Overlord
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In feudalism, an overlord is a supreme lord; one who is the lord of other lords.
In the early 21st century, humorous statements of mock submission based on the template
- I, for one, welcome our new X overlords.
became something of a meme in online forums such as Slashdot. Here X is some (often corporate or government) entity that is making a power grab.
The original quote is from the 1994 episode of The Simpsons, Deep Space Homer, when news announcer Kent Brockman believes the Earth to be under invasion by giant space ants. Fearing for his life he announces his willingness to collaborate with the invaders:
- One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.
A related template, also popular, is
- I, for one, welcome our new X masters.
External links
Language Log article discussing the "welcome our new overlords" meme (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000403.html)
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