• Ottomateeverything@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    so do some folks use opp as “opponent”? Sure, that’s believable. But I feel fairly confident…

    Bro, it doesn’t even have the right number of P’s for your reasoning to make any sense.

    It comes from “opponent,” that’s why there are two P’s. It comes from video games/chess/card games/etc where you refer to the person or persons you’re playing against as the “opponent”. It’s been happening for many years but has made it’s way into gen z slang.

    • Vespair@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Perhaps there’s a case of parallel development here, but I really don’t think that’s what happened.

      Gamer slang has long borrowed, sometimes sincerely sometimes ironically, from AAVE and hip-hop slang, where I truly believe this originates, and clearly has the cop/fed connotation. Yeah, I know people shorthand “opp” as opponent in games in the same way they shorthand everything, but jesus christ that’s more approaching 1337 5p35k customs than gen z/alpha slang, so even if we do assume parallel development and concede opp=opponent in modern gamer slang it almost certainly is pretty unrelated to said archaic use and was likely homespun in zoomer/alpha games like Roblox or Amung Us or whatever they’re playing now instead.

      But hey, while I remain unconvinced I am proud to accept my fallibility and ask everyone to remember that I am just some stranger online when weighing the weight of my opinion and to draw your own conclusion on the matter. I do not claim to speak gospel.