Where it sits
Everything goes on one scale with two marks. That's the appeal: nothing is in between.
Tell it apart
| Aspect | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Stands for | Win | Loss |
| Common phrase | "Big W", "take the dub" | "Take the L", "massive L" |
| Combined with | "W rizz" | "L + ratio" |
W marks anything good, L anything bad. "Take the L" is gracious: you admit you lost. Calling something "an L" for someone else can be a jab.
What it really means
W and L reduce life to a results table. Something good happens: "huge W". Something bad: "massive L". If you were wrong about the restaurant, you "take the L". Two letters cover almost any situation.
The letters come from sports, where results tables mark each game W or L. Know Your Meme says it's unclear when they became slang. An early example is from hip-hop: The Ringer pointed to Big Pun and Fat Joe's 1998 song "Twinz", with the line "the day I take an L", and "take the L" was defined on Urban Dictionary on 25 August 2003, for things like failing a test or losing money.
Use grew in the mid-2010s, particularly in sports and rap communities online. A popular video game added an emote called "Take That L" in 2018. The positive side caught up: by 2019, Know Your Meme notes, people were using "W" to celebrate anything good. You can also "take the dub", since W is "double-u".
Part of the appeal is how easily the letters combine: W rizz and L rizz, an L + ratio. And "take the L" has a gracious side that's easy to miss. Saying it about yourself is a quick, good-humoured way to admit you were wrong, which is more than many longer phrases manage.
Where it comes from
win
loss
Sports tables mark each result with W or L. Know Your Meme says it's unclear when the letters became slang; once they did, they spread to everything else.
- 1998
Big Pun and Fat Joe's "Twinz" uses "take an L", an early example The Ringer pointed to (Know Your Meme).
- 25 August 2003
"Take the L" is defined on Urban Dictionary (Know Your Meme).
- 2015–16
"Take the L" sees much more use, particularly in sports and rap communities online (Know Your Meme).
- 2019
By now "W" is being used for anything positive, following L (Know Your Meme).
In real life
- Text: "got the job!!" Reply: "huge W"
- Text: "missed the last train home. massive L"
- Text: "you were right about the restaurant, I'll take the L"
Questions
Q01What does W mean in a text?
A win. "Big W" or "huge W" means something went really well. "Take the dub" (W, said as "double-u") means the same.
Q02What does L mean in slang?
A loss. "That's an L" means it went badly; "take the L" means accept you lost or were wrong.
Q03Where do W and L come from?
From sports, where results are shown as W (win) or L (loss). Know Your Meme traces "take an L" to a 1998 hip-hop track and "take the L" to Urban Dictionary in 2003; it went mainstream on Twitter around 2015–16, and W followed as general praise by 2019.
Q04Is "take the L" rude?
It depends who says it. Said about yourself, it's a gracious admission. Said to someone else, it can be a taunt.
Sources
- L and W (Slang) — Know Your Meme.
- take the L — Wiktionary.
- That's What They Say: everybody "takes the L" sometimes — Michigan Public.