Replace X with Y

September 15, 2015 10:21 AM

Here is the Chrome extension Word Replacer II, and here is the Firefox extension FoxReplace. You can use them to replace words on web pages you visit with other words of your choosing. They could be used to duplicate the action of previous extension cloud-to-butt, or you might think of other things you could do with it. There's another extension for Chrome that automatically changes all uses of "millennials" to "snake people".
posted by JHarris (40 comments total)

changes all uses of "millennials" to "snake people".

Better would be changing the word politicians to "snake people", since that's what I always do in my head anyway.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:33 AM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

politicians are lizard people like the queen of england
posted by dismas at 10:44 AM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

If you dig into the source code of the Millennials to Snake People extension, you also find:

Great Recession = Time of Shedding and Cold Rocks
Great Depression = Clutch Plague
Occupy Wall Street = Great Ape-Snake War
Digital Native = Parseltongue

And so on.
posted by Cash4Lead at 10:44 AM on September 15, 2015 [19 favorites]

Greg_Ace no for that one you want "lizard people," get your reptiloid subtypes straight.
posted by Wretch729 at 10:45 AM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

I planned to use this on my partner's computer, replacing "coconut oil" with "squeezins", but couldn't muster the will to do so. Any bolder folks out there, give it a shot, and let me know how it goes???
posted by majuju at 10:57 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Maybe politicians are snake people that just want you to think they're lizard people! I wouldn't put it past 'em.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:57 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

"tho" to though
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 11:00 AM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

The proximity of X, Y and Chrome in the display of this post made my brain imagine a scary chromosome replacement scheme.

This is much cooler.
posted by dirtdirt at 11:00 AM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

Sneeple.
posted by kafziel at 11:16 AM on September 15, 2015 [5 favorites]

Put on the glasses, dammit!
 
posted by Herodios at 11:18 AM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

After taking the Chunnel to France in the Summer, I felt like one changing immigrants to mutants or aliens would really highlight the dehumanising style of the comments (and official announcements).

"Heavy mutant action has led to two hour delays".
posted by fizban at 11:24 AM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

If I still worked at my academic library, I would change all the instances of "synergy" and "iterative" to "muppets" and "jiggly."
posted by ikahime at 11:33 AM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

Already having installed the snake person extension, it's interesting to see this:

If you dig into the source code of the Snake People to Snake People extension, you also find:

Time of Shedding and Cold Rocks = Time of Shedding and Cold Rocks
Clutch Plague = Clutch Plague
Great Ape-Snake War = Great Ape-Snake War
Parseltongue = Parseltongue

And so on.
posted by curuinor at 11:38 AM on September 15, 2015 [6 favorites]

" and " to ", and"

I'd rather see too many oxford commas than not enough.
posted by furtive at 11:43 AM on September 15, 2015 [8 favorites]

Years ago I had a coworker who used to browse car forums. At the time we used a little Windows program called Proxomitron to filter web ads (in the days before AdBlock), but you could use the program to replace any part of a webpage on the fly. So one day I set it to replace every instance of the word "car" with "chicken".

You can imagine his confusion when, on his beloved car forums, people were bragging about buying a new chicken, replacing the engine in their chickens, tuning up their chickens, racing chickens... He thought he was losing his mind. I let him in on the gag after lunch and we all had a good laugh.
posted by Servo5678 at 11:45 AM on September 15, 2015 [7 favorites]

@furtive: it took me way too many read throughs to get what you meant. I kept wondering what use ", would have in the world, and how you would separate " from " in the first place.
posted by brecc at 12:02 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I built "Reverse Fanboy", a Chrome extension to replace Apple/iPhone with Samsung/Galaxy S. I was planning to make something similar to Word Replacer, but now I guess I don't have to.
posted by azarbayejani at 12:26 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

You can also "Mr. Robot" your browser and replace "company name of your disliking" with "Evil Corp".

To send someone to the loony bin, just replace 1 with 2 and vice versa.
posted by KMB at 12:38 PM on September 15, 2015

rethuglican->republican
demoRAT->democrat
obummer->obama
sanctorum->sanctorum
2nd amendment->suicide pact
anarchist->libertarian
libertarian->anarchist
sheeple->citizens
consumers->citizens

Oh, there is a world of fun to be had here, and with enough entries, internet comments could look reasonable.
posted by el io at 12:40 PM on September 15, 2015 [7 favorites]

see also:

http://fusion.net/story/180090/google-chrome-extension-replaces-political-correctness/
posted by runt at 12:43 PM on September 15, 2015

Trump->Trumpnuts alone has made my day.

"Donald J. Trumpnuts"!
posted by sutt at 12:45 PM on September 15, 2015

(Which, in this thread, just became "Donald J. Trumpnutsnuts".) Recursive joy!
posted by sutt at 12:46 PM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

The Trump replacement reminds me of this tweet from mathowie.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:51 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Many years ago, when El Niño started being a newsworthy thing, a friend of mine did a find-and-replace of "El Niño" with "the motherfucker" in an article he sent to me-- and I literally cannot think of El Niño without thinking "the motherfucker" ever since. Words are powerful things.

I may not be able to not think of Millennials as "snake people" now, thanks.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 1:15 PM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

The correct substitution for "El Niño" is actually "the first four Black Sabbath albums."

i.e. "Bakersfield, California was destroyed today by the first four Black Sabbath albums."
posted by entropicamericana at 1:33 PM on September 15, 2015 [7 favorites]

wet->moist
damp->moist
humid->moist
water->moisture
posted by Splunge at 1:49 PM on September 15, 2015 [6 favorites]

sounds like you want to be moist by your own petard
posted by Earthtopus at 1:51 PM on September 15, 2015 [5 favorites]

Already having installed the snake person extension, it's interesting to see this:

If you dig into the source code of the Snake People to Snake People extension...

I'd read that book:

Snake People to Snake People: Honest Talk about Living as Covert Reptilian-Americans
posted by leotrotsky at 1:54 PM on September 15, 2015

Snake people are people too. Also snakes.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 2:01 PM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

"Kraft Dinner" to "Kraft Macaroni & Cheese"
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 2:10 PM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

Once upon a time I wrote a DOS program to transform text files into the nadsat vocabulary from A Clockwork Orange.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:06 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Facebook → Foucault
Like → Discipline and Punish

Twitter → Wittgenstein
hashtag → Tractatus

Netflix → Nietzsche
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt → Übermensch
and chill → Also sprach Zarathustra

Minecraft → Mary Wollstonecraft
creeper → patriarchal institution of marriage
Survival mode → A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Taylor Swift → Thomas Aquinas
Shake It Off → Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine
I knew you were trouble when you walked in → To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection and even of actual sin
posted by oulipian at 6:38 PM on September 15, 2015 [5 favorites]

TIL from a client that "cloud" -> "butts" preceded "Millennials" -> "snake people"
posted by stevil at 7:11 PM on September 15, 2015

I can't the thread pass without linking to the immortal "Replace Heart With Butt."
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:36 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

She said, "What's your problem?"
I said, "My problem is that you come in here with some fucked up words and you don't want someone to tell you that your words are fucked up. I don't even know how you communicate. I don't even know how you say things. When you shut up, where do your words go? Where were your words in the first place? Where were your words in 1969? Where were your words on 9-11? I thought you said you'd never forget!"
She said, "I'm leaving."
I said, "Not before you get your official diagnosis. Here it is: you're fucked up and your words are fucked up. Are you ready for the solution?"
She said "What?"
And I said, "Here's the solution. Are you ready?"

DER WORTERSETZER.
posted by BiggerJ at 9:45 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

My fork of cloud -> butt does the following:

God -> Xenu
Religious freedom -> Religious fuckery

Needless to say, it's made reading every article about Kim Davis absolutely amazing.
posted by exact_change at 10:34 PM on September 15, 2015

challenge > problem
utfordring > problem (norwegian)

I hate when people tell me they have some challenges (utfordringer) with something instead of calling a problem a problem. Enabled this change and felt a weight lift off my soul.
posted by Snjo at 6:45 AM on September 16, 2015

That seems needlessly grumpy, Snjo. I problem you to justify your attitude.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:16 AM on September 16, 2015

The best word replacement I've seen is "cyber" to "wizard". Here's some current headlines from Google News:

Watchdog: DHS Still Struggles with Wizard Response

Obama will greet Chinese president with handshake, not wizard sanctions

Money From BNP Pact to Back Wizard Alliance

When Wizard Fraud Hits Businesses, Banks May Not Offer Protection
posted by Tau Wedel at 8:50 AM on September 16, 2015 [6 favorites]

Tau Wedel that is the best and I am totally going to use it.
posted by Wretch729 at 9:53 AM on September 16, 2015