Fap | Know Your Meme

Warning: This page contains material that may be considered not safe for work.

About

“Fap” is an onomatopoeic Internet slang term for the act of masturbation. The word is typically associated with men, while “schlick” refers to female masturbation.

Origin

“Fap” is one of many onomatopoeic words often used in manga to depict the specific sound of a character masturbating. The earliest known transcription of the word “fap” online can be found in the Sexy Losers webcomic titled “Video Girl Etchi” (shown below, left), published on April 28th, 1999. The comic parodied a scene from Video Girl Ai, a manga series written and illustrated by Masakazu Katsura and released between 1990 and 1993. On July 12th, 2011, Sexy Losers’ artist Clay revealed in a post on Tumblr that he was inspired by a Heartbroken Angels comic strip by Masahiko Kikuni depicting God masturbating when searching for a sound representing masturbation in his own strip.

Spread

In 2001, the phrase “fap” was featured in the webcomic Ghastly’s Comic.

“Buck Cake” is to Ghastly’s Ghastly Comic what “Fap” is to Sexy Losers.

By 2002, articles defining the terms “fap” and “fapping” were submitted to Urban Dictionary. By 2003, the onomatopoeia was again defined as part of the General MayhemFAQ thread:

What is “fapping?”The sound made while masturbating. Guys fap. Girls paf or “squish.”

On May 1st, 2004, YTMND user Smobey created the Fap Fap Fap page. Over the next decade, more than 240 YTMNDs related to the term have been made. The top five currently all have over 21,000 views, including YTMND’s Daily Fap Average. On September 8th, 2007, the Urban Dictionary entry for “fap” was featured as the Urban Word of the Day. On June 24th, 2011, the Internet humor blog Smosh published a compilation of notable fap-related image macros (shown below).

On February 9th, 2012, the Machinima YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “Top 10 Games to Fap To” (shown below, left), featuring several video games with sexually suggestive content. In the first two years, the video garnered over 1.66 million views and 4,300 comments. On March 6th, MTV published a compilation of animated GIFs titled “17 GIFs That Look Like They’re Fapping,” in which the subjects appear to be making masturbation gestures. On July 17th, YouTuber shooterwilliamson uploaded a video titled “How to Fap,” which provided satirical tips on masturbating in public (shown below, right). Within 11 months, the video gained over 620,000 views and 950 comments.

Outside of its usage in internet humor communities, the term “Fap” has been also adopted by adult porn sites, including ImageFap and FileFap launched in 2006 and 2008 respectively.

Shlick

“Schlick” is an onomatopoeic term for female masturbation. An anonymous Urban Dictionary user submitted an entry for “schlick” on April 12th, 2003, which defined it as “the sound associated with female masturbation.” On the microblogging site Tumblr, NSFW animated GIFs and images depicting women masturbating are often posted with the tag “schlicking.”

Notable Examples

Related Memes

Every Time You Masturbate, God Kills a Kitten

Every Time You Masturbate, God Kills a Kitten is a catchphrase asserting that masturbating causes the death of innocent kittens. The adage was first published in the May 1999 issue of BarFly magazine and popularized online in 2002 after a photoshopped image featuring two Domo toys chasing after a kitten was posted to Fark.

I Can’t Fap to This

I Can’t Fap to This is a catchphrase that often appears in YouTube comments and as a caption on reaction images to express a person’s distaste with the post or video they are commenting on. The phrase appeared in an image macro format (shown below, left) as early as December 2008. It can also be found in the positive manne I Can Fap To This, often paired with an image of someone looking devious or a GIF of someone becoming pleased.

No Fap September

No Fap September is a month-long challenge during which participants must abstain from masturbating. It is rumored to have been first held on 4chan in 2009, however the post was not archived. That year, it spread to dozens of male-oriented message boards. By mid-2011, the /r/NoFap subreddit was created, encouraging Redditors to abstain from masturbating in week-long or month-long challenges, if not permanently. As of June 2013, nearly 60,000 “fapstronauts” have subscribed to the subreddit.

Fap Guy

Fap Guy is a rage comic character with a strained facial expression used to express the act of masturbation. The character’s facial expression is taken from the rage comic character Now Kiss, created in February 2010. That May, FunnyJunk user TehEman submitted the first Fap Guy rage comic (shown below).

Clopping

Clopping is an onomatopoeic tern used within the brony fandom to describe masturbating to the ponies from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The word is derived from clop, a term coined circa 1901 to describe the sound of horse’s hooves against the ground. Though it is unclear where the term originated, it was used as early as February 27th, 2011 on Equestria Daily to describe a sexual fanfiction story.

Search Interest

External References