larp
to pretend to be something you're not
What it means
To larp is to act out a role you have not earned — posing as an expert, a tough guy, an insider. It is an accusation: saying someone is larping means their confidence is costume, not experience. The original meaning is literal and harmless (live action role play, a real hobby with foam swords), and online the word kept the shape and dropped the fun.
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Examples
- He's never run a business, he's just larping as a founder online.
- Half that comment section is larping military experience.
- Are you actually a doctor or is this a larp?
- Stop larping, you googled that thirty seconds ago.
Where it comes from
An acronym for Live Action Role Play, in use since the 1980s for the hobby of acting out characters in person. Internet forums turned it into a verb for insincere posturing in the 2010s, and it spread widely on Twitter and TikTok — where most people using it have never seen a foam sword.
Related slang
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