YOLO. The phrase has covered Facebook, hashtags, instagram pictures, and tee shirts. It has been uttered, texted, tweeted, and twatted by countless high school and college students before wild Friday nights and crazy Saturday afternoons. It even made it into rapper Drake’s famous track The Motto. I was lucky enough to be abroad when the “yolo” bug was in full force. Confused and in a land of Francophiles who have a serious lack of abbreviations in their vocabulary, I tried to flesh out the meaning of yolo solo. You’re old like Obama? Yell or laugh okay? The meaning was completely lost on me. When a kind friend from the States took pity on my disconnection from American society, she explained the true meaning of YOLO. “Is it for the Obama campaign?” I asked, thinking it was another inspirational idea by the masterminds behind “Yes We Can”. She assured me this was simply a phrase people used to explain away crazy things they did without taking responsibility for them.
The History of the Phrase
Though many believe the phrase came to fruition from the beautiful mind of Aubrey Drake Graham, also known as Drake, the origins of “yolo” go back much further than that. “You only live once” is a saying that has been used by such famed writers as Balzac and Dostoevsky. Frank Sinatra and comedian Joe E. Lewis also loved the phrase. However, it wasn’t until June 1993 that the acronym was recorded by the U.S. Trademark database by a company trying to tell apparel under the aphorism. After that, successive companies from suntanning services to sportswear tried to make the phrase blow up, but it wasn’t until Drake that the “yolo” monster exploded. The phrase was created to suggest that one should live a full life, a life with gusto, a life with no regrets.
Though the origins of the phrase had the purest intentions, the acronym has been misconstrued and used in ways that bring shame to the phrase. YOLO is used as an excuse to take one more shot, to hook up with that random guy, and to make poor decisions without being held accountable. I have seen the YOLO backlash with tweets and Facebook statuses reading “brushed my teeth, yolo” or “going to watch pretty little liars #yolo”. While I think this is hysterical, imagine if we flipped the phrase on its head and used it for people who truly embody the acronym.
People Who Truly Deserve the Hashtag
- Muyambai Muyambi ‘12, when he rode across the country for Bicycles Against Poverty #YOLO
- OA’s when they stay up all night blowing up balloons so first years can feel the orange and blue #YOLO
- Whitney Tatem ‘15 who spent the summer researching solutions to a deadly healthcare associated infection #YOLO
- The U.S. Olympic swim team when they sweeped in gold medals and made an amazing video to “Call Me Maybe” #YOLO
- Harrison Mills ’14 mapping housing and blighted social services to revitalize Sunbury #YOLO
- Alex Clayton ‘12 who joined the Peace Corps and is doing missionary work in Nepal #YOLO
I propose we redefine YOLO. It is true that you only live once, so we should make it count not in blacked out nights but in mornings that make us believe in something more than ourselves. After all, you only live once, right?