Lolcats

A Lolcat image depicting a cat in an iMac

A lolcat is an image combining a photograph, most frequently of a cat, with a humorous and idiosyncratic caption in broken English—a dialect which is known as “lolspeak,” ”kitteh,” or “kitteh pidgin” and which parodies the poor grammar typically attributed to Internet slang. The name "lolcat" is a compound word of the phrase "LOL" and the word "cat". A synonym for "lolcat" is cat macro, since the images are a type of image macro. Lolcats are designed for photo sharing imageboards and other internet forums. The term lolcat gained national media attention in the United States when it was covered by Time, which wrote that non-commercialized phenomena of the sort are increasingly rare, stating that lolcats have "a distinctly old-school, early 1990s, Usenet feel to them."

Format

A lolcat image using the "I'm in ur..." format.

These images usually consist of a photo of a cat with a large caption characteristically set in a sans serif font such as Impact or Arial Black. The image is, on occasion, digitally edited for effect. The caption generally acts as a speech balloon encompassing a comment from the cat, or as a description of the depicted scene. The caption is intentionally written with deviations from standard English spelling and syntax, featuring "strangely-conjugated verbs, but a tendency to converge to a new set of rules in spelling and grammar." The text parodies the grammar-poor patois stereotypically attributed to Internet slang. Frequently, lolcat captions take the form of phrasal templates. Some phrases have a known source (usually a well-known Internet meme, such as All your base are belong to us or Do not want), while others seem to be specific to the lolcat form. There are parallels between the language used in lolcats and baby talk, which some owners of cats often use when talking to them. The superimposed text is usually assumed to be uttered by the cat in the photograph.

Common themes include jokes of the form "Im in ur noun, verb-ing ur related noun." Many lolcat images capture cats performing characteristically human actions or using modern technology, such as computers or gaming consoles.

There are several well-known lolcat images and single-word captions that have spawned many variations and imitations, including "Ceiling Cat" and "Cats That Look Like Hitler". Others include "Fail" and "I Can Haz Cheezburger."

History

1905 cat postcard by Harry Whittier Frees

Images portraying cats and other animals in human-like situations with captions date as far back as the early 20th century, when a photographer named Harry Whittier Frees published novelty postcards and children's books with such images of animals dressed in human clothing.

The lolcats resurfaced as an internet meme from the anonymous imageboard 4chan sometime around 2005. The word "lolcat" is attested as early as June 2006, and the domain name "lolcats.com" was registered on June 14, 2006. Their popularity was spread through usage on forums such as Something Awful. The News Journal states that "some trace the lolcats back to the site 4chan, which features bizarre cat pictures on Saturdays, or 'Caturdays'." Ikenburg adds that the images have been "slinking around the Internet for years under various labels, but they didn't become a sensation until early 2007 with the advent of I Can Has Cheezburger?" The first image on "I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?" was posted on January 11, 2007 and was allegedly from the Something Awful website." Lev Grossman of Time wrote that the oldest known example "probably dates to 2006", but later corrected himself in a blog post where he recapitulated the anecdotal evidence readers had sent him, placing the origin of "Caturday" and many of the images now known by a few as "lolcats" in early 2005. The domain name "caturday.com" was registered on April 30, 2005.

Offshoots and Parodies

• The LOLCat Bible Translation Project is attempting to translate the Bible into lolcat speak. God is represented as Ceiling Cat and Jesus Christ as Happy Cat, while the Devil is represented by a character called Basement Cat.
• The syntax of lolcat captions was used as the basis for LOLCODE, an esoteric programming language with interpreters and compilers available in .NET framework, perl, etc.

Dictionary

A.

A - eh, as in, "A? Ai cant heer u."

aboot - about, as spoken bai teh Canadians and teh Boston hyoominz

abowt - about

abuv - above

admirashun - admiration

adn - and (sumtiems teh kittehs gets teh letters mixed up)

adopshun - adoption; the act of adopting any animal and giving a loving home, kibble and occasional gushifud.

aer - are

Aerobics instructor/legal profesional - accompanies stating-the-obvious cat-safety warnings. Reference to this classic thread

agin - again

ai - I

ajint - agent

aks - ask

akshully - actually; alt.spelling; acshually

alfa - alpha, as in, "Ai am teh alpha male! Do mai bidding!"

antipayshun - anticipation, the word, not the song by Carly Simon

anudda - another

armonee - harmony

armz - arms or teh tings between ur hands and ur shoulders or in teh case of teh kittehs, the space tween paws and shoulder areas

Asiancat - the approver of things on the internet

asplode- explode, as in, when kitteh iz so cyoot, ur hed mite asplode

asp urchins - aspersions; an unfavorable or damaging remark; slander

awl - all; also can be used in already as, awlredy

awn - on

[1] Awwww! - the cuteness is overwhelming and you must go "Awwww!"

awsum - awesome

ax - ask

az - as (teh kittehs liekz "Z")

azmah - asthma

B.

B - be, as in, "To be or not to be." Bee, as in, "Dat bumblebee stung mai paw!"

b4 - before

baf - bath; a much dreaded occurrence for da kittehs! Often used with, "DO NOT WANT!!!"

bag kitteh- kitteh who lurves teh bags; awl siezes an awl shaeps(eben iffen dey doan fit teh kitteh!)

bahleewud - Bollywood, the Indian (not Native American Indian, but across the pond Indian) film industry

bai - bye, most commonly used in, "kthxbai" Could also be used as, authored "bai", like by or even buy, like you buy sumpin at teh stoar.

Bakun-Cheezburger - A cheezburger enhanced with a few slices of crispy bacon. This is so good that eating over 400 of these will make kitteh tummies asplode from teh yummy goodness!

Balentymz dae - Valentines day

bankie - blanket; could also be: blankie

barkalounger- a doggy who iz amenable to tek kittehz sleepin awn or neer him; a reclining lounge chair

Basement Cat - archenemy of Ceiling Cat

basketcat - a cat who is on, in or around one or more baskets

baskit - basket

battreez - batteries

BBQ - barbecue; used in OMGWTFBBQ and then means: nonsense or bery, bery, qte !

Bearcat - a cat assumes the "bear" position; standing on back paws in an upright position with front paws extended or reaching. Mouth is usually open and da pointee enz (claws) are visible. Can be used to attack da hoomins leg, but most likely, something dangled by da hoomin, e.g., feather stick, string, etc.

bedcat - a cat who can make a bed out of anything

bedduh - better; could also be bedda

bettah - better

BFF - best friends forever, can also be "bffe"

bfour - before

birdie- a creature kittehs' love, sometimes as fud

birf - birth, often used with: day or mark

bizkits - Biscuits, the end product of da kitteh kneading a soft surface, e.g., hoomin belly (or udder fat area), cushionez, bed, etc.

blargh - more severe form of "argh" which was adapted from pirate speak for, "Oh no!" or "Ow!"

blind dates - not a good idea.

blz - balls, most commonly used with har, as in harblz. Alternate spelling - bls. Can also mean play balls, as in toys.

boaf - both

boi - boy

boks - box

BOOM HEADSHOT! - The reaction to pwning newbs in a first person shooter game.

borked - broken

botes - boats; votes

bounty cat- kitteh wit teh bounty on it's hed or kitteh wit teh "bounty" on it's hed

boxcat - a cat in a box, which would akshully be most cats

brainz - brains; alt. spelling, braynz

brb - be right back.

BSL - bunny sign language

buffay - buffet

buk - buck

bukkit - a container with a handle, usually blue.

bunday - sunday

bunneh - bunny

buoy - boy

bunway airlines - Bunnies with extended ears prepped for lift off in order to transport critters to udder locations.

Burock - Barack, as in, Obama

buttafly- butterfly

bwahahahaha - evil laugh

C.

C - see or sea

caek - cake; a large round (or other shape), sweet and yummy concoction that da hoomins make and/or eat...it iz covered with icing or frosting (kinda like da gravy in gushifud, but sweet!); used to celebrate Caturday

camoflag - camouflage

capshun - caption

care-troll - see 'aerobics instructor/legal professional' above; also, CT or wearing the CT mask

catloaf - first introduced by B. Kliban (RIP) in the 1970's in the book "Cat"; it is the state of a cat or kitten in which all the kitteh limbs are not seen and they look like a large, or small, meat loaf

catmoflag - see camoflag

Catnip- a dangeruss drug which roons lievs ov kittehs.

cat owner - a mythical term used to denote ownership of a cat by a hoomin; an archaic expression

cats playing- kittehs playing with things normally reserved for hooman usage

Cattank- Legendary hybrid of the lolcats; free to roam Space and Time. Has its own holiday on the internet.[2]

catuhtude - cattitude, the special way cats act. They has teh cattitude!

caturday - saturday; also known as a day when the cat is honored, adored, celebrated; a day observed by cats as their holiday

cawl - call

CCC - Cyoot Crash Cart - a specialized vehicle with the required implements for treating the victims of a head splort, including, but not limited to, chocolate, hot beverages, duct tape, and blankets.

Ceiling Cat - God of awl teh kittehs; alt.spellz, ceeling. Also God of the lolcat bible and discrete observer of your personal habits.[3]

chawklit - chocolate; cure for hed splort, see splort

cheez - Cheese, usually a mass or orange chemicular stuff made into a flat square to put on da burgers.

cheezburger - the object of desire for all cats. the reason for the interweb's existance is to acquire a cheezburger.

cheezburger not done yet - an animal known as cow

cheezburger now plz - must have cheezburger now!

cheezburglr - a cheez thief

cheezmail - email received by the ICHC staff

chokklit - chocolate

choys - choice

CHRG - Chicken Head Rubber Glove (with drawings awn it) - protection against the effects of head splorting. See doctors with exam gloves on head

cinmininium - cinnamon (multiple spellingz)

classic thread - A thread is a series of messages about a subject; a classic thread is a well know thread about a subject; a thread is also just a piece of thread that teh kittehs plays wif!

comput-arrr - computer in pirate lolspeak

concatulations - congratulations

concatumalashuns - congratulationsconfoozled - confused, puzzled, bewildered, bemused, baffled, flummoxed

conga-rat-shoelaces - congratulations

cookie - a cookie; mostly a round, flat, sweet and yummy concoction that da hoomins eat too many of or dunk in da milk where it falls apart and kittehs use paws to halp da hoomins get teh tasty morsels. Kittehs have been known to make cookies for their hoomins on occasion, but seem unable to resist eating the cookie before presenting it.

corm - corn

cors - course

craydl - cradle

creatibitee - creativity

creatibness - creativeness

CTRL+ALT+Delete cat - kitteh who luvs ctrl alt delete

cud - could

cudda - could have

cunspearacee - conspiracy

Curius Cat- This kitteh is curius

cwned - coned, which refers to the cone type of device, also know as the Victorian collar, that teh Vet putz on teh kitteh dat had surgery or sumpin and dey don't want dem to lick or tear out stitches

cyoot - cute; alternate spelling, kyoot and qte

cz - sees or could be, cz for cubic zirconia, but kitteh dont often wear rings or jewlree

D.

da - sometimes used for "the"

daffynishun - definition

dais - days; daze

daiz ub weke - days of the week

danz - dance

dawg - dog; canine; an animal often feared by kittehs, but sometimes friendly to and with kittehs

dayz - days; daze; dais

deelinz - dealings

deez - these

delluhgut - delegate

deluks - deluxe

dem - them

Demmacat - Democrat

den - then

derma-brazion - dermabrasion, most likely from teh ruff kitteh tung

dat - that

dey - they

dey see me rollin. dey haytin - a lyric from a song by Chamillionaire.

diabeetus - diabetes

diffikult - difficult; also can be spelled difcult, difeecult

difrnt - different

dignity - poise and self respect for da kitteh or, but I doubt this, da hoomin

dikshunary - dictionary

dint- didn't; did not; dent

direktin - directing

dis - this

diskreshun - discretion

distwibyut - distribute

dogma - the established beliefs, principles and opinions of D-O-G-S

dongle(s) - a small harware device that connects to computer; a werd teh kittehs lieks cuz it sowndz nawtee

do not want - kitteh does not want that which is being offered, most likely by hoomin; kitteh may feel strongly about the do not want, as in, DO NOT WANT!!1!

doozin' it - kitteh is saying that which he is currently doozing, or doozin, he or she iz doozing it right.

do want - kitteh does want that which is being offered. Generally accompanied by an ecstatic facial expression and grabby paws.

Dr. Tinycat - Teh cyootest kitteh in tiny green scrub suit! Very adept in use of CCC (see CCC) and head splorts.

driving- a skill kittehs do not possess...yet!

Dubya - "W" for George W. Bush, teh current Prez

duk - duck

dun - done; don't

dunno - don't know

durtee - dirty

E.

ebel - evil

ebbreeting - everything

ebbreebodee - everybody

edumakayshun - education

Eestr - Easter

eet - it

eezee - easy

eleben - eleven; one of teh kittehs faborit numburrz and werdz, speshullee wen dey sez "elebentee"

emayo - email

emocat - a cat laden with angst; a cat with a swoop hairstyle; a cat who shuts out the world to wallow in EMOtions

endcat - will end you and all you love.

esskarrgoe - escargot(teh snailz u eet! pleh)

evenchulee - eventually

ewez - use

eyedentitees - identitieseyelands - islands

eye - I

eyem - I'm

F.

faboo - fabulous

fail - inability to accomplish set task

feedur - Teh designashun given to teh hooman that teh hooman owner has selektud to provide teh cheezburgers

feesh - (noun) Someatimez if i not trow up on anyting or scratch 'er up alot, she giva me suma feesh, den, "I has feesh!" Fish, being fresh caught salmon, Cod, Mahi Mahi, Catfish or other, cooked to perfection by a human, then subsequently offered to feline as bribe or reward for good behavior.feesh steek(z) - (noun) When me mamma can cooka no cheezburga, she sometime maka me eata a feesh steek. "I can has feesh steek?" Normally called a fish stick, a "feesh steek" is an amalgam of wite, putty-like substance that resembles cod, but does not taste like it. A common finding in the freezers of Northern America, this breaded nightmare is sometimes fed to unknowing and mistreated youth.

feets - (noun, pl.) more than one foot or paw. May often be the object of curiosity for young kittehs or pups. "Are these my feets?"

fierce - a term used by only teh cyootest, littlest kittehs when they feel like they are scary big cats

fiks - fix

fink - think

fings - things

firefox impression cat - cat who is able to curl in the exact pose of the Mozilla Firefox logo; same coloring iz gud

flavr - flavor

floofy - descriptive term for the 'bigger boned' feline. eg "he doesn't eat too much gushyfud, he's just floofy"

fnaks - thanks

fone- a type of communication used by teh kittehs

frenz - friends

FFP - Fragile Feline Police; one of teh many Care Trolls

frum - from

FTW - for the win

fud - food

fur - for

F.U.R.S.T. - A word that is never said aloud or typed due to the jinx possibilities! F.U.R.S.T. is the "nawt sekkund" person (see "nawt sekkund"). They are the winner of the nawt sekkund post in the comments section under a new pic on ICHC. They are offered drinks (non-alcoholic), a dance and congratulations, especially by the sekkund person. A.K.A. furvest from last.

furvest - furthest, as in "furvest from last", see F.U.R.S.T.

fut - foot

fuxing ur perception - messing with your POV

fwend - friend

G.

g - gee

gaev - gave

gawtz - has

giggl - giggle

ginger- a derogatory term for an orange-furred lolcat

GMTA - Great Minds Think Alike

goggie - doggie; see under 'dawg'

googie - sound effect made by hoomans as dey nom certain finger fud pastries when said pastries are filled wif melty chawklit chips and caramel gooeyzzz. Cookie Monster inbented dis term.

gots - has; alt. spelling, gotz

goway - leave me alone

Grabbity, The Law of - you see it, you grab it

gravity - a fickle law which can be turned on and off.

groshury day - day that teh hoomins go to teh groshury (grocery) store and buy da gushifud, da kibble and da treatz! Sometimes u can find da shrimpz and da tuna too.

grrrrr - growl

gud - good

gushifud - canned or yummy wet food, might be in plastic container or bag - must have gravy. Alternate spellings: gushyfud or gooshyfud.

H.

hab - have

habben - haven't

hadda - had to

hai- hi

hao - how

halp - help

hamstr - hamster

happycat - a blue-gray cat known for his penchant for cheeseburgers

happychair - A steel chair, that seems always happy

HappiTail - that straight-up I-just-eetid-a-viagra tail-twitch that means kitty is VERY excited.

har - hair, as in, harblz or harbls(see below)

harribl - horrible

hart - heart

hatez - hates

headcat - is just a head.

headfloor - where hoomans can physically express a groan with their head to the desk or slapping their forehead, kittehs are restricted to headfloor (could also be headtable, etc.) position due to anatomical limitations

harbls - hairballs. Neutered kittehs lack these.

harblz (hair) - nasty stuff that come out of kitteh mouth when kitteh groom too much.

Hakkur Kitteh - A infamous lolcat that uses other's kredit kards to buy cheezburgers online.

haxxor - Hacker, as in "Haxxor kitteh" (alt.-Hakker, Haxor,Hackur,Hakur,Haxur,Haxxur)

hed - head;most commonly used withsplort, as in, hed splort, which occurs when tehCHRG is not used when viewing of teh kyoot kittehs

heer - here; hear

hidercat - a cat hiding

Hillaree - Hillary; alt. spellingz - Hillree

himz - he is; hymns you singz in teh church

hoep - hope

hokay - okay

Holidays - a time when hoomans feel the need to dress up there kittehs in costumes and, while the result may be hilarious, the loss of dignity to the kittehs is not appreciated

Holycat

- a cat who is Holy not holey; an angelic cat

hooman - human; also may be spelled hoomin or hoomun

Hooman owner - a cat; takes the place of teh archaic term - cat owner(see above); cats own hoomans and hab them do da bidding of da kitteh, especially in da opening of da gushifud cans

hopefuwwy - hopefully

hugz - hugs; can be huggz, huggs

hyoominz - humans

I.

I - eye, aye

Icat - a cat who lurves teh compooterz an awlmoas becumz teh compooter at tiemz

ICHC - icanhascheezburger; the most popular site on da intarwebs!

I eated it - teh kitteh has eaten something, most likely something strange, like a hooman

Ima- I am (going to)

I made you a cookie - but I eated it.

idk - I don't know

Ihasahotdog - icanhascheezburger spin-off site featuring loldogs in stead of lolcats

Ikea cat - generally missing parts.

In Soviet Russia... - shows that kittehs think everything is opposite in Soviet Russia, e.g., "In Soviet Russia kitteh captions you", where as, in the USA, we caption kittehs.

inna - in the

Innagaddadavida - in the garden of Eden; a song by "Iron Butterfly", 1968 (they must have had kitteh members! lolz)

instrucshuns - instructions

intarwebs - the internet

intertubes - internet

inturvenshun - intervention

in ur- in your; teh kittehs iz awlwaes "in ur" sumpin

invisibility - lolcat eyes are able to see invisible objects.

iPawd- iPod

i r - I am

irl - in real life

i see what you did thar - kittehs watch us!

it's dangerous to go alone! take this - a legend of zelda reference

Itteh Bitteh Kitteh Commiteh- Committee run by tiny kittehs

I upgraded ur ram- ram has been upgraded, probably in an unusual way

Iz - is, or I am