Edgy

(Work In Progress)

About

“Edgy” is a term used to describe something that is provocative, trying to go against the societal norms. On the internet, it is often associated with tryhards and gratuitous dark themes.

Origin

According to Online Etymology Dictionary,^[12] the word originated in 1775 and meant “having sharp edges”. By 1837, the meaning “tense and irritable” was attested, from the notion of being on the edge of doing something irrational. The online usage is mostly attributed to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of “having a bold, provocative, or unconventional quality”.^[13]

Spread

On November 13th 2011, a YouTuber named Errant Signal^[11] released a video discussing edgy concepts in video games, using footage from the 1997-2001 American animated television series Daria. As of January 25th 2014, the video has around 45,000 views and 1491 likes.

On June 18th 2012, an image saying “Now That’s What I Call Edgy” (pictured below) had been posted on the “Oh No They Didn’t” LiveJournal page.^[8] The image eventually came up on other sites. Same year, on July 1st, the image was posted on 4chan’s /v/ (Videogames) board in a thread about Felicia Day.^[9] Since then, it has been used as a negative reaction image.

On October 25th 2013, Twitter user Triple-Q uploaded a parody image of a Canadian-American cartoon show Ed, Edd and Eddy, named “Edg, Edge, and Edgy”, featuring the likenesses of Ryuko Matoi from Kill la Kill, Dante from DmC: Devil May Cry, and Shadow the Hedgehog from Sonic franchise^[10]. As of January 2014, the tweet has been retweeted 41 times and favorited 32 times.

However, the word “edgy” had seen a lot of misuse since it started to be used widely. The word had become associated with shitposters due to them calling out simple opinions as “edgy”. In December 2012, several threads^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] on 4chan’s /q/ board had been made, requesting to filter the word.

Notable Examples

The term is widely used on internet sites like 4chan,^[1] reddit,^[2] Funnyjunk,^[3] therefore numerous reaction images and image macros have been made around it.