http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_RLY%3F
O RLY?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
O RLY?, short for "Oh, really?" is a popular Internet phenomenon, typically presented as an image macro featuring a snowy owl. The usual conversation flow starts with O RLY?, triggering a YA RLY ("Yes, really") response, and then ending with NO WAI!!! ("No way"). These may be used in combination with any number of other Internet slang expressions.
The phrase "O RLY?" is typically used in a sarcastic or sardonic manner, often in response to a statement that the speaker feels is blatantly obvious. Some Internet forum trollers may also reply O RLY? in response to a lengthy post (see also TLDR).
History
The phrase "o rly?" was used on the Something Awful Forums at least as early as August 2003.[1] The original "O RLY?" Snowy Owl image macro is based on a photo taken by nature photographer John White, which was posted by him to the newsgroup alt.binaries.pictures.animals in 2001.[2] The snowy owl image was Photoshopped on 4chan after the word filtering of the word "repost" to "owl".[3] The typeface used for the "O RLY?" text is ITC Kabel Bold, a variant of the Kabel typeface. The owl image macro was posted or linked to on other websites such as OffTopic.com, Fark, Newgrounds, GameFAQs, and YTMND, spawning many more image macros involving owls.
Use outside of the Internet
In the Game Boy Advance game Mega Man Battle Network 6, if the player tries the Humor program at Cyber Academy, Lan responds to a certain joke with "O Rly?" and MegaMan.EXE replies with "Ya Rly!". Also, if the player tries it at the Expo Site, there is a "No Wai!" joke.[4]
In the Xbox 360 version of the football game Blitz: The League, one of the hidden gamer achievements is called "O RLY?" It is "earned" by losing a Campaign Mode game by more than 24 points. The image of this achievement is, appropriately enough, of a snowy owl.[5]
In the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, there is an NPC called "O'reely" (found in Booty Bay), one called "Yarly" (found in Undercity), and a white owl called "O'reilly" (found in Tanaris). And, more recently, in the Caverns of Time there is also an NPC named "Yarly".[6]
The promotional video announcing the American license of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, "Adventures of the ASOS Brigade Episode 00: Made by Fans for Fans," features a short segment using pictures with the caption "O RLY?" in both English and Japanese. The segment starts with Yuki Nagato making a statement in Japanese, with an "O RLY?" image displayed, and with her replying, in Japanese, "Really." The segment ends with another picture saying "NO WAI!"[7]
The Australian sketch show The Ronnie Johns Half Hour included a sketch called Ham1337 in which Hamlet's "To be or not To be" soliloque was translated via subtitles into internet abbreviations. at one point the subtitles read "O RLY?", "YA RLY", "NO WAI!".
Owl on the cover of Carrots/KKKK.
Owl on the cover of Carrots/KKKK.
Noise/dub band Excepter's side (KKKK) of the Carrots/KKKK single has a track entitled "ORLY?" as well as an illustration of an owl -- although not a snowy owl -- on the Excepter cover artwork.[original research?]
Worm
On May 10, 2006, anti-virus company Sophos discovered a computer worm known as "W32/Hoots-A", which sends a graphical image of the snowy owl to a print queue when it infects a computer.[8][9]
