An Hero

2006catchphraseclassic

An Hero is 4chan slang for suicide, born from a grammatically broken comment left on the 2006 MySpace memorial page of Mitchell Henderson. Trolls seized on the misspelled tribute, fabricated a story that Mitchell killed himself over a lost iPod, and turned the phrase into a running joke used to tell people to kill themselves on /b/.

4chan memesslang memestrolling memesdark humor memesmisspelling memes

Overview

'An hero' is a grammatically wrong phrase used on 4chan and other imageboards as a synonym for suicide, or as a taunt telling someone to kill themselves1. The most common usage on the /b/ board treats the term as a verb, as in 'go an hero,' aimed at posts considered stupid or spammy2.

The phrase is inseparable from the 2006 death of Mitchell Henderson, whose MySpace memorial page carried a misspelled tribute that trolls kept alive for years afterward3. The troll campaign around Henderson was documented by the mainstream press as an example of 4chan harassment aimed at a grieving family1.

How It Spread

On September 2nd, 2006, a user named '4chananonymous' submitted a definition for the term to Urban Dictionary, listing meanings that ranged from 'committing suicide over something really stupid' to a general taunt aimed at bad posts2. Trolls also called Mitchell's parents by phone in the year and a half after his death, and some visited his grave to place iPods and photos tied to the meme1.

In August 2008, the New York Times Magazine published Mattathias Schwartz's feature 'The Trolls Among Us,' which used the Henderson case as its opening example of organized 4chan cruelty aimed at grieving families1.

On April 21st, 2011, Uncyclopedia posted a satirical 'How To: Become An Hero' guide, extending the joke into a full parody article4. The phrase stayed in use as 4chan slang past that point3.

How to Use This Meme

The term is typically deployed as a verb on 4chan, most often as the imperative 'go an hero' thrown at a bad post2. Because the grammatical error is the whole point, users deliberately keep the wrong article ('an' before a consonant), and correcting it back to 'a hero' defeats the joke3.

Frequently Asked Questions

An Hero

2006catchphraseclassic

An Hero is 4chan slang for suicide, born from a grammatically broken comment left on the 2006 MySpace memorial page of Mitchell Henderson. Trolls seized on the misspelled tribute, fabricated a story that Mitchell killed himself over a lost iPod, and turned the phrase into a running joke used to tell people to kill themselves on /b/.

4chan memes slang memes trolling memes dark humor memes misspelling memes

Overview

'An hero' is a grammatically wrong phrase used on 4chan and other imageboards as a synonym for suicide, or as a taunt telling someone to kill themselves1. The most common usage on the /b/ board treats the term as a verb, as in 'go an hero,' aimed at posts considered stupid or spammy2.

The phrase is inseparable from the 2006 death of Mitchell Henderson, whose MySpace memorial page carried a misspelled tribute that trolls kept alive for years afterward3. The troll campaign around Henderson was documented by the mainstream press as an example of 4chan harassment aimed at a grieving family1.

How It Spread

On September 2nd, 2006, a user named '4chananonymous' submitted a definition for the term to Urban Dictionary, listing meanings that ranged from 'committing suicide over something really stupid' to a general taunt aimed at bad posts2. Trolls also called Mitchell's parents by phone in the year and a half after his death, and some visited his grave to place iPods and photos tied to the meme1.

In August 2008, the New York Times Magazine published Mattathias Schwartz's feature 'The Trolls Among Us,' which used the Henderson case as its opening example of organized 4chan cruelty aimed at grieving families1.

On April 21st, 2011, Uncyclopedia posted a satirical 'How To: Become An Hero' guide, extending the joke into a full parody article4. The phrase stayed in use as 4chan slang past that point3.

How to Use This Meme

The term is typically deployed as a verb on 4chan, most often as the imperative 'go an hero' thrown at a bad post2. Because the grammatical error is the whole point, users deliberately keep the wrong article ('an' before a consonant), and correcting it back to 'a hero' defeats the joke3.

Frequently Asked Questions