Word of the week: Self-own

In the digital world, ownership – or ownage, is it’s often called – is an intangible quality. The tech-jargon sense of to own originated among hackers in the 1990s, who used it to mean “taking control of someone else’s computer”; it was picked up by gamers, for whom it means “to defeat.” (The variant pwn, which originated as a misspelling in the game WarCraft, is sometimes substituted for humorous effect.) To self-own, then, is to confidently blunder into a self-defeating backfire, usually because you’ve unwittingly revealed something embarrassing or incriminating about yourself.

Self-own was first defined in Urban Dictionary in 2004, but it took the advent of social media – and especially Twitter – for it to reach a widespread audience. In May of this year, TheThings.com prefaced an article headlined “15 of the Worst Twitter Self-Owns of All Time” with this explanation:

The self-own is a burgeoning genre in the world of Twitter art. While social media – and indeed the wider internet – has focused more on the concept of the ‘own’ for most of its history, this new form is very much its own breed of hilarity. It springs from the marked increase in confrontational behavior that has occurred on Twitter in recent years, coupled with the fact that many of these people who are committing vast swathes of their time to arguing online just aren’t actually good at it. From this comes the self-own:a tweet, often abusive or arrogant, sent out by an agitator with all the confidence and pride they can muster, who very quickly discovers that the only person they’ve managed to successfully insult is themselves. A good self-own is like a fine wine. Savor it.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, caught on Twitter in a public display of ignorance about acronyms and an overestimation of his own brilliance.

 

The last couple of weeks alone have seen an efflorescence of self-ownage from, among others:

• James O'Keefe, whose Project Veritas [sic] was exposed by the Washington Post as the shoddily executed sting. 

James O'Keefe proving that WaPo reporters are skeptical and thorough in their reporting and thinking it's a "gotcha" is an amazing self-own

— Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) November 29, 2017

The final self-own on the day from James O'Keefe was when he sent out his fundraising email with a line urging recipients to help, "beat the Washington Post to the presses"

... hours after the Post did exactly that.

— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) November 28, 2017

Most people don't know, but "Veritas" is actually Latin for "self-own".

— Tom Bombadril (@InnerPartisan) November 27, 2017

 

I have never seen a self-own of this caliber https://t.co/g5OqxJA8VI

— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) December 3, 2017

 

• Sebastian Gorka, the former Trump Administration “advisor” and supporter of Hungarian ultra-nationalism.

For those blocked by Gorka, here is his oblivious self-own of the day... #FancyHunting pic.twitter.com/tnpgrNAMYo

— Chris Middle Name Withheld Zeitz (@PrivateSnuffy) November 25, 2017

 

• Laura Ingraham, the conservative talk-show host.

I'm not wrong in thinking this is a massive self-own, right? pic.twitter.com/juH7mSBw9c

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) November 22, 2017

 

• Brit Hume, the Fox News commentator.

Fantastic self-own, 10/10 https://t.co/suyGGKjj57

— maura "are jack and biz nazis?" quint (@behindyourback) December 3, 2017

 

• U.S. Senator Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada.

I have never seen a self-own of this caliber https://t.co/g5OqxJA8VI

— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) December 3, 2017

 

• And, not to be outdone, the current occupant of the White House.

This will may go down as his greatest self-own, when all is said and done. https://t.co/oObTF2D5el

— Dave Quast (@davequast) December 2, 2017

 

Greatest self-own of all time? https://t.co/tIGdTBw1mA

— Drew (@Lutes) December 3, 2017

 

In fact, the Trump tweet is likely to be much worse than a mere self-own: Five legal experts interviewed by Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star said the tweet – which the Washington Post reported had been drafted by Trump’s personal lawyer* – could help establish that Trump committed obstruction of justice.

You could generalize further, if you were so inclined.

America is just one giant self own https://t.co/rpYfm8LBJk

— Merry Carolmas (@CGRunyon) September 26, 2017

But be careful with the transposition from print to spoken word.

My husband, watching @chrislhayes just now: What does he mean, 'giant cellphone'?
Me: Not cell phone. SELF-OWN.
Him: What is that?
Me: Shh.

— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) October 10, 2017

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* For a linguistic analysis of the tweet’s authorship – which may hinge on the use of pled instead of the more lawyerly pleaded – see Ben Zimmer’s article in TheAtlantic.com.

Comments

[Jonathon Owen]

Some real gems here, but wow, that Laura Ingraham tweet.

[3000words]

Great! New word for me! Self-own! Thanks, good to know!