About

TBH is an initialism for “to be honest,” a colloquial expression used to preface a statement of candor or confession in everyday conversations. The abbreviation is almost exclusively used in the context of SMS conversations and online discussions.

Origin

Although the exact origin of the abbreviation is unknown, it may have arisen as a form of text speak with the rise of SMS messaging in the 1990s. On June 23rd, 2003, Urban Dictionary^[6] user Suzuki submitted an entry for TBH, defining it as an initialism for "to be honest."

Spread

On December 23rd, 2006, the initialism was added to the wiki-based online dictionary Wiktionary.^[4] On July 4th, 2008, Urban Dictionary user alexwearspradaa submitted an entry for "cbf tbh," defining it as an abbreviation for the dismissive expression "can't be fucked, to be honest." On November 14th, 2011, the tech news blog MakeUseOf^[9] published an article listing the "'TBH' word game" as an aggravating Facebook practice in which a user invites friends to like their status in order to receive an honest opinion. On December 17th, 2013, the virus software blog McAfee^[5] published a post about Internet slang titled "TBH (To Be Honest) and More Slang Parents Should Know." On April 17th, 2014, YouTuber BeautyLiciousInsider posted a video titled "To Be Honest.. 'I Hate my body'", in which she uses the abbreviation TBH in a discussion about body image issues (shown below).

On September 2nd, The Atlantic^[7] reported that Instagram users were using the hashtag #TBH in confession videos uploaded with the app. As early as June 2015, the abbreviation became associated with children known as "summer fags" on the /v/ (video games) board on 4chan, where those who used the initialism were subsequently mocked.^[3]

Search Interest

External References