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There are a number of catch phrases that originated on the Internet that have made their way into mainstream society. Here are the top ten pop phrases that started on the Internet.

1. You Got Owned

The phrase ‘you got owned’ originated in the online gaming industry and was used to describe an overwhelming defeat of another player. The phrase can also be written as ‘You got pwned.’ This phrase has now made its way out of cyberspace and into casual conversation. It is used in a similar way to gaming slang to describe when a person has lost a competition. Even sports commentators have been heard using this pop phrase during broadcasts when they witness an impressive sporting victory.

2. All Your Base Are Belong To Us

This phrase is also known is some shortened forms such as ‘AYBABTU’, ‘AYB’, and ‘All Your Base’. This is a form of broken English known as Engrish and originated from the opening scene a poorly translated Japanese video game called Zero Wing. The game itself was not particularly popular, but the catch phrase was quickly spread online through message boards and fan-made video clips. Even though this game is now quite old, this pop phrase still persists and is seen in online and other video games, webcomics, and message boards. In 2006, YouTube used a version of this catch phrase ‘All your video are belong to us’ as a placeholder when the site was down for temporary maintenance. Several other catch phrases from this game are also in circulation, such as ‘for great justice’.

3. This Is….!

This catch phrase has become a Web fad and was inspired by an overly dramatic (and unintentionally amusing) line in the action movie 300. The original line in the movie was ‘This is Sparta!’ but the online version allows you to insert your own word and has spawned a huge number of silly images, posters, t-shirts, and more. One popular usage is to insert a website name, such as ‘This is eBay!’, or another place name such as ‘This is Milton Keynes!’ The online version of this catch phrase is widespread and popular video clips parodying the scene in the movie can be seen on YouTube. Some of these videos have millions of views.

4. The “O RLY?” Owl

‘O RLY?’ is an abbreviation of “Oh, really?” This is an Internet phenomenon that started life as an image macro back in 2003. The photo of a snowy owl (taken by nature photographer John White) was posted on the Something Awful forums with ‘O RLY?’ written underneath. The phrase quickly spread to other message boards, chat rooms, and forums and is used as a sarcastic, mocking response to other posts. This is a persistent and widespread pop phrase, and if you spend any time looking through message boards and chat rooms, you will soon come across the phrase (sometimes with the picture as well). This can also be followed up by the popular response, ‘YA RLY.’

5. It’s Over Nine Thousand!

This is popular online catch phrase originates from another bad case of dubbing. The English dub of Dragon Ball Z anime (famous for over-the-top extended fight scenes) has a lot of screaming and general chaotic background noise. The line ‘It’s over nine thousand’ referred to a character that was said to be over the level of nine thousand (very high). Basically, this catch phrase is now used widely on the Internet in message boards, game rooms, chat zones, and more. It is typically used to describe leveling up, gaining points, or obtaining very high scores in a humorous way.

6. I can’t hear you over the sound of how awesome I am

This pop phrase is widely spread over the Internet and is used mostly in conjunction with a picture of someone who clearly thinks they are ‘awesome’. The original catch phrase came from a Star Trek online page at Fiveminute.com. This was posted next to a picture of the main character James T. Kirk. The great thing is that the catch phrase was objective. You could read it in a literal way, that the person in the picture really is that awesome, or you could read it in an ironic way, to mock someone’s huge (and unwarranted) ego. T-shirts featuring this logo are still very popular.

7. Shut Down Everything

This pop phrase originates from the Pandemic II, a popular online flash game. In this game, the player has to spread a deadly disease over the world in order to wipe out humanity. The Republic of Madagascar is the most difficult target to infect with the disease in the game due to the near perfect border control. In response to the difficulty of achieving the successful contamination of Madagascar, a famous and very popular joke was spawned that featured the President of Madagascar yelling ‘Shut down everything.’ This was seen in online video clips, message boards, comics, and more.

8. What is this I don’t even?

This popular catch phrase is a mainstay on message boards in response to another comment that is so shocking, provocative, or stupid that it leaves the reader speechless. This phrase has been around for a number of years on the message boards and made it into the online Urban Dictionary in 2008.

9. Do a Barrel Roll

When Star Fox 64 was released in 1997, it quickly became known in the gaming community for the amount of times a character kept saying the same phrase – ‘do a barrel roll’ – over and over again. This phrase was used so indiscriminately throughout the game that it became irrelevant and is now used as a standard answer to any random questions or comments (the more irrelevant the use of the phrase, the better).

10. Ramirez, Do Everything!

This is a more recent online pop phrase and originates from the popular videogame Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (released in 2009). Throughout the game, poor old Private Ramirez (the default player character) is called upon by the sergeant to do all kinds of unpleasant and demanding tasks. This is an inside joke in many cases, but has been so widely used online in message boards and forums that it is becoming very popular; there is even a Facebook group name after the catch phrase.