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Head desk: Expressing great frustration by striking the forehead against something, usually a desk or a wall. Whereas the "head desk" gesture is typically done successive times to emphasize the motion, the facepalm gesture is usually a singular act. On some media sites, the head desk is combined with
174:
Facepalm's meaning online expresses frustration, disappointment, embarrassment, shock, surprise or sarcasm. Its online use is to portray emotions and feelings that otherwise may not be easily expressed through text alone. The gesture finds universal appeal because of its common usage in every
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of placing one's hand across one's face, lowering one's face into one's hand or hands or covering or closing one's eyes. The gesture is often exaggerated by giving the motion more force and making a slapping noise when the hand comes in contact with the face. The gesture is
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that the localization team chose to censor out from the otherwise uncensored original North
American release. Each appearance of such image describes the scene being censored in written detail while also ridiculing countries' overly stringent censorship laws. In the
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facepalming have been widely used in the media to convey the dismay associated with poor financial performance, and a wide variety of regrettable film, business, and political decisions have been described as "facepalms" or "facepalm moments". According to
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to show a user's frustration or disappointment in an article, comment, or post from another user. It is often also used to indicate incredulous disbelief that another could make a statement that the reader considers unusually foolish or naive.
195:, to form an outline of a person doing the physical gesture. The symbol representation of facepalm can be made in many different sizes for different purposes, such as a comment or a text message. Another visual use of facepalm is a facepalm
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to separate the gesture from other words in a post. Since its inception, facepalm has gained widespread popularity as a meme or comment image to portray a user's frustration or disappointment of a certain topic. Many sites such as
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Online use of the gesture is not limited to visual representations, often just the word, facepalm, is used to show someone's disapproval or embarrassment. The word is also often surrounded in
347:: A mistake of obvious or shocking stupidity, prompting an expression of astonishment and exasperation performed by striking the forehead with a palm, often producing a loud slapping sound.
531:
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post now archived at Google Groups (bit.listserv.superguy) from May 15, 1996: "Christie facepalmed. 'Well, her hair was red this morning, right? It's blonde now. You figure it out.
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The gesture can be visually represented by a picture of a person doing the gesture, or it can be shown through a recreation of someone doing the gesture using symbols, such as
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124:(often used on its own in the same manner as an interjection might be) means that the palm of the hand is brought to the face with fingers splayed as if grasping.
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155:, this versatility is one of the reasons that the word has been linguistically "successful". It was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in August 2011.
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uses a still image of Henri Vidali's facepalming sculpture of Cain against the background of a
European Union flag to stand in for each of seven
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341:"facepalm" as the term "face desk", with relatively the same meaning save for the repetition, which is singular and exaggerated.
432:: "cracking at its foundation... with his hand to his face, Lincoln appears exasperated as he sits on his crumbling platform."
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135:" It appears again less than a week later, in another post archived in Google Groups: "Lee facepalmed. 'Arrgh...
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In 2019, the Texas SandFest artistic competition awarded Damon
Langlois first place for his illusionistic work
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use this image frequently and in many different ways, often to comment on the perceived quality of a joke.
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584:"Wall Street's Facepalm Friday: World's Front Pages Inevitably Feature Finance's Great Faces of Agony"
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Twenty-first-century
Perspectives on Nineteenth-century Art: Essays in Honor of Gabriel P. Weisberg
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adopted a similar gesture to signal their desire to avoid social interaction or be left alone.
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761:"Meaningful Gesture in Monkeys? Investigating whether Mandrills Create Social Culture"
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Netymology: From Apps to
Zombies: A Linguistic Celebration of the Digital World
457:, 20th century American film comedian whose "slow burn" incorporated a facepalm
207:. These emojis are used in a similar sense to other internet uses of facepalm.
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the m portraying fingers and the / a mouth in a frustrated expression, or as
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term commonly interpreted as "shaking my head" and has an associated emoji.
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http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/facepalm
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Double facepalm: Similar to the facepalm but performed with two hands.
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947:"South Park: The Stick of Truth Censorship Features Epochal Facepalm"
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The earliest known evidence of this word is found in records of a
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Perhaps the most notorious example comes from the sci-fi series
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532:"Stressed brokers can't keep their hands off their faces. Why?"
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The keyboard-generated emoticon for facepalm is often shown as
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This gesture is not unique to humans. For example, a group of
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with the Q portraying the hand being placed on the face, as
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is depicted hiding his face in his hand after killing
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localization, a still of a sad koala is used instead.
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Laidre, M. E. (2011). Brosnan, Sarah
Frances (ed.).
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663:"'Bigotgate' goes viral as UK PM says *facepalm*"
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255:In 2016 the facepalm gesture was included in
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739:"Facepalm". Oxford English Dictionary, n.d.
640:"Double FacePalm: HP Blew Billions on webOS"
203:that can be found on many websites such as
175:culture. The facepalm gesture is a popular
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353:: A passive-aggressive form of rejection.
610:"Biggest Transformers Face Palm Moments"
530:Taylor, Kimberly Hayes (9 August 2011).
18:
477:
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1354:Three-finger salute (pro-democracy)
968:Sierzputowski, Kate (17 May 2019).
661:Rawlinson, Linnie (28 April 2010).
917:. Quercus Publishing. p. 58.
693:"Technology + Politics = Facepalm"
490:Associated University Presse, 2008
14:
382:, specifically the 1990 episode "
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945:Rosenberg, Adam (3 March 2014).
714:Malik, Shiv (23 November 2011).
911:Tom Chatfield (28 March 2013).
582:Kamer, Foster (5 August 2011).
884:Television Tropes & Idioms
558:"How 'Facepalm' Became a Word"
411:South Park: The Stick of Truth
379:Star Trek: The Next Generation
1:
1349:Three-finger salute (Serbian)
500:Maxwell, Kerry (4 Jul 2011).
886:. Accessed January 27, 2014.
786:10.1371/journal.pone.0014610
101:, or incredulous disbelief.
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534:. NBC News. Archived from
461:List of Internet phenomena
900:. Cf. 5th act, 8th scene.
608:Vaux, Rob (30 Jun 2011).
16:Gesture and internet term
898:The Government Inspector
370:The Government Inspector
1732:Nonverbal communication
1516:Thumb/index-finger ring
1438:Chinese number gestures
1140:Liberian snap handshake
896:Gogol, Nikolai (1836).
612:. Mania. Archived from
149:Oxford University Press
856:. 2015. Archived from
508:. Macmillan Publishers
323:
237: *facepalm* or
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59:found in many cultures
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1712:Articulatory gestures
1344:Scout sign and salute
746:16 April 2016 at the
588:The New York Observer
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1722:Manual communication
1383:Celebratory gestures
1006:at Wikimedia Commons
642:. All Things Digital
538:on 12 September 2014
1184:Gestures of respect
777:2011PLoSO...614610L
616:on 2 September 2011
221:Video of a Facepalm
844:"Emoji Candidates"
669:on 21 January 2012
358:In popular culture
324:
322:A double facepalm.
229:or between square
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1691:Sign of the cross
1651:Hand-in-waistcoat
1511:Sign of the horns
1359:Two-finger salute
1048:Friendly gestures
1002:Media related to
924:978-1-78087-994-9
819:"Face Palm Emoji"
429:Liberty Crumbling
407:role-playing game
218:
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1768:2000s neologisms
1707:List of gestures
1549:Talk to the hand
1458:Obscene gestures
1206:Canonical digits
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949:. Digital Trends
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1717:Hand signals
1671:Merkel-Raute
1656:Hand rubbing
1635:
1626:Duterte fist
1558:Head motions
1339:Roman salute
1226:Genuflection
1196:Añjali Mudrā
1175:Thumb signal
1090:Finger heart
977:. Retrieved
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542:12 September
540:. Retrieved
536:the original
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405:of the 2014
403:localization
390:, played by
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144:stockbrokers
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71:exasperation
49:
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23:
1646:Gang signal
1631:Eyelid pull
1565:Head bobble
1496:Nazi salute
1369:Wolf salute
1334:Raised fist
1329:Nazi salute
1281:Prostration
1160:Pinky swear
1085:Eskimo kiss
930:1 September
673:22 November
593:22 November
351:Eye-rolling
189:parentheses
114:Agnès Varda
63:frustration
42:his brother
30:Henri Vidal
1752:Categories
1666:Laban sign
1661:Jazz hands
1641:Finger gun
1591:Air quotes
1570:Head shake
1296:Schwurhand
1105:Hand heart
1080:Elbow bump
1070:Cheek kiss
979:21 January
823:Emojipedia
689:Evans, Jon
502:"facepalm"
472:References
421:Australian
153:Susie Dent
142:Images of
91:exhaustion
1611:Che vuoi?
1443:Chisanbop
1405:High five
1400:Fist pump
1231:Hand-kiss
1165:Pound hug
1120:High five
1115:Hand wave
1110:Handshake
1095:Fist bump
1004:Facepalms
416:cutscenes
270:FACE PALM
267:🤦
227:asterisks
160:mandrills
120:The term
1676:Pointing
1636:Facepalm
1476:Fig sign
1466:Anasyrma
1410:Low five
1390:Applause
1145:Lip kiss
1130:ILY sign
1065:Applause
1060:Air kiss
1041:Gestures
974:Colossal
953:19 March
880:Headdesk
864:26 April
828:20 April
805:21311591
765:PLOS ONE
744:Archived
506:BuzzWord
437:See also
231:brackets
201:emoticon
193:brackets
122:facepalm
87:surprise
50:facepalm
1700:Related
1506:Shocker
1491:Mountza
1486:Mooning
1316:Salutes
1306:Zolgokh
1286:Sampeah
1276:Pranāma
1261:Namaste
1246:Kuji-in
1236:Hat tip
1150:Namaste
854:Unicode
849:TUS 9.0
796:3032724
773:Bibcode
567:26 July
262:U+1F926
259:9.0 as
257:Unicode
245:
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233:
185:periods
105:Origins
95:sarcasm
54:gesture
1727:Mudras
1539:Akanbe
1531:Taunts
1521:Wanker
1420:V sign
1291:Sembah
1241:Kowtow
1211:Curtsy
921:
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793:
725:28 Nov
699:22 Nov
646:22 Nov
620:22 Nov
512:22 Nov
384:Deja Q
333:is an
264:
250:Reddit
129:Usenet
79:horror
1686:Shrug
1544:Loser
1271:Orans
1266:Ojigi
1256:Mudra
1221:Gadaw
1170:Shaka
1125:Hongi
1055:Aegyo
449:D'oh!
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282:(-_Q)
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273:emoji
205:Skype
197:emoji
191:, or
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83:shock
1251:Mano
1191:Adab
1135:Kiss
981:2021
955:2014
932:2013
919:ISBN
866:2016
830:2016
801:PMID
727:2011
701:2011
675:2011
648:2011
622:2011
595:2011
569:2020
544:2014
514:2011
488:p246
38:Cain
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1575:Nod
1301:Wai
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