Well Played
Meaning
Well played is a bittersweet online catchphrase often seen in gaming forums and on meme platforms.
A person who says “well played” owns his defeat in a mature, classy manner.
The phrase is used to show admiration when someone completes a task beautifully, or wins a competition, either against you or anyone else.
Just to confuse you, the phrase can also be used i the exact opposite situation.
If someone fails miserably at a task or competition, you could sarcastically tell them “well played”, just to make them feel bad, like any good friend would.
via MEME
- #1 Meme: Why Do They Call It Oven?
- #2 Meme: Daddy Chill
- #3 Meme: Donde Esta La Biblioteca
- #4 Meme: Sir This Is a Wendy’s
- #5 Meme: The Peepee Poopoo Man
Origin
The first written instance of “well played” was in the 1894 farce called Well Played, or, The Major’s Dilemma: An Entirely New and Original Farce in One Act by British Arthur Francis
Knight .
The play takes on the competitive environment of egocentric nobles in the face of conflict.
Spread and Usage
While the phrase has existed and been moderately used for over a century, its popularity increased significantly in 2012 when the first “well played” memes started circulating the internet.
The memes come in two forms. One is a reaction meme, such as the screenshot of Leonardo Dicaprio wearing a suit, cheering, with the caption “Well played, Sir… Well played”.
The other type is any image that shows a clever and obvious backstory with the caption “well played”, to show appreciation for their cleverness.
An example is an image of a birthday cake disguised as a bunch of artichokes, so that no one will bother to try to steal a slice, because they think it’s just some vegetables.
The image is captioned with “well played” in bold, white letters.
External References
- Urban Dictionary – Well played
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