Woll Smoth
About
Woll Smoth is the name of a photoshop technique that involves editing a photo of a person, often a celebrity, by shrinking their eyes and mouth. The name is taken from actor Will Smith[1], whose photo was the first to be photoshopped in this manner.
Origin
The earliest known archived 4chan thread featuring Woll Smoth took place on /b/ (random) on November 14th, 2007[2], receiving 334 responses over a period of 7 hours. The first few images in the thread used the warp tool on the eyes and mouth in the photographs, but within the first half hour, an similarly edited version of actor George Clooney, spelled Gorje Cloney, was posted.
The photoshopping technique may have been influenced by an MS Paint series that was popular on /b/ around the same time, Nod Flenders. These were poorly drawn renditions of Ned Flanders[3], a character from the television show The Simpsons, with tiny eyes and no mouth that appeared on 4chan as early as June 11th, 2007.[4]
Spread
Woll Smoth appeared again on /b/ on November 18th, 2007[5] but photoshop threads in this style did not start appearing until two months later, with Hollareet Clatnog[6] (Hillary Clinton) in January 2008 and Tom Honks[7] (actor Tom Hanks) that February. The photos began spreading outside of 4chan in February, making appearances on gossip blog Oh No They Didn’t[8], humor site ROFL Posters[9] and various message boards including gaming site Greenhill Zone[10] and the official BBS for the band Jimmy Eat World.[11] In March, a series of the images were shared on the eBaum’s World forums.[12]
Notable Examples
Search Interest
Google Insights for Search shows that interest in “Woll Smoth” started in December of 2007. Activity for “Woll Smoth” peaked on July 5th, 2008, but has continued to draw search results to this day.
External References
[1] Wikipedia – Will Smith
[2] Chanarchive – Hey /b/ I’m Woll Smoth
[3] Wikipedia – Ned Flanders
[4] Chanarchive – Nod Flenders
[5] Chanarchive – Woll Smoth
[6] Chanarchive – HOLLAREET CLATNOG
[8]ONTD – Introducing… WOLL SMOTH AND FRONDS
[9]ROFL Posters – Woll Smoth
[10] Greenhill Zone – Introducing… WOLL SMOTH AND FRONDS, lol
[11] Jimmy Eat World Message Board – Introducing WOLL SMOTH AND FRONDS
[12] eBaum’s World – Official Woll Smoth Picture Thread!
Recent Videos 1 total
Recent Images 222 total
Top Comments
Silbotronic
Sep 06, 2011 at 03:27PM EDT+16
O wosh thos momo wos moro popolor, ot’s holorooos!
smothmoster
Mar 29, 2011 at 08:23AM EDT+5
[2/2]
In my opinion, the build up to Will Smiths ‘I am legend’ sometime after the original thread on /b/ brought the whole thing to life and it became something of it’s own, that was completely out of my control. And I know it’s pointless ever telling anyone IRL that I made it, cause they’d never, ever believe me. But inside my heart I know I made some small contribution to the internutz, albeit unwittingly.
As far as the spelling of woll smoth, make your mouth really small like a tight little ring piece, and try to speak. it’s as simple as that.
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