pics or it didn't happen

English

Alternative forms

• pictures or it didn't happen

Etymology

Suggesting the denial of the veracity of a report of the event by demanding pictures thereof as proof. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. first use etc.

Phrase

pics or it didn't happen

1. (Internet slang, humorous) Used to request a picture of a reported event, especially on an Internet forum.
   • 2013, Jade C. Jamison, Quickies: Sexy Short Stories and Other Stuff, page 89:

     Pug Nose: “Oh, he will.”
     “Pics or it didn't happen.”

   • 2014, Jessa Holbrook, While You're Away‎^[1], Penguin, →ISBN:

     “I just got out of the shower,” I explained. Will pointed down, asking playfully, “Pics or it didn't happen.” “No pics,” I snorted. “No Snapchats, no video. Sorry.”

   • 2015 February 26, Jacob Silverman, “‘Pics or it didn’t happen’ – the mantra of the Instagram era”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     Don’t think, just post it. “Pics or it didn’t happen” – that is the populist mantra of the social networking age. Show us what you did, so that we may believe and validate it.

   • 2016, Jan E. Stets, Richard T. Serpe, New Directions in Identity Theory and Research, page 147:

     This normative expectation is perhaps best captured in the popular colloquial phrase: “Pics or it didn't happen.”

   • 2016, Aimee Friedman, Two Summers, Point, →ISBN, page 195:

     “Nah. It can be so fake. People just post things that make them look good. You never get the whole story.” I look at my phone in my hand. Pics or it didn’t happen! Ruby likes to say.

2. (Internet slang, humorous) Used to demand verifiable evidence for a statement.

Translations

used to request a picture of a reported event

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有圖有真相／有图有真相 (yǒu tú yǒu zhēnxiàng), 沒圖沒真相／没图没真相, 無圖無真相／无图无真相, 有圖為證／有图为证

• Finnish: kuva tai ei uskota (literally “pic or [we] won't believe”)
• French: photo sinon fake (literally “pic, otherwise fake”)
• Hebrew: תמונה, או שזה לא קרה
• Polish: not used in Polish
• Portuguese: sem fotos, sem fatos (literally “no pics, no facts”)