## Definition
“Boof” is a slang term with multiple, contradictory meanings — a perfect example of how internet culture accelerates semantic chaos. In some regions, it means to ingest drugs rectally (“boofing”). In others, it means to fart. In still others, it means to throw something forcefully. And then there’s the Brett Kavanaugh definition: during his 2018 Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh claimed that “boofing” referred to flatulence and that “devil’s triangle” was a drinking game, definitions that contradicted widespread understanding among people who had actually used the terms in the 1980s. The internet responded with the unified fury of a million fact-checkers, and “boof” became a permanent part of political meme history.
## Why It Matters
The Kavanaugh “boof” hearing exposed the gap between institutional power and internet culture. A Supreme Court nominee, under oath, offered definitions that sounded like someone who had never actually used the slang trying to explain it to their grandmother. The internet — particularly people who had attended high school and college in the 1980s — immediately called bullshit. The moment became a symbol of how power tries to rewrite history in real time, and how the internet’s collective memory can resist. Whether Kavanaugh’s definitions were technically defensible in some obscure regional usage is almost irrelevant; what mattered was the transparent absurdity of the performance.
## Example
The “boof” moment wasn’t just about one word. It was part of a broader pattern where Kavanaugh’s yearbook entries — “Renate Alumnius,” “Devil’s Triangle,” “Beach Week Ralph Club” — were presented as innocent inside jokes while internet sleuths and contemporaries offered more plausible, and more incriminating, interpretations. The hearing became a referendum on whose memory mattered: the powerful man’s carefully constructed narrative, or the collective memory of everyone who had actually lived through the era. The internet chose the latter, loudly and persistently.
## Internet Angle
“Boof” is now a permanent part of internet political vocabulary. It’s used to call out transparently false explanations from powerful people: “That’s a real boof moment” means someone is insulting your intelligence with a flimsy cover story. The word appears in memes about the hearing, in commentary on subsequent political scandals, and as a general shorthand for “I know you know I know you’re lying.” Urban Dictionary entries for “boof” exploded after the hearing. And the word has taken on new life in gaming and sports, where “boof” as “to throw forcefully” is used unironically. The internet contains multitudes — even contradictions — and “boof” lives comfortably in all of them.
## Related Terms
– **Devil’s Triangle**: The drinking game/dubious activity Kavanaugh also redefined
– **Renate Alumnius**: The yearbook entry that became another meme
– **Kavanaugh hearings**: The 2018 confirmation process that made “boof” famous
– **Urban Dictionary**: The crowdsourced authority that contradicted Kavanaugh
– **Rectal administration**: The drug usage Kavanaugh denied
– **Flatulence**: The innocent explanation Kavanaugh offered
Word count: ~480