About
“Rekt”, also known as #rekt, is an Internet slang term which is shorthand for “wrecked,” which is often used in online gaming to indicate that someone has been defeated or embarassed, in a similar vein to the term “pwned”.
Origin
On June 6th, 2011, Urban Dictionary[2] user PossiblyCouldOKIWill submitted an entry for the term “rekt,” defining it as text message slang for the term “wrecked”:
“Text for “wrecked”, as sooo drunk you’ve forgotten your name but can just about type a text to your mate whose missed called you"
Spread
On October 13th, 2012, World of Warcraft Forums[5] member Balrogboogie started a thread titled “Get Rekt Ally Scrublords.” On October 13th, 2013, Tale Worlds Forums[4] member Unicorn submitted a thread about the “REKT” North American Dueling tournament for the role-playing game Mount and Blade. On October 31st, Twitter user @SSoHPKC tweeted his idea for a Halloween prank accompanied by the phrase “Get reKt.” Within the following four months, the tweet gathered more than 490 favorites and 440 retweets.
This Halloween I'm going to open the door with a bowl full of candy, eat a piece in front of the kids, and then close the door. Get reKt
— Seamus © (@SSoHPKC) October 31, 2013
On January 3rd, 2014, an anonymous 4chan user posted a story about finding out his girlfriend was tested positive for HIV, which received the reply “LOL rekt” (shown below). A screenshot of the thread was subsequently submitted to the /r/4chan[3] subreddit, where it accumulated upwards of 1,900 up votes and 70 comments within the next month.
On January 13th, YouTuber TheCampingTree uploaded a video titled “Get Rekt,” in which he encounters a player who tells him to “get rekt” in the online survival horror game DayZ (shown below).
On January 28th, Twitch.tv[1] user Artosis recorded a live-stream Heroes of Warcraft livestream titled “ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ REKTヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ.” On January 30th, FunnyJunk user beatsthekids submitted a League of Legends 4-pane comic titled “Rekt” (show below).
