![Reply Guy Reply Guy](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/028/561/Screen_Shot_2019-02-12_at_3.39.37_PM.jpg)
Reply Guy
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About
Reply Guy is a derogatory internet slang term for men who reply to many tweets from women with an over-familiarity and unwarranted flirtatiousness. The "reply guy" can also be an angry responder to a woman's tweets who believes their tweets are entitled to a response.
Origin
Initially, "reply guy" was most often used as a derogatory term for people who often appeared in replies to famous figures, particularly Donald Trump. It began growing popular on Weird Twitter and left Twitter, spreading in tweets from users including @boring_as_heck[1] and @ByYourLogic (shown below).
![Trump Reply Guy stefan heck Ф @boring_as_heck Following CASHIER: You're 1 item over the limit VERIFIED TRUMP REPLY GUY: Excuse me, SIR, I got that gum in the checkout line, you orange shitgibbon. 2:47 AM-13 Jun 2017](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/460/017/308.png)
![ByYourLogic introvert EDM artist with impost @By YourLogic Following i keep pocket dialing and it's making me a blue check mark reply guy i apologize to all 2:22 AM-22 Jul 2017](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/460/018/25b.png)
Spread
Over the course of the year, the term began seeing use among women as a term to make fun of men who attempted to flirt with them or proffer opinions in replies to their tweets. On July 17th, 2018, Daily Beast reporter Kelly Weill tweeted, "if you're a reply guy sending a bunch of women your bad, unsolicited opinions, there's at least one message group mercilessly mocking you, so take comfort or whatever you get out of that" (shown below, left). On September 3rd, Twitter user @sbarolo released a chart organizing the types of Reply Guys into nine different categories, grouped by "means well," "focused on 'real problems,'" and "malicious," gaining over 4,000 retweets (shown below, right).
![At Least One Group Chat Kelly Weill @KELLYWEILL Follow if you're a reply guy sending a bunch of women your bad, unsolicited opinions, there's at least one message group mercilessly mocking you, so take comfort or whatever you get out of that 6:39 PM 17 Jul 2018](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/460/023/fdc.png)
![Nine Types of Reply Guy The Nine Types of Reply Guy Inspired by #MeTooSTEM #1 The Life Coach #2 Tone Police #3 The Gaslighter #4 Cookie Manster #5 Himpathy #6 The Sealion #7 The Mansplainer #8 The Prestige #9 Trolls, Creeps & Fools they mean we focused on the rea problems" they don't mean well by @shrewshrew and @sbarolo (this is just an outline; stay tuned for the full illustrated chart)](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/460/024/f38.jpg)
That same year, the use of "Reply Guy" to mean male Twitter trolls spread in media stories. Raw Story[2] wrote an explainer of the Reply Guy, using examples of replies to women like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (shown below). They also interviewed women in media about their "reply guys." Reporter Amanda Marcotte wrote:
"(Before Twitter, Reply Guys) would email you, demanding that you correspond to them. Sometimes they would insist on a ‘debate’ and other times it was just that they wanted to chat at length. Either way, it was rooted in this sense that they were entitled to ask for extensive amounts of attention and emotional labor from a complete stranger.”
![AOC Reply Guy Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @.. 16h Somebody's scared! We're taking the to KANSAS in *two* red to-blue districts this week - because an honest, grassroots, lobbyist-free movement for working class Americans can work anywhere Ryan Grim@ryangrim If you're curious why Trump is twittering about Kevin Yoder, its because of Bernie and @Ocasio2018 twitter.com/BernieSanders/.. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum... 357 1.1K7K The Microbrewing Resister @MadHatResister Replying to @Ocasio2018 Ms Ocasio you may be very sexy but you are a Dudebro and sol can never vote for you! 12:31 PM Jul 19, 2018](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/460/025/36b.jpg)
On November 15th, McSweeney's wrote a parody "Reply Guy's Constitution" mocking the group.[3] On December 20th, Urban Dictionary user Esther Lolstein provided a definition of the term[4] (shown below).
![Reply Guy TOP DEFINITION reply guy 1. A man who behaves in an overly familiar way and is always replying to the social media messages of a woman he doesn't know or is barely acquainted with. 2. An annoying man who replies to social media messages, in general - whether this annoyance is due to a perceived know-it-all attitude, excessive familiarity, banal arguments that the annoyed user doesn't feel compelled to reply to again and again, or violation of some imagined pecking order. Mental health improves 120% when reply guys are blocked or muted by Esther Lolstein December 20,2018](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/460/026/28a.png)
"Charge Your Phone" Guys
Women online have also discussed a strand of "Reply Guys" who comment on phone screenshots by telling them they need to charge their phone. These people are generally stereotyped as boring and the comment unwelcome. For example, Twitter user and comedian Amy Miller[5] tweeted "Imagine being the person that comments “charge your phone” on a funny screenshot. Full savings account, never cums" (shown below, left). User @MarisaKabas[6] tweeted "if your response to a tweet of a screenshot is "charge your phone!!!" you're a cop" (shown below, right).
![Reply Guy Amy Miller @amymiller Follow Imagine being the person that comments "charge your phone" on a funny screenshot. Full savings account, never c---. 4:31 PM-9 Aug 2018 35](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/477/898/45c.jpg)
![a Cop marisa kabas @MarisaKabas Follow if your response to a tweet of a screenshot is charge your phone!!!" you're a cop 12:31 PM - 17 Aug 2018](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/477/899/3d3.jpg)
The phenomenon was covered Mel Magazine,[7] who wrote:
“Charge your phone” is the ne plus ultra of the genre, keenly pathetic and low-effort even as it aspires to a teasing, high-status cleverness. No one who tries it deserves the time of day; they must be shunned until they come up with a new line, or, better yet, an actual personality.
Search Interest
External References
[1] Twitter – @boring_as_heck
[2] Raw Story – Meet the ‘reply guys’ Obnoxious Twitter trolls try to challenge prominent women -- and fail miserably
[3] McSweeney's – THE REPLY GUY CONSTITUTION
[4] Urban Dictionary – Reply Guy
[6] Twitter – @marisakabas
[7] Mel Magazine – ‘CHARGE YOUR PHONE’ IS THE ULTIMATE REPLY-GUY REPLY
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