Dat Tho

About

"Dat Tho” is a slang phrase often used in online conversations to place a positive emphasis on a particular aspect or feature within a story, image or video that has been shared online. On Tumblr, the phrase is used in a wide range of contexts based on the phrasal template "dat (X) tho."

Origin

The unconventional spelling of the phrase "that though" was most likely conceived during the rise of SMS communications and microblogging platforms in the mid to late-2000s, with the earliest notion of "dat" and "tho" found in the title of the Facebook community "I hate when people don't spell right (dis, dat, tho, u, nd, lik, etc.)," which was created on November 2nd, 2009.

On April 16th, 2013, YouTuber TSirDiesAlot^[7] uploaded a video game video titled "Dat Dagger Tho." As of July 2014, the video has gained over 100,000 views.

Precursor

However, the colloquial usage of "dat tho" stems from another slang expression "dat ass", which originally entered the 4chan vernacular circa 2009 as a popular way of complimenting photographs of women with attractive-looking buttocks.

Spread

On June 30th, 2013, popular Vine creator KingBach^[2] uploaded a Vine featuring him doing a back flip off the wall instead of catching a robber. When the victim of the robbery points out he failed to help he responds with, "But dat backflip tho." Within a year the vine received over 620,000 likes and over 100,000 revines.

The phrase "dat tho" has been frequently used in the titled of YouTube videos. On September 13th, 2013, YouTuber RayWilliamJohnson^[5] uploaded a video titled "Dat Face Tho." As of July 2014, the video has gained over 3.5 million views. On November 18th, 2013, YouTuber Sp4zie^[6] uploaded a video titled "Dat Lag Tho." As of July 2014, the video has gained over 500,000 views.

An entry for "dat [blank] doe," an alternative spelling for "dat tho," was added to Urban Dictionary^[1] on November 18th, 2013, by user KaseyH who defined it as:

"Dat (blank) doe is a catchphrase that can be translated to formal English as “that (blank) though.” It is used to emphasize that something is particularly awesome and is often capitalized. For example, DAT BACKFLIP DOE or DAT ASS DOE.

There are several Facebook pages which utilize the phrase "dat tho" including "Dat Meme Tho,"^[3] which was created on February 23rd, 2014 and has gained over 5,000 likes as of July 2014, and "Dat Interwebs Tho"^[4] which was created on June 29th, 2014, and has gained over 1,000 likes as of July 2014.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References