copypasta

A copypasta is a block of text that gets copied and pasted around the internet, word for word, usually as a joke. The name is a play on “copy and paste.”

What a copypasta is

Think of it as the internet’s version of a chain letter, minus the threat of bad luck. Someone writes a ridiculous rant, an over-the-top story or an absurdly long reaction. People find it funny, paste it into other threads and chats, and eventually it gets remixed with names and details swapped in. Recognizing a copypasta is part of the joke.

Dictionary.com notes that it’s usually reposted to be funny or to annoy people. It can be a noun (“that’s a copypasta”) or, playfully, a verb (“someone copypasta’d the whole thing”). Programmers also use it for code that’s been copied rather than written properly.

Examples

• “Is this a real review or a copypasta?”
• “Someone pasted the entire Bee Movie script in the chat again.”
• “Every stream ends with chat spamming the same copypasta.”

Where it came from

Merriam-Webster dates the word to 2006, and Know Your Meme and Dictionary.com both point to an Urban Dictionary entry from April 20 of that year as the earliest documented use. Dictionary.com says it started on 4chan. A dedicated subreddit, r/copypasta, followed in September 2009.

One of the best-known examples is the full script of Bee Movie, which spread on Tumblr from 2013. Plenty of famous copypastas are full of swearing or offensive material, so it’s worth reading one before you paste it anywhere.

Copypasta vs. creepypasta vs. spam

• Creepypasta is horror fiction shared the same way, and its name is a play on copypasta.
• Spam is automated. Copypasta is spread by people who think it’s funny.

Related terms

• Shitpost: a deliberately low-effort or absurd post.
• Ratio: more replies than likes.
• Brain rot: endless low-quality content.

See more terms like this in our internet slang dictionary.