copypasta
/KAH-pee-PAH-stuh/noun
Meaning
A block of text copied and pasted across websites, forums, social media, or chats, usually because it has become recognizable, humorous, provocative, or useful for repeating a message. A copypasta may be a short catchphrase, a long rant, a fake warning, a paragraph from a meme, or—less commonly outside internet slang—copied code or documentation.[1][2]
- 1. A recognizable block of text repeatedly reposted online as a meme, joke, story, rant, or catchphrase.
- 2. A repeated message used to flood a thread, provoke reactions, parody someone, or make a deliberately over-the-top reply.
- 3. In programming and technical discussion, code or documentation copied from elsewhere, especially when it has not been properly adapted and contains errors.
Examples
“The replies are all the same copypasta again.”
“Someone dropped the entire Bee Movie copypasta in chat.”
“I opened the thread and got hit with three paragraphs of copypasta.”
“That warning looks like copypasta, not an official announcement.”
“Please don't use copypasta for production code without checking every variable.”
Origin and spread
Copypasta is a playful blend of copy-paste and pasta: the first part names the act of duplicating text, while the second gives the phrase its comic sound. The exact person or community that coined it is not established, but the earliest documented example located is a February 2, 2006, 4chan post using the word in connection with collections of ASCII art and repeated text. The term was also circulating in Usenet communities by 2006. In the mid-2000s, repeated reposting on anonymous imageboards helped make copypasta a label for texts that spread through human users rather than automated spam. By around 2010, the word had begun appearing in edited publications, and later examples such as creepypasta, the Navy Seal copypasta, and the Bee Movie script made the category familiar to wider internet audiences.[2]
How to use it
Copypasta is informal and often carries a joking, dismissive, or mildly critical tone. Calling something copypasta can mean that it is a beloved internet classic, but it can also suggest that the poster is recycling an unoriginal rant or flooding a discussion. The word is most natural as a noun: a copypasta, several copypastas, or just copypasta in a mass-noun use. Although it is occasionally used as a verb, that use is uncommon and can sound forced.
Sources
- 1. Wiktionary — copypastaSupports: form, earliest documented use, meaning.
- 2. Wikipedia — CopypastaSupports: meaning, origin.
