>tfw no gf
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About
">tfw no gf" is an abbreviated expression for "that feeling [I get] when [I have] no girlfriend" often used in online discussions and comments to describe one's fragile emotional state as a result of loneliness and lack of companionship. Most commonly found in greentext posts on 4chan, the phrase can be seen as an expression of self-pity or commiseration over being single, in a similar vein to other lonely characters like Forever Alone, That Feel Guy and the Sad Frog characters.
Origin
The earliest archived thread containing the phrase ">that feel when no gf" was submitted to the /jp/[1] (Otaku culture) 4chan board on September 23rd, 2010.
Spread
On February 23rd, 2011, the phrase "that feel when no gf" was paired with an image of the That Feel Guy in a post on 4chan's /a/[2] (anime and manga) board (shown below).
On April 5th, 2012, YouTuber Bernd Meier uploaded a video titled "That feel when no girlfriend," featuring a photoshopped image of the That Feel Guy playing a guitar accompanied by a song about being "forever alone". In the first two years, the video accumulated over 118,000 views and 1,000 comments (shown below, left). On June 9th, the tfwnogf YouTube channel was launched, which contains videos with photoshopped images of That Feel Guy accompanied by dramatic background music (shown below, right).
On August 10th, the website TfwNoGF[4] was created, in which users can submit emotional green text stories and images featuring That Feel guy. On the following day, Urban Dictionary[3] user Anonymous8223 submitted an entry for "tfw no gf," defining it as a "statement of sorrow." On August 16th, 2013, a Facebook[6] page titled "That Feel When No GF" was launched, which highlights various "tfw no gf" image macros. On June 27th, 2013, the men's interest blog New Age Man[7] published a compilation of That Feel Guy images titled "Do You Know That Feel When No GF?" (shown below).
2020 Documentary
On March 12th, 2020, YouTuber Justin Murphy uploaded an interview with filmmaker Alex Lee Moyer to discuss her upcoming documentary TFW NO GF (shown below). The interview contained clips from the documentary, showing an interview with Edward Waverley, a podcaster best known by his online handle Kantbot.
On March 17th, the film and television news site The Spool[11] published an article titled "'TFW No GF' Is a Surface-Level Look at Internet Trolls." On April 20th, the news site Deadline[10] published an article reporting that Moyer had opted into Amazon Prime Video's online SXSW plan in order for the film to be seen. On April 21st, the Amazon Prime Video Twitter[8] feed posted about an upcoming documentary to be released on the platform. Within 24 hours, the tweet gained over 5,700 likes and 2,200 retweets.
TFW NO GF (documentary): A generation of lonely 20-something men bond on sites like 4chan and Twitter over feelings of "falling between the cracks." Follow their stories between their online personas and their feelings of "hyper-anonymity" IRL.
That day, Twitter user @liz_franczak[9] tweeted a parody of the Amazon Prime tweet, referencing the meme I Just Want to Grill (shown below). Meanwhile,
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Foolz – First sighting
[2] Foolz – With IKTFB
[3] Urban Dictionary – tfw no gf
[6] Facebook – That Feel When No GF
[7] New Age Man – Do you know that feel when no gf
[8] Twitter – @PrimeVideo
[9] Twitter – @liz_franczak
[10] Deadline – Coping With COVID-19 Crisis
[11] The Spool – TFW No GF Is a Surface-Level Look at Internet Trolls
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