14, 2010 at 05:57PM UTC , Chris McLaren wrote:

the ace ventura one made me lol so hard, i found it on 420chan and i couldn’t find it anywhere else so i posted it here.

KirjiroSenzuki
Jan 22, 2010 at 11:56AM UTC , KirjiroSenzuki wrote:

NO, NOT RLY

xX-Yude-Xx
Feb 05, 2010 at 10:31AM UTC , xX-Yude-Xx wrote:

OH MOTHER FUCKING REELI?

ScorpiaJr
Mar 08, 2010 at 01:48PM UTC , ScorpiaJr wrote:

“The correct response to “O ORL?” is “YA RLY”, often with the picture of a stern looking brown owl.”

O ORL?

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