Do you think anything originated in the SDMB will become a popular catchphrase used by more than the denizens of this messageboard?
Part of me would like it, just so I don’t get the :dubious: face as often.
But then most of me realises the boards are only as good when to a limited audience.
It seems unlikely to me. Doperisms are funny, if at all, only in context. I’ve yet to run across a situation IRL that elicited a “Hi Opal!” or “1920’s-Style . . .”. And if I had used one, the ensuing explanation would have sucked all the air right out of the room.
So, no . . . I don’t see it happening. Maybe once. In 1960. For twenty minutes.
It could certainly happen. Lots of phrases have migrated into common usage from Usenet and AOL. Whether you could ever identify the SDMB as the original source is another question.
I’d love to have “Penis ensues” on a T-shirt, but I don’t think it’d go over too well in public. I’d be a little uncomfortable wearing it in public, for fear of offending someone. But in it’s context, it’s hilarious.
Some people have heard “Hi Opal” out IRL – I (very vaguely) remember someone posting about some folk musician saying it as part of his (?) stage patter.
A contestant on Jeopardy! mouthed “Hi Opal” during Final Jeopardy. 
Zev Steinhardt
“Gotcha ya!” and “Fucko off” probably have the best chances of moving into the mainstream.
What I’d really like to see catch on, though, is “I burning your dog”.
I haven’t been around here too long, can you guys explain some of these things.
There has been some discussion as to whether Gaudere’s Law has been (slightly) recognized IRL (in WikiPedia) - see this thread where it was discussed
Dani
You should find enough information about these “doperisms” here:
I’m pretty sure asshat originated here (this is the only place I’d heard it, anyway), and a character on the WB show “One Tree Hill” used it a couple of weeks ago.
This has been discussed here many times (though it’s been awhile so I might be slightly off on the details.) IIRC, at least one doper claims to have coined it independently of hearing it anywhere else, but I’m pretty sure (this is where my details get shaky) someone cited a use of it back to 1985 (?)
A lot of stuff that we think is relatively new (5-10 years) eventually turns up in old usenet posts or even printed media from the 1980s or earlier. The “first” emoticon was found a couple years ago in a usenet post from, IIRC, 1982?
Whoops, looks like an even earlier one was found, from 1953:
I think the one I was thinking of was from 1979 [link dead]:
Text from here.
Sorry if that was too off-topic. My point is, though, that Asshat is not exclusive to the SDMB :).
I remember “asshat” from the 1980s BBS days, pre-Internet. “Asshat” and “assclown” both got quite a bit of play when disputes turned into flaming competitions on the boards that I frequented (most of which were related to the Commodore 64).
Same here.
It’d be the ultimate put down.
I vote for “penis ensues”. It’s funny, in and of itself, and if you do want to understand it’s origin, it can be explained in one sentence. No long backstory for context, like “1920’s style-” or “once. In 1960. For twenty minutes.”
“Hi Opal” seems to be fading around here. Plus, I think that’s funnier in a written list than a spoken one.
I use that sometimes in the real world. Some people have chuckled like they had an innate understanding of what it means. Come to think of it, I did too the first time I heard it. That means it has really high potential for popular usage if people would just get out there and burnin’ some dogs in public.
Someone reported that they heard John Mayer yell out “Hi Opal!” in between songs at one of his concerts.
But in general, I think most doperisms “work” on the SDMB and lose something in any other context.
A year or so ago I pressured Opal to design and make me a T-Shirt that said
‘3. Hi, Opal!’
I’ve worn it around town here in Ohio and gotten a few people who said they’ve recognized it. They’re always curious where it came from.
So there’s at least some minimal acknowledgement of that one out there.