What is malding?
Malding is the combination of Mad and bald. It’s very informal slang and is usually referring to someone who’s raging at a video game, but can also be used for other scenarios. Someone who is Mald is either a mad and bald person, or a person who is Mad about being bald, and is therefore taking their frustration out on others.
I view it like the “Annoyed” emojis you see in anime, where the character is working up to being really angry, the one that kind of looks like a # symbol. It is sometimes called a “Cruciform”.
The red one, not the sweatdrop.
Origin of “malding”.
“Malding” is a portmanteau word.
The term “Malding” gained popularity in Forsen’s chat on Twitch, where he would spam “So bad, so mad!” which turned into “So bald, so mad,” then finally to “So bald, so mald.” While the term was generally unknown before Forsen looked it up in 2019, it was originally added to the urban dictionary in 2011.
So bad, so mad >>> *forsen goes bald* >>> so bald >>> so bald, so mald >>> so mald >>> Malding
Malding Meme
Malding on Twitch
“Mald” got its popularity thanks to Forsen and the Forsenboys on Twitch.
Back in 2019, as Forsen was streaming a game on Twitch as usual and then the viewers started spamming in the chatroom, making FUN of Forsen and his frustration with the game he was playing. The chatroom was filled with messages of “So bad, so mad!”
Seeing as Forsen was also balding, the spamming evolved into “So bald, so mad.” Finally, that gave way to “So bald, so mald.”
Ergo, in a way, “mald” is actually a combination of three words, “bad,” “mad,” and “bald.”
More In-depth
The word mald became popular in the Forsen and Forsenboys community. Forsen is a popular Twitch streamer who found his breakthrough while streaming Hearthstone during 2015-2016 and quickly became one of the most popular variety streamers on the platform. In 2019, his viewers were getting mad at him for being worked up about a game. Soon enough, his chat started being spammed with “so bad, so mad” and “so bald, so mad”. It eventually evolved into “so bald, so mald” and that is where the term ‘mald’ was popularized on Twitch.
After malding in Twitch chat became a popular word, a Redditor who goes by ganondorf69 posted a picture of Forsen and asked the community to upvote the picture so it would show up as an organic search result whenever Google users would search for “mald.”
In June 2019, a video was posted called “The Malding of Twitch” which shows some of the most well-known Twitch streamers with bald spots. In July 2019, a streamer who goes by Nymm posted a video where he recounted the whole origin of ‘malding.’ Malding in Twitch chat is no longer restricted to Forsen’s community and it has spread to the entirety of Twitch.
Malding Trademark Story
On Wednesday, December 4, 2019, a Twitch streamer named Joey “Nagzz21” filed a trademark for the world “Malding” in the United States. He also purchased the web domain malding.com for $3,300 and uploaded a video that was directed at Rob “Roflgator” Malecki.
Explanation
You see, one of the streamers who picked up the word “malding” was Rob “Roflgator” Malecki. He was using “malding” regularly on his streams and chat.
One way Roflgator used the word “malding” was to tease another Twitch streamer known as Nagzz21. Basically, Roflgator photoshopped Nagzz21’s face and pasted it onto the heads of malding people. See what I meant by streamers playing pranks on one another?
And, how did Nagzz21 decide to get back at Roflgator?
Well, Nagzz21, whose real name is Joey Bagels, decided to file a trademark application on the 4th of December to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, claiming exclusive rights for the word “malding” in the United States.