"Metafiltered" as a verb August 8, 2012 6:07 PM   Subscribe

So, as a newbie (on here; rather older in real life) and as (currently) an Englishman, is "Metafiltered" an acceptable verb? e.g. "Spotted this great little news story so I Metafiltered it", or, like, are people going to start getting all OED on me if I do that?
posted by Wordshore to Etiquette/Policy at 6:07 PM (92 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite

Everything is acceptable!

I kind of prefer 'posted it to Metafilter' myself, but.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:10 PM on August 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


More like ODB.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:10 PM on August 8, 2012 [5 favorites]


I generally use "FPP" as a verb: "You should totally FPP that!" or "I FPP'd it last year."
posted by griphus at 6:11 PM on August 8, 2012


As I understand it, the idea is that makers of posts are filtering the contents of the web to present the choicest morsels to the site readership.

So "I MetaFiltered it" [you're capitalizing the "F", I hope] would make sense when used outside MetaFilter to describe the action of making a post.

Here you could say "Look what I've MetaFiltered for you". But I don't advise it.
posted by Egg Shen at 6:19 PM on August 8, 2012


OCD is a lot more likely around here.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:19 PM on August 8, 2012


I am down with OPP.

other people's posts are really quite good....
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:25 PM on August 8, 2012 [7 favorites]


I like big BTUs and I Carnot lie.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:31 PM on August 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


I say "MeF'ed" (rhymes with "beefed").
posted by infinitywaltz at 6:33 PM on August 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


I wrote up a blog entry a few years back looking at various apparent uses of "metafilter" as a verb, though it was looking specifically at the -ing form. But, yeah, people do all sorts of interesting things with inflections of the site name. Do what feels good, language is for enjoying.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:36 PM on August 8, 2012


language is for enjoying

Fuck yeah!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:38 PM on August 8, 2012 [4 favorites]


"posted on the blue"
"shared with the cabal"
"told Mathowie and the gang"
"totally 'filtered it"
"cat-scanned it, knowwhatImean?"
Are all acceptable euphemisms, and may be found in the OED, Seekrit Cabal Edition.
posted by theora55 at 6:39 PM on August 8, 2012


"MetaFiltered" to me sounds like what happens to a website when it gets posted to the front page. It could either refer to the act of posting that link itself ("My website has been MetaFiltered! Yay!") or the effect that post had on the site ("My server crashed after that link. It got MetaFiltered. Boo!")
posted by carsonb at 6:42 PM on August 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


"served a plate of beans"
posted by Egg Shen at 6:43 PM on August 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


Metafilter you, pal!

Well, bless your Metafilter!
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:08 PM on August 8, 2012


"MeFi-ing like a mofo"
posted by Egg Shen at 7:10 PM on August 8, 2012 [3 favorites]


the -ing form

Couple the -ing form with the contact form and you can get other people doing your work for you.
posted by DU at 7:16 PM on August 8, 2012


"MetaFiltered that for you."
posted by Ardiril at 7:42 PM on August 8, 2012


who cares
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:42 PM on August 8, 2012


I say "MeF'ed" (rhymes with "beefed").

And "queefed."
posted by yoink at 7:43 PM on August 8, 2012


Just be mindful that a single link "little news story" might get the boot.

Yes, please don't do any newsing.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:43 PM on August 8, 2012


Vebring weirds language.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:01 PM on August 8, 2012


(Verbing does, too)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:01 PM on August 8, 2012


The meta is silent. "I 'filtered it."
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:06 PM on August 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


Vebring weirds language.

Ah, GeoCities! How ve've missed you!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 8:13 PM on August 8, 2012


"I MetaFiltered it"

See, I would interpret that as meaning "I fucked it up".
posted by mazola at 8:17 PM on August 8, 2012


In engineering, ODEs are more common that any knowledge of the OED.
posted by maryr at 8:21 PM on August 8, 2012


MeFi'd to the max, bro.


(Am I doing it right?)
posted by arcticseal at 8:28 PM on August 8, 2012


I'd FPP it.
posted by flabdablet at 8:30 PM on August 8, 2012


Reader, I Metafiltered him.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:37 PM on August 8, 2012 [4 favorites]


"I Metafiltered it" is not an idiom we see around here much. You would be breaking new linguistic ground.

The common ways to say it would be:
- "I posted it" [or, I posted it on the blue, I posted it to Metafilter]
- "I FPPed it" [FPP = front page post, used only to mean posting something to "the blue" ie Metafilter proper]
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:38 PM on August 8, 2012


Note, I am giving you a plain straightforward answer here, not joking. This area of the site (MetaTalk, "the gray") is sometimes pretty jokey, in-jokey, so it may be hard to tell.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:40 PM on August 8, 2012


Egg Shen: "the choicest morsels to the site readership"

I hate the word morsels and even more so choicest morsels. It sounds like cat food.
posted by IndigoRain at 8:43 PM on August 8, 2012




Better than choicest moral choices. Sounds like Kant food for thought.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 8:47 PM on August 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


I hate the word morsels

How are you with "moist"?
posted by flabdablet at 9:10 PM on August 8, 2012


Wow, I've never read the Blazecock Pileon Creation Myth before.
posted by griphus at 9:14 PM on August 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


theora55, there is no cabal. Report to your nearest re-education center for compulsory retraining. There is no cabal.
posted by Scientist at 9:30 PM on August 8, 2012


Moist actually never bothered me.
posted by IndigoRain at 10:23 PM on August 8, 2012


Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
posted by mr_roboto at 10:33 PM on August 8, 2012


No the 'filter is silent.

I'm sooo going to Meta that.
Brb Meta break.
Let me Meta that for you


Or shorten to Me'f [meef]:

so then I tried to Me'f up my site traffic but taz nuked me from orbit just to be sure.
Where's the Me'f?!
We'll just Me'f that right up for ya
!
posted by tilde at 11:05 PM on August 8, 2012


MOr shorten to Me'f [meef]:

Good heavens, no. We're not here to meet a filter (nor to meet a file). You can meff it. In fact, the correct pronunciation of the standard abbreviation of this place is actually "meff it", with a silent "t". This "Me! Fie!" business grates on the souls of the non-confused.
posted by kengraham at 11:10 PM on August 8, 2012


I metater'd it.
posted by roboton666 at 11:21 PM on August 8, 2012


I Metafiltered yer mom.

she was alright
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:08 AM on August 9, 2012


I blue'd it.
posted by infini at 2:20 AM on August 9, 2012


A local blogger here in Vermont is fond of saying he "blogged up a post."

As for your choice of turning nouns into verbs, that's your business. I will continue to cringe when I see such things.
posted by terrapin at 5:25 AM on August 9, 2012


Why? English is full of verbed nouns. It's even been gifted with verbed adjectives.
posted by flabdablet at 5:55 AM on August 9, 2012


Wouldn't an Englishman say "MetaFiltred"?
posted by Eideteker at 6:06 AM on August 9, 2012


moist slacks
posted by slogger at 6:42 AM on August 9, 2012


I'm just glad that one really annoying thing people used to do to be cute seems to have completely died out. I'm not going to mention it or else someone will start doing it again, but those of you who know, know.

*taps side of nose with index finger*
posted by laconic skeuomorph at 7:01 AM on August 9, 2012


*also starts tapping side of nose with index finger*
posted by flabdablet at 7:10 AM on August 9, 2012


Hoppitamoppita!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:14 AM on August 9, 2012 [4 favorites]


I'm just glad that one really annoying thing people used to do to be cute seems to have completely died out.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Todd Lokken
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:01 AM on August 9, 2012 [2 favorites]


And I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into their scanners, or why.
posted by flabdablet at 8:06 AM on August 9, 2012


I'd blue it.

I'd green it but I blew mine on a can I eat it.

Alright, that's it, let's go grey this.
posted by tilde at 8:50 AM on August 9, 2012


*starts tapping side of index finger with nose, while reciting the Gettysburg Address backwards in Croatian while standing on one foot and waving at approaching policeman*
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:31 AM on August 9, 2012


*whistles the Treaty of Westphalia while tapping index finger against bridge of reading glasses*
posted by infini at 9:39 AM on August 9, 2012


*pastes Treaty of Westphalia*
posted by flabdablet at 9:39 AM on August 9, 2012


*looks daggers at infini*
posted by flabdablet at 9:40 AM on August 9, 2012


*requests edit window pony*
posted by flabdablet at 9:41 AM on August 9, 2012


*continues to comment machine gun style*
posted by flabdablet at 9:41 AM on August 9, 2012


*wonders whether doing so is poor form*
posted by flabdablet at 9:42 AM on August 9, 2012


*considers stunt MeTa post to inquire about this*
posted by flabdablet at 9:43 AM on August 9, 2012


::reminisces about AOL::
posted by griphus at 9:43 AM on August 9, 2012


*adds garlic*
posted by flabdablet at 9:43 AM on August 9, 2012


*begins alphabet thread*
posted by flabdablet at 9:45 AM on August 9, 2012


*continues alphabet thread*
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:48 AM on August 9, 2012


*continues alphabet thread*
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:48 AM on August 9, 2012


*Dammit!*
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:48 AM on August 9, 2012


eh, don't worry faint of butt, great minds think alike
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:50 AM on August 9, 2012


FWIW, your comment is posted the same minute as mine.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:51 AM on August 9, 2012


Go on, now, the rest of you... it's alphabet time!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:52 AM on August 9, 2012


None of those are it, btw. I'll never tell.
posted by laconic skeuomorph at 9:52 AM on August 9, 2012


Oh, no, no... N doesn't follow G. Back to first grade for you.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:08 AM on August 9, 2012


I'd FPP it.

I finally found out definitively (I think) what FPP means after all this time. It was indirectly mentioned in the FAQ. I sort of knew what people were saying from context, but never worked it out. I don’t think it’s a great term, but apparently other people like it.
posted by bongo_x at 10:45 AM on August 9, 2012


Jeez, this new crop of Mefiers, they really don't know how to do an alphabet thread, do they?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:47 AM on August 9, 2012


Kandinsky was a hell of an artist.
posted by griphus at 11:05 AM on August 9, 2012


Lewinsky, too, according to Bill Clinton.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:08 AM on August 9, 2012


Moar alphabets.
posted by Phire at 11:13 AM on August 9, 2012


Well, that is definitely annoying but not what I was thinking.

I think it's disrespectful to the community to hijack a thread and turn it into some forum game that most of the rest of the world grew out of in 1993. If you were maybe trying to craft JOKES starting with a certain letter, then maybe they would have so merit, but what you're doing is actually of less worth than the "recipe game" that has long-since been squashed. I didn't like that kind of threadshit either but at least recipes are utilitarian. What does the alphabet game do beyond shitting up a thread and proving to us that you can craft a non sequitur sentence starting with an arbitrary letter of the alphabet? I'd be interested to know from the mods' perpectives what separates the alphabet game from the recipe game and other formalized threadshitting. They seem pretty similar to me, except recipe threads get shut down quickly while this nonsense is apparently ok.
posted by laconic skeuomorph at 11:25 AM on August 9, 2012


Eighty comments after posting the original question ... I'll think I'll just take a 'yes' or a 'no' at this point.
posted by Wordshore at 11:33 AM on August 9, 2012


Xylophones are nice instruments.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:33 AM on August 9, 2012


Yeah, hell, that "Eighty comments" messed me up! Too slow, I am!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:34 AM on August 9, 2012


Yes.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:35 AM on August 9, 2012


Why aren't you asleep?

And for that matter, since I"m a couple hours ahead of you, why am I awake?

Oh, Wordshore, this thread means that you can do whatever you like with language, as Cortex, who is a moderator, thus one who speaks, said above somewhere in teh soup.


*sticks tongue out at flabdablet*
posted by infini at 11:38 AM on August 9, 2012


Wordshore, straightforward answer: you're free to use that phrase ("I Metafiltered it") if you want, and if anyone gives you a hard time, other people will leap up and defend your usage. The site culture has a strong element of anti-prescriptivism about language, so the anti-prescriptivist side will always find defenders.

But if you're asking what is the common idiom actually used around here, it's "I posted it" or "I FPPed it". (I gave a tiny bit more explanation of each above) Your proposed usage would be a very rare one.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:55 PM on August 9, 2012


I think it's disrespectful to the community to hijack a thread and turn it into some forum game that most of the rest of the world grew out of in 1993.

To be fair, you opened the door for that with your cryptic, super secret mention of a "really annoying thing people used to do to be cute seems to have completely died out" which you followed with a playful, jokey *taps side of nose with index finger*

What did you expect would happen after opening a can of worms like that? You got a *nose tap*, a hoppitamoppita and a Todd Lokken as the next 3 comments.

Of course people started trying to guess. It was inevitable.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:02 PM on August 9, 2012


"I FPPed it".

Pronounced "fffffffpeeEEPED," of course.
posted by infinitywaltz at 4:33 PM on August 9, 2012


Enjoyify yours languagiddle.
posted by Splunge at 5:28 PM on August 9, 2012


you opened the door for that with your cryptic, super secret mention

I suppose I did! Being annoying ironically is still annoying though. I'll just use my edit window to remove that whole bit.
posted by laconic skeuomorph at 6:04 PM on August 9, 2012


So, these complaints about ironic annoyances brought on by one's own laconically skeumorphic nose tapping - are they ironic, or annoying, or both? I've lost track.
posted by flabdablet at 6:36 PM on August 9, 2012


Forget it, Jake. It's Cheydinhal.
posted by laconic skeuomorph at 6:42 PM on August 9, 2012


and ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
posted by a humble nudibranch at 12:14 AM on August 10, 2012


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