Reddit co-founder reveals wordplay that inspired the platform's name in viral post

Reddit's X account revived its name's 'read it' joke, prompting co-founder Alexis Ohanian to explain its origin. His account showed how he overruled early objections and preserved the wordplay for 21 years.Reddit co-founder reveals wordplay that inspired the platform’s name in viral post (Photo: @alexisohanian/X)Reddit’s name has been hiding a rather obvious pun in plain sight for 21 years, and its co-founder Alexis Ohanian recently explained how he made sure the company kept it.The conversation began on October 22, when Reddit’s official account on X posted a joke: “I'd tell you a joke, but you've probably already Reddit.”Take a look at the post here: The pun, playing on the phrase “read it”, quickly became the subject of playful banter in the replies. Some users joined in with more wordplay, with one suggesting that Reddit was simply trying to engage in banter. Another joked about how people would come up with increasingly ridiculous puns and admitted to dreading them.But the joke had a longer backstory than many users realised. Ohanian reshared Reddit’s post and revealed that he had pushed to keep the name when the company was first being set up, despite others apparently disliking it. Take a look at the post here:“21 years ago, I named ‘Reddit’ and everyone said it was a horrible name, but I insisted that one day people would say ‘I read it on reddit’ and used my CEO-privilege to overrule everyone + kept the name. Now the company twitter account (unbeknownst to them) is making the joke. Heh,” he wrote.His post had some users admitting that they had used Reddit countless times without ever connecting its name to the phrase “read it”.Others called it one of the longest setups for a pun in tech history, while one suggested that the platform might as well be called an echo chamber.Founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, Reddit is an online platform built around communities dedicated to different interests and topics.Users can share text posts, links, images and videos, join discussions, and vote on posts and comments. These communities, known as subreddits, cover everything from news and entertainment to hobbies, technology and everyday experiences.- Ends