glumshoe:

glumshoe:

confession time: I STILL don’t know what the O RLY owl is supposed to convey

what inflection is his question meant to be read in? is he earnestly curious? excited? sarcastic? aggressive? is he doubting the truth of what you have to say?

Yeah, shortening “oh really?” to “O RLY” seems like it’s meant to be sarcastic, but that may be because that style of chatspeak has faded out of use. It seems like a precursor to “Sure, Jan”, i.e. suggesting a sarcastic and mocking dismissal of something.

And yet the owl’s eyes are wide and its beak is open, an expression that, on a human, would read as exuberance or tremendous surprise. Perhaps it’s meant to indicate mock surprise? If the owl had one eye partially closed to imitate an arched eyebrow, it might be more clearly sarcastic. I don’t know! This owl vexes and haunts me.