Emerging Online Slang for Public Figures: Insights for PR & Content Strategy
The observation of a growing trend where online communities (Twitter, Reddit) use indirect terms like 'him' or 'you know who' to refer to a specific public figure (Trump), especially when discussing sensitive topics, indicates an evolving linguistic norm and potential self-censorship or community-specific inside jokes. For PR firms, political campaigns, and content creators, understanding such linguistic shifts is crucial for nuanced sentiment analysis, crafting effective messaging that resonates with specific audiences, and navigating online discourse effectively. It signals a need for advanced social listening and trend forecasting tools.
Origin Reddit Post
r/outoftheloop
What’s up with everyone referring to Trump as “you know who” now?
Posted by u/E54D•07/29/2025
For about the last month now, everyone on Twitter and Reddit has been referring to Trump as “him” or “you know who” - especially when talking about the possibility of his death.
What’s the d
Top Comments
u/Lower-Elk8395
The orange Lord Diddledork.
u/JaDe_X105
The only disagreement to this is that the child rapist needs to be exposed, the Epstein files released with his name all over them
u/ApolloRubySky
Ha just came here to say that it allowed people to wish him death lol
u/akelkar
If only people realized this in 2016
u/ChunkyBubblz
Answer: Trump shakes down media companies for protection money and they dare not print dear leader’s name in any negative way or they’ll be forced out of business. But that puts the companie
u/silverbatwing
YESSSSS
u/progressiveoverload
The author is bad. and comparing him to a fictional wizard is giving him far too much credit. I won’t redirect my ire.
u/Japjer
Hah! I literally almost started my post by quoting this
u/splash_dude
Not to mention the bot accounts that’ll swarm to spam the conversation.
u/Japjer
Ugh, yeah, that's a large part of the issue
u/atmospheric90
Except its about saying his name and invoking his cult of followers and his anger, like Voldemort and the death eaters.
u/PasokEnjoyer
Motherfucker he's the US president in his second term, caring about "engagement" is something that should've happened in 2015-16. Now it's just childish.
u/I_AM_THE_BIGFOOT
It was a bridge too far for Palpatine.
u/Quizzelbuck
I dunno. He definitely was inside Harry very intimately.
u/Strider794
Answer: I'm just tired of him personally, so I just try to not say his name
u/R67H
Answer: typing his name and having it show up in comments and posts KINDA counts as engagement about him. And he's all about engagement.
u/Tofurkey_Tom
Answer: Because of the Harry Potter villain who ultimately gets defeated. Just like Voldemort, all media is scared of Trump and don't want to say anything bad about him lest they get cancel
u/CrankkDatJFel
Answer: It’s wishful thinking about when he passes. they don’t want to explicitly attribute those thoughts with his name online.
u/Mjolnir2000
No, burying history is a bad idea. We're only where we are now because people forgot all the lessons we learned in the '30s and '40s.
u/the_tanooki
[It's illegal to say... (WKUK)](https://youtu.be/KivCRqfFcqY?si=R53gWZLLO6xSknod)
u/Help_An_Irishman
Answer: Because he's real-life Voldemort.
u/HaikuHaiku
Answer: death threats against the President are illegal in the US, and all threats against the President are followed up on by the Secret Service and FBI. Anyone who wants to gain brownie poi
u/Funkycoldmedici
He really does deserve the Ahkenaten treatment. Remove his name from everything, destroy any evidence that he ever existed. Preferably while he’s alive and rotting, so he can really see what
u/CarbonQuality
This lol but it's also a reference to you know who in you know what
u/ToranjaNuclear
He was elected president of the United States, though. Pottermore lore goes kinda wild.
u/Gibbly_Gorkoroo
I got banned for simply wishing somebody somewhere had better aim. 🤷♀️
u/Japjer
Answer: Wishing for the death of a specific person can get you banned from certain platforms, especially if that person is the president.
u/im_from_azeroth
Voldemort never raped children, just saying.
u/Voodoocookie
Don't think he ever raped anyone. Unlike Taco.
u/bjanas
Also for a long time the height of True-Blue-Democratic resistance was simultaneously citing Harry Potter while also refusing to say Trump's name. To... resist. Even though fear and refusal t
u/LouQuacious
This like Chinese style criticism, oblique but pointed.
u/ChunkyBubblz
With the way she’s been acting lately, please don’t give JK Rowlings any free ideas.
u/progressiveoverload
Read another book.
u/MacksNotCool
Also saying that someone should kill someone or that you are going to kill someone can sometimes be considered a call to action which if I remember correctly: the first amendment makes an exc
u/the_tanooki
Good thing you didn't! That's illegal!
u/CombustiblSquid
Answer: I call him TFG for That Fucking Guy.
u/LadyPo
Some of us haven’t read the books in almost two decades now and don’t support the grime that is the author, but the story was baked into our young, impressionable brains. Your militancy is mi
u/-Motor-
And Palantyr and AI are watching.
u/R67H
Yea, he's really that petty
u/Jancappa
(in Minecraft)