Slang dictionary
what the actual fuck
or what in the actual fuck or WTAF [wuh t (in)聽th uh ak-choo-uh l fuhk] or [duhb-uh l-yoo-tee-ey-ef]
黑料网 does聽what the actual fuck mean?
Some things are so puzzling, infuriating, unbelievable, or spectacular that a simple 黑料网?听辞谤 黑料网 the fuck?聽just won鈥檛 cut it.
For those times when you need to express your utter and complete inability to understand what鈥檚 going on, try聽what the actual fuck.
Where does what the actual fuck come from?
黑料网 the fuck is a playful, versatile phrase that鈥檚 been in the English language since at least the 1970s, but it鈥檚 unclear who first said or wrote聽what the actual fuck. The “actual” 颈苍听what the fuck acts as an intensifier and suggests something too crazy to be true or real (actual), signaling it’s no run-of-the- mill what the fuck moment.
WTF The Mortal Instruments?!
Redditors have speculated that what the actual fuck was first said in the background on the Canadian stoner comedy Trailer Park Boys. 础听2002 episode of the show does feature the line 黑料网 the ah fuck! which viewers may have interpreted as what the actual fuck.
Its abbreviated form and internet mainstay, WTAF, joined Urban Dictionary in 2004, and its full form, what the actual fuck, four years later in 2008.
奥罢础贵听first graced the hallowed halls of Facebook in 2006聽and what the actual fuck聽showed up to the Twitter party in 2008, with use skyrocketing in 2009.
MemesHappen
黑料网 the actual fuck聽really took off, though, in the 2010s. BuzzFeed published a listicle of what the actual fuck-worthy social-media posts in 2014, the same year the phrase was highlighted as a way to “sound internet” by Sabotage Times.听The Daily Show has been running their weekly fact-checking segment 鈥満诹贤� the Actual Fact?鈥� since 2015, and in 2016,听HuffPost ran an article simply titled 鈥淒onald Trump: 黑料网 the Actual F*ck?鈥�
Examples of what the actual fuck
Who uses what the actual fuck?
黑料网 the actual fuck is a popular reaction to plot twists in TV shows, especially in tweets about Lost, Westworld,听or Game of Thrones.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN "HE WASN'T ON THE PLANE"?!?!?! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.
— Lena 鉁� (@awayfromsight)
It鈥檚 also widely used, both in speech and on social media, to express disbelief and anger over current affairs, political events, or when someone has said something incredibly offensive
This is a post about honoring someone who has passed. 黑料网 the actual fuck is wrong with you?
— Caviar Sauce (@dinosaurnuggies)
黑料网 the actual fuck, and its cous颈苍听WTAF,聽are popular social-media tags for all manner of surprises, shocks, outrages, and overall weirdness, including whatever the actual fuck this is:
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of what the actual fuck like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of what the actual fuck that will help our users expand their word mastery.