Bot

Bot (noun / slang)

Definition: Someone totally useless at games, or a person wandering about with no clue what’s going on around them. Basically an insult for anyone acting like their brain has completely switched off.

Pronunciation: /bɒt/ (rhymes with not and hot)

Where It Comes From: Online games like Runescape and Counter-Strike used bots as fake computer players to fill lobbies or do boring repetitive graft. Fast forward to Fortnite and Twitch streams, and kids started screaming it at anyone who couldn’t aim to save their life. Didn’t stay on the PlayStation for long either—drifted right into everyday chat for folk with zero spatial awareness.

How People Actually Use It: Two main ways: on the mic during a game, or winding someone up in real life.

If your mate misses an absolute sitter on FIFA or walks into a wall on Call of Duty, they’re a bot. Off the telly, you use it when someone stops dead at the top of an escalator, stares blankly at a self-checkout screen, or just repeats whatever opinion they saw on TikTok five minutes ago. Total autopilot behaviour.

Examples in the Wild:

• “Missed an open net from two yards out, you absolute bot.”

  Translation: “You completely bottled an easy chance to score.”

• “Mate, move out the doorway—standing there like a proper bot.”

  Translation: “Get out of the way, you’re blocking everyone.”

• “Don’t waste your breath arguing with him in the comments, it’s just a bot account.”

  Translation: “That profile isn’t a real person, ignore it.”

Similar Slang: NPC, Muppet, Noob, Plank, Clueless, Waste of space