For the Jewish Internet, BDE Means Something Very Different

By 
BDe

The internet is abuzz talking about something called BDE, or “Big Dick Energy.” The Jewish internet is confused by this. We’re here to explain.

The conversation began when Ariana Grande tweeted that her newly minted fiancé, Pete Davidson, is well-endowed. As Allison Davis helpfully wrote in a Cut article explaining Big Dick Energy, “BDE is a quiet confidence and ease with oneself that comes from knowing you have an enormous penis and you know what to do with it. It’s not cockiness, it’s not a power trip — it’s the opposite: a healthy, satisfied, low-key way you feel yourself.”

Twitter has taken this and run, tweeting about celebrities and fictional characters they believe to have BDE.

A Humble Request:
Hey Alma's content is free because we believe everybody deserves to be a part of our radically inclusive Jewish community. Reader donations help us do that. Will you give what you can to keep Hey Alma open to all? (It's a mitzvah, ya know.)
Support Hey Alma

But, as one confused tweeter pointed out, “when Jewish people hear about a death, we say Baruch Dayan Emet, which when abbreviated is BDE.”

As My Jewish Learning helpfully explains:

BD”E
בּד״א

Stands for: Baruch dayan emet (ברוך דיין  אמת)
Pronounced:bah-ROOKH dah-YAHN eh-METT
What it means: Hebrew for “blessed is the true judge.”
When it’s used: Commonly said to a mourner upon learning of their loss.

A search of “BDE” on Twitter before yesterday comes up with notices of deaths, with people tweeting memories of those who have passed away. Example, from April:

BDE in this example (and many, many more) obviously does not mean Big Dick Energy. Honestly, it’s weird to even write that sentence!

Alma contributor Alisa Ungar-Sargon explained it perfectly: “I guess it was only a matter of time before a blessing made in times of tragedy and hardship to offset the anger stage of grief directed specifically at the Lord Above would cross lines with an attempt at capturing why men of a certain size could have what some might call ‘ineffable’ magnetism.”

Will Jewish Twitter ever be able to hashtag #BDE again without some weird connotations? We don’t know. But we can’t wait to find out.

Read More