“Why Do People Call Scott a ‘Dink’ in the HQ Chat?”
If you don’t know what this question means, I got you. A quick summary is ahead. HQ is an off-putting, but fun, live trivia game in mobile app form. Sessions are twice a day on weekdays, once a day on weekends. They’re led by rotating hosts that are live on-screen to read questions and pad out the experience. When I started playing about 20k players were live each game. More than 100k players are now in-app each session. It’s blowing up. The “Scott” in question is Scott Rogowsky, the app’s most beloved host.
HQ has a chat component layered on top of the video. Like any online chat with that many users live at one time, it’s a constant stream of gibberish. One unrelentingly common phrase you’ll see in this quick-moving chat space is “dink dink.” Some folks attributed this to name-calling. If only it was that easy.
The Answer
In a way, it all begins seven years ago with one YouTube video. Bear with me!
In 2010, Jenna Marbles (real name Jenna Mourey) posted “How To Trick People Into Thinking You’re Good Looking.” It was funny and weird, a potent combination. It received more than 5 million views in its first week. It kicked off her career as an internet star and she’s continued to release content, making her a top YouTuber still today.
Jenna Marbles and her boyfriend, Julien Solomita, have a podcast together called the Jenna & Julien Podcast. Its intro music is “Champ” by Gunner Olsen, a stock electronic track that they found. (“Why is this relevant to ‘dink dink’ and HQ?,” you’re asking. All I can say is I promise it is!)
To kick off each episode, the duo sings a vocalized rendition of the intro track, in which they say “dink dink.” Here’s a supercut of that:
Because this intro ritual became a trademark of the Jenna & Julien Podcast and, by extension, the pair of them, their fans call themselves The Dink Fam.
This is where it all starts to come together.
Jenna and Julien mentioned HQ on podcast episode #163. This caused their listeners to flock to the then-nascent app. Members of The Dink Fam posted “dink dink” to identify themselves and, let’s be honest, probably to annoy the uninitiated. When you open HQ and see “dink dink” scrolling by, that’s why.
What’s Scott’s role here? None. It has nothing to do with him. Assuming that other people are calling Scott a “dink” as a derogatory name is a projection.
(Side note: someone mentioned that they see “dilly dilly” in the chat, too. Couldn’t tell you where that comes from, other than to say that it’s likely folks unaware of the origins of “dink dink” altered it to suit their own purposes.)
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