Hot takes
What is a hot take?
- A hot take is a quick, loud opinion made to get a reaction. Merriam-Webster defines it as “a quickly produced, strongly worded, and often deliberately provocative or sensational opinion or reaction,” in its entry for the term. It’s the sentence that starts the argument, not the essay that ends it.
- You’ll hear it used two ways. Online, “hot take” is often an insult for a shallow reaction to the news. Among friends, it just means an opinion you’re ready to defend: “hot take, but camping is not a vacation.” This page is about the second kind, which is much more fun.
- A good one has three parts, and it needs all of them.
- Being early is just as rude as being late.It’s shortIf it needs a second sentence, it’s an essay.It’s specific“People are rude” is a mood. This is a fight about 6:40 on a Saturday.It splits the room“Kindness is nice” isn’t a take. If nobody disagrees, there’s no heat.
200 hot take examples
Every take we have, numbered, from cilantro to the person you’re thinking of. They get hotter as you scroll. Tap one to answer it, and your answer starts a round with that take first.
WarmHotScorchingFun hot takes
The safest place to start. Nobody leaves the table over cilantro, but they might raise their voice.
Hot takes about food
Show 10 more
Movie and TV hot takes
Show 11 more
Music hot takes
Show 7 more
Sports hot takes
Show 7 more
Funny hot takes
Everyone has rules for these, and nobody has the same ones. Good for a long car ride, if you’re sure you’ll all still get out at the end.
Hot takes about texting
Show 8 more
Hot takes about the internet
Show 7 more
Hot takes about manners
Show 6 more
Hot takes about travel
Show 9 more
Hot takes about work
Show 7 more
Hot takes about daily life
Show 9 more
Scorching hot takes
This is where it stops being about food. Maybe don’t read these out in front of the person you thought of.
Hot takes about friendship
Show 26 more
Dating and relationship hot takes
Show 21 more
Free printable hot takes cards
All 200 takes as cut-out cards on 23 sheets of US Letter, nine to a page, with the rules on a cover sheet. Use them at a party, in a classroom warm-up or at a long dinner. Free to print and share, no email needed.
The whole deck, ready to cutPrint it, cut it, deal it. The cards run warm to scorching, so you can pick how bad the night gets.Download the cards (PDF)Hot take, lukewarm take, cold take
Only “hot take” has a dictionary entry. The other two are what people say back to it, so their meanings are looser. Here’s how we use them.
Hot takeFast, loud and looking for a fight. “Brunch is a scam.”Lukewarm takeSounds brave, risks nothing. Half the room nods and nobody leaves. “Mondays are hard.”Cold takeSomething everyone already agrees with, said as if it were news. Some people use it for a slow, careful opinion instead. “Traffic is bad.”How to use “hot take” in a sentence
It works as a warning before an opinion, as a label for someone else’s, or as a mild insult.
As a warning“Hot take: the sequel is better.”As a label“That’s quite a hot take for 8am.”As an insult“Three hot takes and not one fact.”Hot take or unpopular opinion?
They overlap, but they aren’t the same.
Hot takeAbout how it’s said: fast, loud and ready for a fight. Plenty turn out to be quite popular, which is the funniest way to lose an argument.Unpopular opinionAbout how many people agree: few do, and you might say it quietly. To find out if you’re really alone, try Unpopular Opinions.The best hot takes, defended
A take is only as good as the case for it. Here are twelve of ours, with the best we can say for each. You don’t have to agree. That’s the point.
Splitting the bill evenly is never fair.
Someone had the salad. Someone had three cocktails. Even is only fair to the person who suggested it.
Leaving without saying goodbye is the polite way to go.
One goodbye takes ten seconds. Forty goodbyes take the rest of the party and end it for everyone else.
Being early is just as rude as being late.
If I said seven, then at 6:40 you are a problem. Your punctuality has become my emergency.
Ghosting is sometimes the kind thing to do.
A long explanation of why you’re not interested is often a favor to you, not them.
Saying “I love you” first is a power move.
It’s a question with no good reply unless they’re ready. Whoever says it first has set the terms.
Going to bed angry is fine, actually.
Nothing good has ever been said at 2am. A fight that sleeps is usually a smaller fight by breakfast.
Everyone secretly ranks their friends.
Nobody means to. But you know exactly who you’d call first, and that’s a ranking.
Most old friendships are just habit.
You can love someone mostly because they were there. Admitting it is what makes the ones you’d still choose mean something.
Couples who never argue are hiding something.
Two people will disagree about something. If you never see it, one of them has stopped saying it.
If they wanted to, they would.
Effort is the only evidence you can actually see. Everything else is you writing their lines for them.
Golf isn’t a sport.
If you can do it holding a beer, in loafers, while talking about your kitchen remodel, it’s a walk with a score.
If you can’t say “I love you” to a friend, the friendship is shallow.
You’ve seen each other through everything, and you sign off with “ok cool”. What exactly are you protecting?
How to play hot takes with friends
As a party game you need no cards and no phones, just a table of people with opinions.
- One person reads out a take, from this page or from their own head.
- Everyone votes at once, thumbs up or down, so nobody can follow the room.
- Whoever is in the minority has thirty seconds to defend it.
- Anyone who says “it depends” reads the next one.
- The defenders can turn the room: if they change a single mind, they win the round.
How the game on this page works
It’s 15 cards, and they only get hotter.
- Answer the take at the top of this page. Swipe right to agree, left to hard disagree. No fence to sit on, and both answers count.
- Place your bet on card two: will you agree more, or disagree more? It comes back at the end.
- A droplet walks a compass with every answer. In the middle, a “which is worse” card breaks the rhythm.
- The last four cards burn down a seven-second fuse. Nothing bad happens if it runs out, but it goes on your record. So does taking an answer back.
- Get your verdict and the answers that decided it, then dare a friend with the same cards and find out where you split.
The 14 verdicts
Every answer moves you on two lines at once: rules against chaos, and grumpy against soft. Hotter takes move you further, and disagreeing counts as much as agreeing. A loud name takes a real lead. Flip a coin all the way through and you’ll usually get a quiet name or The Weathervane. Once a take has real votes, going against the crowd can take over the verdict.
The Hall Monitor
The Judge
The Gremlin
The Menace
The Critic
The Storm Cloud
The Softie
The Hopeless Case
The Weathervane
The Nodding Dog
The Final Boss
The Lone Flame
The Holdout
Room Temperature
From insult to party word: the history of “hot take”
The term has only been around for about a decade and a half, and it has already changed sides.
- BeforeSports talk radio builds the habit: hosts make loud claims about things nobody can know, so angry listeners call in, as Wikipedia’s history of the term sets out.
- 2012Merriam-Webster’s first known use. The phrase takes off in sports journalism, in the coverage of NFL quarterback Tim Tebow.
- 2013Tomás Ríos traces that style in A Brief History of Bad Sports Writing for Pacific Standard.
- 2014It leaves sports. A John Herrman piece in The Awl uses it for the pressure on online publishers to react fast and glibly to everything.
- 2015The word has its big argument. The New Republic runs A History of the Hot Take, and Slate’s editor Julia Turner answers critics with In Defense of the Take.
- 2019The New York Times is still explaining it, as “a hastily assembled but perhaps heartfelt piece of incendiary opinionated content.”
- NowOutside journalism it has softened into any opinion you’re ready to defend. Merriam-Webster’s own essay on the phrase breaks it down word by word. At a dinner table, it’s a compliment.
How to come up with your own hot take
Pick something small that people do without thinking, like saying goodbye at a party or how they load a dishwasher. Say what everyone quietly suspects about it, or the exact opposite. Then cut it until it fits in one breath. If someone at the table wants to reply before you’ve finished, it’s working. At the end of a round you can write your own and send it to a friend.
How this page is made
Written and edited by the Talk Deep team, the people behind the Talk Deep card game. Last updated November 6, 2026.Every take here is our own wording, and each one has to pass this page’s own test: if nobody would disagree, it goes. Facts about the term are checked against the sources linked above, and we don’t cover faith, politics or health.Percentages come only from votes cast in this game, and appear from 10 votes on a take. We keep the totals, not who voted. There are no seeded votes. Verdicts are for fun: they say how you answered 15 cards, and nothing more.Questions people ask
What does hot take mean?
An opinion given quickly and strongly, usually to get a reaction. Merriam-Webster defines it as a quickly produced, strongly worded, and often deliberately provocative or sensational opinion or reaction.
What is an example of a hot take?
Voice memos are just selfish phone calls. Brunch is a scam. Going to bed angry is fine, actually. Each one is short, specific, and has someone in the room ready to disagree.
What makes a good hot take?
It’s short, it’s specific, and reasonable people land on both sides. The best ones are about small things, like how to load a dishwasher.
What’s the opposite of a hot take?
People usually say a cold take. It has no dictionary definition, but it tends to mean either something everyone already agrees with, or a slower, considered opinion. We use it for the first.
What’s the difference between a hot take and an unpopular opinion?
An unpopular opinion is one few people hold. A hot take is one said fast and loud to start an argument. A hot take can be quite popular.
Where did the term hot take come from?
From American sports talk radio. Merriam-Webster’s first known use is 2012, the year it took off in sports journalism around coverage of Tim Tebow, and by the mid-2010s it had spread to journalism in general.
How do you play the hot takes game?
Here, you bet on yourself, agree or hard disagree with 13 takes as they get hotter, call one thing worse than another, and get a verdict at the end. There are 200 takes, on 12 topics from food to dating. At a table, read one out, vote at once, and make the minority defend it.
Can I compare my answers with a friend?
Yes. At the end of a round, tap Dare a friend and send the link. They get the same cards, and you both see both verdicts, where you split and a question to fight about.
Are the numbers real?
Yes. Any percentage here comes from votes cast in this game, and we show a split only once a take has 10 votes. We keep totals, not who voted. Until then you’ll see no number at all.
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