What is Kappa? Everything to know about Twitch’s most famous meme

Think of this as your starters guide to some of Twitch’s best emotes, that truly make the platform what it is for chatters. Some of these emotes have deep roots in internet culture, such as KEKW, now one of the most popular. If you believe a streamer is being sarcastic, ironic, or is trolling, that would be the right time to use the Kappa emote. The Kappa emote is a cut-out of former Twitch employee Josh Deseno who added this emote to Twitch back in 2011 while he was working on the Twitch chat as a programmer. He didn’t start this trend though, at the time Twitch was called Justin TV and multiple employees had uploaded their faces as emotes. Kappa is one of the most legendary Twitch emotes on the internet, used by users of the platform to convey their sarcasm after their messages.

Recent Videos

In 2007, Justin.tV was founded to allow anyone to stream content online. In a Reddit AMA on the phenomenon, DeSeno said he picked the name because it was short—most emotes at the time were lengthy—but he never expected to be popular. The Kappa icon, predominantly seen on Twitch, represents sarcasm, irony, or a joke. When used in a chat, it suggests that the preceding statement should be taken with a pinch of humor or skepticism.

Here, we’ll explain the meaning of some of Twitch’s most common and quirky emotes, to help you fit right in, and stop being a ‘normie’ or a ‘YouTube frog’. The icon, which shows Jebailey being taken aback by surprise, is used when someone is trying to troll or bait a streamer or other viewers in chat. It’s essentially a callout well known within the Twitch community. The term “jebaited” is often thrown around on forums like Reddit when someone is successfully trolled. LUL may seem pretty obvious —t’s the Twitch emote equivalent to LOL, but it has a serpentine history.

The face of the emote is that of a former employee of Justin.tv, the mother site of Twitch.tv. Kappa’s origins can fxtm review 2021 is fxtm a scam or legit forex broker be traced back to the early days of Justin.tv. John DeSeno – the man whose face would become a global phenomenon – was hired in 2009 as an engineer for the site.

More in Twitch

The story was used by the Japanese to teach kids about the dangers of rivers and lakes and how dangerous they can be if you get too close to them. Maybe you’re just not embedded in gaming culture, or have been too embarrassed to ask someone. The emote and term Pog are used when the streamer has made a great move or has defeated a difficult enemy.

1. Over time, this simple image detached from its original meaning.
2. The name Kappa might seem random, but it has roots in John DeSuno’s interests.
3. In Japanese folklore, a Kappa is a creature that lures people to lakes and pulls them in.
4. The emote was introduced in 2015, but didn’t pick up steam until 2016 thanks to the speedrunning community.

Search StreamScheme

CmonBruh is another global Twitch emote which is a classic, but similarly controversial one. It’s exact origin is unknown, but it has been on Twitch since 2016. The clue is in the name with this how to choose a payment provider for your forex website emote – it’s all about being baited. Jebaited is a global Twitch emote, and is the face of Alex Jebailey. Jebailey is the founder and CEO of Community Effort Orlando events.

In addition to the emote, people will either type the word “Kappa” or speak the word to convey the same meaning. Documented by Twitch user Lirik, this almost nine-hour video shows both Lirik and a number of other Twitch users using the Kappa emote as much as they can during the stream. Ultimately, Lirik came out first, having used the emote 12,087 times in 60 seconds. This website, claimed to be created by a user named OptionalField, detailed not only how many times Kappa was used per minute on Twitch but many other emotes. His ID badge photo, rendered in greyscale, became the face we now recognize as the Kappa emote. Instead, it became a symbol with its own Kappa meme meaning, separate from the man himself.

Variations of the Kappa Twitch Emote

The only way to check if you’re lucky, is to type Kappa in chat. A robot meme based on video game news publication Destructoid’s logo. The robot is mainly used when a glitch, error or computerized sound is made on stream. It’s also used, however, to poke fun at people’s robotic tendencies. It was used quite heavily during Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before congress that was livestreamed on Twitch by The Washington Post. Twitch chat would spam Mr. Destructoid whenever Zuckerberg said something or reacted to a question.

DeSeno added the grayscale version of his employee ID photograph and named it Kappa after a demon or imp in Japanese folktales, dating back to the 19th century. In 2011, the Kappa emote was created from a photo of then Justin.TV employee, Josh DeSeno. Since then, the Kappa emote has grown in popularity and, in a sense, has become the face of Twitch.

Even though TriHex himself likes the emote and is happy for it to be on Twitch, other streamers have actually exchange rate new zealand dollar to singapore dollar banned it from their chats, including HasanAbi. Kappa is a default global Twitch emote, and for a long time was the most popular on the platform. It’s since been dethroned, but it’s potentially still the most iconic of all emotes.