About

Coringar is a Brazilian Portuguese slang term associated with the Batman comic book villain character the Joker. The term is also used as a verb in Portuguese, Coringando, to say that a person has lost their sanity or gone "Joker mode." The words popularized after the release of the movie Joker in October 2019.

Origin

The release of the Joker movie on October 3rd, 2019 inspired Brazilian fans to create an expression with the Portuguese version of the character's name, Coringa. The slang term "coringar" was coined by Twitter users who were excited to go watch the movie in theaters. One of the earliest examples was uploaded on October 9th, 2019 by Twitter^[1] user @skolkz. He tweeted (seen below) in Portuguese "Will I be able to Coringar today?" meaning to go see the film.

The website Dicionário Popular,^[2] similar to Urban Dictionary, explains that "coringar" is a slang used by young people, usually introverts, whose repressed feelings erupt into extreme radicalism and dissociative violence.

Spread

Over the next few years, the expression gained a new meaning aligned with the villain's state of mind (madness). For example, Twitter^[3] user @MussumAlive commented about the slang term's popularity on July 9th, 2020, in which he wrote in Portuguese "I like the verb coringar." The tweet (seen below, left) garnered 20 likes and 2 retweets in three years. Another Twitter^[4] @llaurasr_ used the slang term to express her state of mind during the beginning of the COVID-19 quarantine. Her tweet (seen below, right), uploaded on March 17th, 2020 received three likes and one retweet in three years.

The slang "coringar" gained the characteristics of a verb in Portuguese, with the term "coringando" being born to express the process of a person going mad. For example, in English, the expression could be translated to "going mad." The Twitter^[5] meme page @acervim used the expression on September 6th, 2022, accompanying a video of a girl going crazy. The post (seen below) garnered 1.7 million views and 24,500 likes in a year.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References