Meaning
What does Madlad mean?
A person who is called a Madlad is an absolutely insane individual, who did something so extreme, so fundamentally unbelievable that people actually respect him for that.
Everyone is in awe for him, because they did something that no sane person would. It is also often preceded with the word “absolute” before it.
Origin
What's the origin of Madlad?
The origin of the term is unknown, however, the popularity of the slang all started with a subreddit on Reddit.
It was founded by a student based in Dublin, Philip also known as ANUS_CAPTAIN. He was inspired to start /r/madlads after noticing the phrase “absolute madman” under pictures of dismal nights out all over Reddit.
The monthly viewers skyrocketed pretty quickly. According to Reddit Traffic, the subreddit now has over 500k visitors a month.
With the popularity of the subreddit, /r/madlads made it into the top five subreddits site-wide.
Spread & Usage
How did Madlad spread?
After the subreddit, the term got more recognition and attention over the years.
On the 20th of February 2017, it also earned its first entry submission on Urban Dictionary by the user eaozimso.
There were multiple compilation videos made of the best posts of /r/madlads on Youtube, and even PewDiePie made a reaction video about some posts of the subreddit.
External resources
- Urban Dictionary – Mad Lad