Alternative forms

• wtf, W.T.F., W. T. F.

Etymology

(programming slang): Originated on The Daily WTF, a humorous blog dealing with real-world examples of bad programming.

Phrase

WTFCategory:English lemmas#WTFCategory:English phrases#WTFCategory:English words spelled without vowels#WTFCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#WTFCategory:Pages with entries#WTFCategory:Pages with 1 entry#WTF

1. (military slangCategory:English military slang#WTF, Internet slangCategory:English internet slang#WTF, text messagingCategory:English text messaging slang#WTF, vulgarCategory:English vulgarities#WTF) Initialism of what the fuckCategory:English initialisms#WTF.
   • 1985, Dick Dunn, “China Cat lyrics - explanations?”, in net.music.gdead (Usenet):

     I've READ them; I know what all the words are. I still say, "WTF, over?" Someone's playing with our heads on this one, but what's all the word stew?

     Category:English terms with quotations#WTF

   • 1994, Marat Fayzullin, “Re: MMM”, in relcom.talk (Usenet):

     Now, please, explain WTF did you mean by this text?

     Category:English terms with quotations#WTF

   • 2005, “defect violation”, “Re: WTF!!”, in uk.sport.football.clubs.liverpool (Usenet):

     WTF are you on about? We played some very good football for most of the match, […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#WTF

   • 2019, 20 November, Carol Midgley, "Prince Andrew is ‘not very quick on his feet’, says the Duchess of York. What of her?" (in The Times newspaper)

     WTF was that about?

   • 2021 March 31, Benjamin Lee, “Made for Love review – Black Mirror-esque comedy needs an upgrade”, in The Guardian‎:

     There’s a similar “sure but what else?” vibe to Made for Love, HBO Max’s new high-concept half-hour comedy, gently coasting on its WTF setup for longer than it should, to the detriment of the main star Cristin Milioti, trying her very best to secure our attention as it slowly drifts elsewhere.

     Category:English terms with quotations#WTF

2. (rareCategory:English terms with rare senses#WTF, vulgarCategory:English vulgarities#WTF) Where the fuck, why the fuck, when the fuck, or who the fuck.

Proper noun

WTFCategory:English lemmas#WTFCategory:English proper nouns#WTFCategory:English uncountable nouns#WTFCategory:English words spelled without vowels#WTFCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#WTFCategory:Pages with entries#WTFCategory:Pages with 1 entry#WTF

1. (sportsCategory:en:Sports#WTF, taekwondo, datedCategory:English dated terms#WTF, 1973–2017) Initialism of World Taekwondo FederationCategory:English links with redundant wikilinks#WTFCategory:English initialisms#WTF.

   Synonym: WT

   • 1998, The complete Idiot's guide to Taekwondo:

     Likewise the WTF says they are the official Tae Kwon Do organization because […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#WTF

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 2003, Taekwondo: A Step-By-Step Guide to the Korean Art of Self-Defense:

     The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognizes WTF at its 83rd […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#WTF

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 2005, Official Taekwondo Training Manual:

     The Secretariat of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) is located in Seoul, South Korea, in a beautiful edifice […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#WTF

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 2015 December 26, “WTF? Taekwondo governing body set for rebrand over use of acronym”, in The Guardian‎:

     The WTF secretary general, Hoss Rafaty, told insidethegames that the governing body would look to market itself as World Taekwondo for business and commercial purposes, although there are no current plans to officially change the organisation’s name.

     Category:English terms with quotations#WTF

Noun

WTF (plural WTFs)Category:English lemmas#WTFCategory:English nouns#WTFCategory:English countable nouns#WTFCategory:English words spelled without vowels#WTFCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#WTFCategory:Pages with entries#WTFCategory:Pages with 1 entry#WTF

1. Initialism of White's tree frogCategory:English initialisms#WTF.
2. (programmingCategory:en:Programming#WTF, slangCategory:English slang#WTF) A bafflingly bad or unwise design decision.

   • I think coercing numbers to booleans is a WTF - 0 should not be evaluatable as a boolean, it should be a type mismatch.

   • React attempts to wrap the browser DOM API and it's ^[sic] conventions in a way that's (for people who use it) easier to reason about, that's kind of like saying Anvil is a WTF because it wraps Vulcan

Anagrams

• FTW, TfW, ftw, tfw