sealion

sealion

See also: sea-lion and sea lion

English

Etymology

The verb is from The Terrible Sea Lion, a 2014 strip in the webcomic Wondermark, in which a character expresses a dislike of sea lions and a passing sea lion repeatedly, intrusively asks the character to explain.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Verb

sealion (third-person singular simple present sealions, present participle sealioning, simple past and past participle sealioned)

1. (Internet slang, derogatory) To intrude on a conversation with disingenuous questions in an attempt to engage in unwanted debate as a form of harassment.
   • 2015 January 28, Andrew Wheeler, “Agent Carter’ Recap, Episode 4: The Blitzkrieg Button”, in Comics Alliance:

     There, Peggy speaks for every angry marginalised person who’s ever been sealioned or tone-policed in a disagreement.

   • 2015 March 24, Sarah Seltzer, “Beyond Mansplaining: A New Lexicon of Misogynist Trolling Behaviors”, in Flavorwire:

     The purpose of sealioning never to actually learn or become more informed.

   • 2015 April 1, Arthur Chu, “Trevor Noah and the Toxicity of Twitter: A Cocktail Party Conversation That’s Being Refereed”, in The Daily Beast:

     I can attest to reactionary right-wing trolls being the black belt masters of Internet pile-ons, or as Wondermark has indelibly dubbed the practice, “sealioning.”

   • 2023 November 19, Cathy Young, “The dangers of going too far to curb online harassment”, in Washington Post:

     Popular definitions of harassment also extend to “sealioning” — a recently coined term based on an Internet comic, “The Terrible Sea Lion” — which seems to mean little more than unwelcome attempts to engage someone in debate.

Alternative forms

• sea lion

Noun

sealion (plural sealions)

1. (uncommon) Alternative form of sea lion
2. (Internet slang, derogatory) One who engages in sealioning.
   • 2014 March 12, Glenn Fleishman, “Twitter takes aim at trolls—and promises more”, in Boing Boing:

     Randi's list is a key reason I've been able to continue to use Twitter, as it prevents relentless ideological sealions from crowding my mentions.

References

1. “This comic is the most apt description of Twitter you'll ever see”, in The Independent‎, 2014-09-29, retrieved 28 February 2017
2. Maxwell, Kerry (2015-10-06), “Definition of Sea lion”, in Macmillan Dictionary‎, retrieved 2018-01-10
3. Poland, Bailey (November 2016) Haters: Harassment, Abuse, and Violence Online‎, U of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, pages 144–145

Anagrams

• Eliason, Selonia, Sloanie, aloesin, alosine, anisole, læsion