Pics or It Didn't Happen (2004)

added Nov 03, 2009 at 06:12AM UTC

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part of a series on LOLspeak / Chanspeak

About

“Pics or it didn’t happen” is a popular phrase used in response to a person who has made an unbelievable or outlandish claim, common on many forums around the Internet, including Digg, Reddit, MetaFilter, Fark, 4chan, SomethingAwful, and more.

A Google search for the phrase returns over 8,000,000 results, although it has been used in only a few image macros, usually pertaining to the Bible.

Orgin

It’s difficult to say exactly where “Pics or it didn’t happen” first originated, but one of the earliest instances is from MetaFilter.

On April 23rd, 2004, ptrin used POIDH in a thread on MetaFilter in a thread entitled Just Say No to Crack


Was she cute? Pics or it didn’t happen.

On September 10th, 2004, legacy-Code-Killer used POIDH in the EpicGames forums


UT2004 does.

UT2004 = winnar
pics or it didn’t happen ;)

Urban Dictionary

On March 28th, 2006, The Patriarch created the first Urban Dictionary entry for “Pics or it didn’t happen.”

A phrase used on Internet forums to counter the vast range of unverifiable claims made by users. Often these claims involve personal brag-worthy accomplishments, extraordinary or rare sights/occurrences, and tales relating to alcohol or drug use.
Guy 1: Dude, I drank four bottles of bourbon last night, then hooked up with 4 chicks at the same time, then Donald Trump came to my house and gave me a million dollars!
Guy 2: Pics or it didn’t happen.

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14 Comments

Rihk
Nov 03, 2009 at 02:15PM UTC , Rihk wrote:

Should this say “Part of a series on Internet slang”? I’d vote for confirm, either way.

Pterodactyl
Nov 03, 2009 at 05:22PM UTC , Pterodactyl wrote:

I will get some images of poidh, but it may take me a while. I just have to magically travel through the archives of MO…

Jack Candle
Nov 03, 2009 at 08:18PM UTC , Jack Candle wrote:

I approve. You have pics, so I guess it happened.

Chris Menning
Nov 03, 2009 at 09:19PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Anyone have a clue about where this may have started? The earliest I could find was on MetaFilter in 2004. I don’t think I really became aware of people using the phrase until around 2007.

Deuxieme_en_pie
Nov 03, 2009 at 11:14PM UTC , Deuxieme_en_pie wrote:

Agree with Rihk

Badgerfrank10
Nov 03, 2009 at 11:33PM UTC , Badgerfrank10 wrote:

HEAVILY used on newgrounds forums

Memedude7737
Nov 04, 2009 at 12:38AM UTC , Memedude7737 wrote:

Holy living crap, this oughtta be a meme.

I’ve heard this so much it isn’t even funny.

Nickoliavich
Nov 04, 2009 at 03:13AM UTC , Nickoliavich wrote:

This is a meme.

Tomberry
Nov 04, 2009 at 03:30AM UTC , Tomberry wrote:

According to ED “pics or it didn’t happen” seems to be a variation of “Picture plz”

I also found something interesting from Tribal War, dating from May 2003:http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/archive/t-211393.html

It doesn’t seem to be the origin though, but I can guess that this is close to it.

It seems to be commonly used on that TribalWar website: Another archive from 2004

I also stumbled across this:
VOIDH

And I also saw it used with “Link or it didn’t happen”.
I’m wondering if “X or it didn’t happen” or “Or it didn’t happen” would be a better title.

Hope it helps !

Chris Menning
Nov 04, 2009 at 03:48AM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Thanks for your help Tomberry. I’ll look into “link or it didn’t happen” and “video or it didn’t happen.”

I wouldn’t consider it a variation of “Pics Plz.” I think they probably just didn’t have much to say about “pics or it didn’t happen” so they grouped it into their “pics plz” section.

Jamie Dubs
Nov 06, 2009 at 09:11PM UTC , Jamie Dubs wrote:

+1 confirm or it didn’t happen :D

Hector Hessy
Nov 13, 2009 at 12:33AM UTC , Hector Hessy wrote:

woot! confirm’d

Someguy503
Nov 14, 2009 at 05:55PM UTC , Someguy503 wrote:

Another variation is “Screenshots or it didn’t happen.”

gbleck
Dec 26, 2009 at 10:35PM UTC , gbleck wrote:

World War 2 online message board used “pics with box or so much BS” or “Pics with box or I call BS”.

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