Lolcow
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About
Lolcow, a portmanteau of the acronym LOL and cow, is a derogatory slang term used to describe an individual who is deemed highly exploitable and therefore susceptible to trolling and flaming due to their display of gullible behavior online. The term is also closely associated with the forum Kiwi Farms, which helped to popularize it throughout the 2010s and 2020s.
Origin
The etymological root of the label may be attributed to "cash cow," an English idiomatic term used to describe a person, product or service that generates a steady stream of revenues, in allusion to milk produced by the dairy cow on a regular basis. One of the earliest online mentions of "lolcow" can be found in an Urban Dictionary entry submitted by DreadSmile on April 15th, 2007.[1]
LOLcow: A phenomena, usually observed on forums and/or imageboards. A person, most often someone who tries to look exceedingly knowledgeable in the topic discussed, is being flamed/trolled to the point where they can no longer present "sane" arguments that will "fit their level", but yet are too proud to just quit. This produces a considerable amount of lolz and win, for which the said person can be "milked" until they finally give up. Or drop dead. Hence the name.
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Lolcow
Spread
In December 2007, an encyclopedic article for "lolcow" was created on Encyclopedia Dramatica (ED)[3] with a lengthy list of online personalities whom it deemed as notable examples of "lolcows." On December 16th, 2007, an excerpt from the ED article was submitted to Urban Dictionary, which has remained the most voted definition of the term. In the following years, at least five additional entries defining the term were submitted to Urban Dictionary[2].
[From ED] A lol-cow is a victim of a Flame War who can't help but be milked for lulz time and time again. They have a compulsive need to give up as many laughs as possible at their own expense despite themselves.
On January 24th, 2010, an entry for "lolcow" was submitted to Wikipedia's English dictionary site Wiktionary.[4] On March 13th, 2012, Force of Geek writer Jonathan Dantzler wrote about the phenomenon in an article titled The Anatomy of a Lolcow,[7] offering an analysis of the psychological exploitability of those who are deemed gullible and overly competitive by trolls, especially in the context of online arguments.
In 2014, Lolcow.wiki,[5] an internet culture encyclopedia devoted to "various Internet phenomena, especially the antics of people," was launched, as well as Lolcowchan (also known as Lolcow.farm),[6] an imageboard community named after the label.
Search Interest
External References
[2] Urban Dictionary – results for lolcow
[3] Encyclopedia Dramatica – lol-cow
[7] Force of Geek – The Anatomy of a Lolcow
[8] Kiwi – What Makes a Person a LOLCow?
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