For those of you who are new to the Vtuber community, welcome. Below is a cheat sheet to help bring you up to speed on the various terms and slang you might come across during streams and in chat.
Terms#
Oshi#
Oshi ( 推し) is a term from the Japanese Vtuber community. Translated literally, it means “to push,” however in the Vtuber community, oshi is a term used to indicate that you support a particular Vtuber.
Kami-oshi#
Fans can have more than one oshi. However, fans usually have one Vtuber who is their favorite and that favorite is referred to as their kami-oshi (カミオシ).
wwwwww / Kusa#
This is another term from the Japanese Vtuber community and is equivalent to English’s lol. When you’re watching a Japanese-speaking Vtuber you’re likely to see a lot of “wwwwwwww” in chat. The “w” is shorthand for the word warau (笑う), meaning laughter; making a string of w’s an expression of continuous laughter. A string of w’s kind of looks like grass so fans began using 草 (kusa) the kanji for grass as shorthand.
TSKR#
A term of endearment from the Japanse-speaking Vtuber community. Tskr is shorthand for taskaru (助かる), it is similar to the English phrase, “you’ve made my day.”
WKTK#
A term used in chat to express excitement. This term is shorthand for wakuteka (わくてか) which is a combination of the words wakuwaku (わくわく ), meaning excited or nervous and tekateka (てかてか) meaning to gleam.
KWSK#
This is shorthand for kuwashiku (詳しく/くわしく) and translates to, “need details,” or “please elaborate.”
Kaigai Nikki#
Another Japanese term, kaigai nikki translates to overseas bros. Essentially, viewers from outside Japan. English-speaking fans will often refer to fans in Japan as JP bros.
Kek/Kekw#
Both are additional terms equivalent to lol. Kek originates from the Korean keukeu which is equivalent to the English haha. KEKW is also equivalent to lol. On Twitch Kekw is can also be a command to show an emote depicting Spanish comedian Juan Joya Borja laughing. Both terms are more often used on Twitch than on Youtube.
LUL / LULW#
Both terms are equivalent to lol. Lulw is also used as a command on Twitch to show an emote of the streamer TotalBiscuit laughing.
VOD#
Short for video on demand. Vtubers usually live-stream and also record their stream to give fans who are not able to watch the stream live to view it whenever it suits them. VODs may or may not be on the same platform where the Vtuber streamed.
For instance, Twitch only allows streamers to archive past streams for up to 60 days before automatically deleting them. Oftentimes Vtubers using Twitch will record their live broadcasts and later upload them to an archive channel on Youtube.
Not all streams however, are archived. A common type of stream that is not archived are karaoke streams due to licensing or copyright restrictions.
Clippers / Clips#
Clippers are viewers who record portions, often called clips, of Vtubers’ streams and reupload them to their own Youtube channels. Clips are not long, and each clip is edited to be no more than a few minutes and typically record the highlighted moments from a given stream, for instance when a Vtuber pulls an epic fail or if a Vtuber says something really, really funny.
It is not uncommon to find clips of Japanese-speaking Vtubers with subtitles translating what is said into the clipper’s native language. It is often thought that these subtitled clips are partially responsible for expanding the popularity of Vtubers beyond Japanese-speaking viewers.
Emotes#
Small icons that can be sent in chat. Emotes are equivalent to emojis that you would send in a text message. Many emotes are analogous to the various facial expression emojis available. Emotes can also be a string of text characters that can represent a face such as “:)” for a smiley face, “T-T” for a crying face and so on. Most streaming platforms have a global set of image emotes that are available to all users, but; many Vtubers will have their own set of emotes which fans can have access to if they are a subscriber.
Raid#
A raid is when a Vtuber directs their viewers to another Vtubers stream once their own stream has ended. Once a Vtuber ends their stream, viewers are usually automatically transferred to the other Vtuber’s stream.
O7#
Represents a salute. Fans type this in chat as a greeting or farewell. Also used when a tragic event happens on stream.
F#
Usually this is equivalent to O7 although it tends to be used in a more sarcastic manner such as when a Vtuber pulls an epic fail on stream. Chat will also tend to type this when a Vtuber’s stream suddenly disconnects. This term comes from a funeral scene from Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare where the player is prompted to “press F to pay respects.”
Kappa#
A term usually added to the end of a chat message to indicate what is said is not to be taken seriously. This term is more likely to be used on Twitch.
Mod#
Short for moderator. Moderators are responsible for policing the chatroom for comments that are spam, trolling, bots and ban trouble-makers (either temporarily or permanently).
Pog / Poggers#
Both pog and poggers are terms that mean “cool” or “awesome.” More often seen on Twitch.
Sadge#
Oftentimes considered to be a portmanteau of “sad” and “cringe.” Mostly used to express sadness to events that occur during a stream.
Super chats / Supa / Supacha#
Super chats, often shortened to supas, is a feature on Youtube that enables viewers to send highlighted comments that are temporarily pinned to the top of chat for a fee. The color and duration of how the comment is pinned is based on the amount the viewer paid. The term super chat is specific to Youtube, the same feature on Twitch is referred to as a hype chat.
Vtubers usually respond to all the superchats they receive though when and where they respond can vary. Some Vtubers try to respond to all super chats as they appear during a stream, some will devote an entire stream to respond to all super chats they received during the week.
Akasupa#
Akasupa is a combination of the words aka (赤), Japanese for red, and supa for superchat. Akasupas and are the most expensive kind of super chat ($100) and are pinned the longest.
Sub / Subscription / Membership#
Shortened form of subscription or subscriber. Twitch uses the term subscription and subscriber while Youtube uses the terms membership and members, just know that these are the same thing. Subscriptions are a way fans can monetarily support their favorite Vtubers and provide benefits such as custom emotes and access to subscriber-only streams.
Gifted Sub / Gifted Membership#
Youtube and Twitch offer fans the ability to gift memberships/subscriptions to other members of the chat. The users who make the purchase do not get to decide who gets the gifted sub/membership(s), each platform has its own method of rewarding them to users.
Monka/MonkaS#
A Twitch emote used to express fear or anxiety.
Agency#
Specifically, this means a talent agency that specializes in Vtubers. Commonly known agencies include Nijisanji and Hololive Productions. Vtubers that are not associated with an agency are usually referred to as independent Vtubers.
Generation#
A term referring to a group of Vtubers that debuted together. Generations are usually associated with agency Vtubers who usually debut in groups of five. An example of a generation would be the members of Hololive English -Myth-.
Guerilla Stream#
A guerilla stream is an unplanned stream.
Graduation#
In the Vtuber community, a graduation is when a Vtuber retires from creating content with their character. This does not necessarily mean the talent behind the character will cease making content. In some cases, talents begin creating content with a new character or may choose to create content without a character.
Mama / Papa#
The artist responsible for creating the initial concept art for a Vtuber’s model.
Seiso#
A term that typically indicates something that is wholesome.
Smol#
A term indicating something is small. In the Vtuber community, smol also usually refers to artwork or models in a style similar to that of artist Walfie.
Sus#
Used to indicate that something is suspicious.
Zatsudon#
A Japanese term, zatsudon (雑談) translates to “just chatting.” In the Vtuber community, a zatsudon is a stream where the Vtuber primarily talks with chat. The topics can be random, being whatever the streamer is thinking of at the time. Zatsudons are also used as dedicated streams to make announcements, such as upcoming breaks, new merchandise, etc. Some Vtubers use this stream to catch up on responding to super chats.
