About

"That Happened" is a sarcastic expression used in online discussions to call out overly exaggerated claims or tall tales that are often passed around as true stories on social media, most notably the ones in which the storyteller allegedly confronts and tells off another individual in the name of social justice.

Origin

While its exact origin is unclear, the earliest known use of the sarcastic phrase "that happened" comes from an April 2001 episode of Friends titled "The One with Rachel's Big Kiss," in which the character Phoebe Buffay (played by Lisa Kudrow) questions her friend Rachel Green's (played by Jennifer Aniston) claim that she kissed a girl in college.

Rachel: "Hey, come on! I had this friend from college and I made the stupid mistake of telling Joey that one time…she and I y’know…kissed a little bit."

Phoebe: (laughs) Yeah, I’m sure that happened.

Precursor

The expression "yeah, that just happened" has also been employed as a nonplussed reaction to an unbelievable or absurd experience. According to a post on Metafilter, the earliest known use of the phrase in this context comes from the 2000 comedy film State and Main. On July 17th, 2009, Urban Dictionary user MacV216 submitted an entry for "Well, that happened," defining it as "A phrase used when something random and/or inexplicable has occurred."

Spread

On November 23rd, 2012, the /r/thathappened subreddit was launched, in which users submit suspicious claims posted on a variety of web sites. Within four years, the subreddit received more than 242,000 subscribers. On September 3rd, 2013, FunnyJunk user breeyoke submitted an MS Paint illustration titled "Yeah I'm sure that happened," which featured the caption "I reject the possible legitmacy of your situation" (shown below).





On July 28th, 2014, a screenshot of a Facebook post about turning down the sexual advances of a woman was submitted to /r/cringepics, where it garnered upwards of 2,000 votes (95% upvoted) and 100 comments prior to being archived (shown below). On July 9th, 2015, Redditor enter-the-labyrinth submitted a post about the /r/thathappened subreddit to /r/OutOfTheLoop.





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