Lexicon ·
gatsbying
noun, also verb (to gatsby)
- Stated meaning
- Posting a photo, video or selfie publicly for one love interest to see.
- Operating meaning
- A broadcast addressed to an audience of one, which reaches that person without the sender being on record as having written.
- Origin
- Coined by Matilda Dods on TOMBOY Beauty in November 2017, after the host of The Great Gatsby, whose parties were thrown for one guest.
- Synonyms
- instagrandstanding
In November 2017 Matilda Dods defined the word on TOMBOY Beauty (opens in a new window), as a verb and a noun: “To post a video, picture or selfie to public social media purely for a love interest to see it.” The post settled its own history in 5 words: “And thus, Gatsbying was born.” The novel’s host threw parties for a whole county on the chance that 1 guest across the bay would attend. The word keeps the method and moves the party to a feed.
A year later an app put a figure on it. In December 2018 Marie Claire (opens in a new window) reported Plenty of Fish’s trends for 2019, among them instagrandstanding, “Curating your Instagram feed with one person in mind,” which it said was also known as Gatsbying. In a survey of 822 Plenty of Fish users, over half “admit to tailoring their Instagram feed with another person in mind,” with 22- to 25-year-olds “the most guilty age group.”
Under load, gatsbying sends a message without sending it. The post is addressed to everyone, so the sender cannot be shown to have written to anyone, and the intended reader cannot reply without admitting to having been the audience. Both parties can watch the view count. Neither can enter the exchange in the record, which is the property the post was built to have.