The first time I saw it, I figured someone had typed their blog entry in too big a hurry to spell check. The second time I saw it in a link to that first entry, well, I figured someone was just being cute.
These days, it seems like I keep encountering people who use the word “teh” in place of “the” and do so frequently enough that it’s obviously not an accident.
It looks ignorant to me. Am I missing something?
Monday, October 22nd, 2007, 7:57 pm | 
Idiots Bite | 
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October 22, 2007 at 8:32 pm
It’s use (by me anyway) is along the same lines of saying “InterwebnetAOL” as in “Teh InterwebnetAOL.”
Or n00b. Or STFU. Or “There’s No Place Like 127.0.0.1″ Or really, anything at “Think Geek.”
*shrug* Not sure of the origin, but that’s my understanding.
What the hell do I know anyway?
October 22, 2007 at 8:38 pm
I can deal with “teh” much more easily than with “ZOMG!!!1!”
October 22, 2007 at 8:38 pm
I wondered the same thing not long ago. Looking it up, it’s just a typo that caught on out of pure laziness, really.
I never got it either.
October 22, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Actually, the roots of it are somewhere near the origins of lolcatz, as I recall. If you say it out loud, it actually sounds much like someone speaking, at least if you apply a PNW accent to it. That’s how it sounds to me anyway.
October 22, 2007 at 8:47 pm
It’s like using “pwned” instead of “owned”. Stupidity.
October 22, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Thanks, Steve. You just answered another question for me.
October 22, 2007 at 7:59 pm
It is some sort of trend… I first spotted it in the name of someone’s blog some years ago, then realized she wasn’t going to correct it; now it seems to be everywhere.
October 22, 2007 at 9:48 pm
A lot more at wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teh). I also seen it used with ‘gay’ as in ‘teh gay’
October 22, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Do you think there’s any connection between using teh, pwned, and putting fake bullet holes on your vehicle?
October 23, 2007 at 12:57 am
ph33r mai 1337 5p33k n00b!1!1eleventy!!!shift!1
wikipedia is teh ghey
October 23, 2007 at 7:42 am
I don’t know, Kim. I’ve been trying to figure out the fake bullet hole thing since reading about it at your site yesterday. Anyone else understand that whole thing?
October 23, 2007 at 10:23 am
For me… it’s just a typo. And a lazy one at that. I do it all the time and only sometimes catch it. I also tend to capitalize the first two letters instead of just one. Did I mention that I never learned to type?
October 23, 2007 at 11:05 am
Nothing to do with lolcats or leet or all that. One of the earliest blogs was Miss Poopypants, who spelled everything wrong, and seemed totally out of it, but was very funny and sweet and was, I think, a spoof.
Teh is one of those typos like spolier, poast, froup that dates back to Usenet. Doubtless somebody did it by accident, got mocked for it, then it was repeated and repeated. Using it became sort of in (because people will always be there to ask WTF?) and then it became standard net.speak.
So while the origins are lost in the mists of time, the habit goes on. Along come some people who don’t get it, and they think it’s stupid. Fair enough. I think it’s pretty stupid to sound off about things you don’t understand, but that’s just me.
October 23, 2007 at 2:18 pm
I was driving by Six Flags on Saturday and there was this Explorer with about 7 fake bullet holes in the tailgate. I’ve seen some 3-D stickers that are broken glass with half a baseball in them, and bullet holes for the glass too. I’ve always tried to keep my vehicles well kept and faking damage just makes no sense to me at all, at all.
Might as well wash the vehicle and then apply fake dirt.
October 23, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Every time I’ve bought a brand new car, some idiot’s either keyed it or banged into the door with theirs. My used cars have never received such maltreatment.
So maybe those folks are hoping the idiots are dumb enough to get confused by those stickers?
October 23, 2007 at 3:41 pm
It’s one of those “I’m smarter than you” symbols. Just like pwned or the other dumb inside jokes mentioned above. An indicator of affectation rather than mentation. heh heh
October 24, 2007 at 3:04 am
So, who did it this time?
October 24, 2007 at 8:18 am
Actually, I don’t even remember. I’ll have to be sure and tease them about it next time I see it.
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October 24, 2007 at 12:27 am