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Scrolling In The Deep is a weekly column that defines internet slang you need to know to operate online. It runs on Wednesdays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter—but only our most dedicated readers get it.
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If you’re an avid TikTok scroller, then you had an emotional 14 hours sometime between Saturday and Sunday. The short-lived TikTok “ban” sent influencers crying, 12-year-olds with brain rot panicking, and chronically online folks wondering what they’ll do instead of doomscrolling.
This is because, in the past 6-ish years, TikTok has become this behemoth whose intuitive algorithm and addictive interface completely changed the online world. And one of the ways it did so is by creating earworms from trending audios on the app.
You’ve heard these viral sounds before. They came from memes, movie clips, celebrities, and, most significantly, TikTokers themselves. And one of these catchy audios has emigrated from TikTok onto text-based apps like X and even IRL to become a slang Gen Zalpha can’t get enough of.
Scrolling through X today, you’ll come across viral tweets quoting controversial takes with the phrase, “Oh, that’s not–.” The cutoff here is important, and the fact that it trails off adds––or removes, depending on how you look at it––context that isn’t immediately clear unless you’re also chronically online.
Netizens have been using the slang “Oh that’s not” when referring to opinions they don’t like, don’t agree with, or find controversial. But before it became a brainrot response, “Oh that’s not” was firstly a trending audio on TikTok and before that, a Stan Twitter catchphrase. Its origin, however, is almost a decade old.
Where did ‘oh that’s not’ come from?
In 2015, TV personality and Ozzy Osbourne’s daughter Kelly Osbourne went mega-viral for a yikes-inducing take while co-hosting The View. While talking about President-to-be Donald Trump’s comments about immigration, Osbourne said, “If you kick every Latino out of this country then who is going to be cleaning your toilet, Donald Trump?”
Understandably, Osbourne was promptly chastised by her co-host, who replied, “Oh that’s not–” Osbourne immediately cut her off to try and rectify her comment. “In the sense that, you know what I mean, what I’m saying,” she said, scrambling for a way to save herself–but the damage was already done.
Osbourne has since addressed her poor choice of words in that interview, but the moment still remains steadfast in today’s social media landscape. Now, TikTokers and X users wield the slang in response to someone’s opinion.
‘Oh that’s not’ before it became a slang
Before “Oh that’s not” became a stand-alone phrase, the full audio went viral on TikTok in 2023. People used the audio from Osbourne’s interview to share their own “controversial” takes that were mainly funny or mocking. For instance, one popular example was, “If you kick every they/them out of this country, who will make your Starbucks drinks?” Or, “If you kick every mean girl out of the country, who will be our nurses?” These examples both refer to the widely shared biases folks have of Starbucks baristas and those in the nursing profession.
How ‘oh that’s not’ is used today
However, as slangs tend to do, the meme has evolved where only Osbourne’s co-host’s comment remains as a brainrot response. Today, one may use “Oh that’s not” in response to other’s simply misguided opinions. For instance, in this viral tweet sharing a pair of DC-themed wedding rings––one inspired by Batgirl and one by Batman––a user replied “Oh that’s not.”
This is because Batgirl and Batman’s relationship is not romantic in any sense. In another tweet, a user shared a screenshot of someone asking them if “acab” stands for “assigned cloud at birth.” A X user responded, “Oh that’s not–” in response to the sender’s ignorance.
However, Gen Z and Alpha have been widely criticized for being too puritanical. The recent usage of “oh that’s not” can be a prime example of this. Some younger folks wield “Oh that’s not” even if the other person’s take isn’t controversial. The phenomenon has angered users so much that even Redditors have called these people “pretentious.”
“It just annoys me. It gives off a superiority complex and then they often refuse to elaborate further like an actual argument would be beneath them,” the Redditor wrote.
On X, the response has become so jaded that folks proverbially roll their eyes whenever someone replies “Oh that’s not” to any nuanced take. So while the slang was first used to embarrass racists or other objectively terrible people, it’s now a crutch for Gen Z to show off their morality points.
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