A fork of Rural Dictionary
FIrstly I invented the word a couple of years ago, when a group of my wife's friends wanted to all have their mobile phone photograph taken and it could only be done with me taking the picture.
So I said, I will help you by taking the photo, so the whole group could be in the picture and I will call it a HELPIE.
A single person, or a group of people, who want their mobile phone / camera photograph taken, however they all want to be in the picture, so I offer to take the photo for them and it is a " helpie " A helpie is always a much improved photograph over a selfie.
"A 'SELFIE' that's not only a self-portrait but a simultaneous cry for help." Selfies that you want to unsee.
"She's going overboard with the selfies, that last one was definitely a helpie... no one wants to witness that desperation."
"A selfie to brag about helping." Typically a American or European volunteer in Africa or Southeast Asia taking a picture of themselves with a child or children that are obviously poor, often showing the American or European offering help to the child or children, or implying such help. These photos are often used as Tinder profile pictures, and eventually are featured on Humanitarians of Tinder.
Also can be a photograph of a humanitarian aid worker in the act of helping a needy person, used in the context of fundraising for the humanitarian organization. As referenced in an official USAID response, "Small et. al 2007 has shown that well-lit photos and helpies generate more funding than text-based, and data-driven presentations of complex, global problems."
"She took a beautiful helpie of her and a child at the village school in Uganda where she volunteered for a week. Now its her Tinder profile picture and her organization is using that photo as a helpie in their annual report"
Some who is trying to be helpful in a manner that is decidedly NOT helpful, and knows it. People being 'helpy' are often trolls. Word often used in a sarcastic or joking tone.
Person 1: "Can you help me move all these bags inside?"
Person 2: *moves one, very light, bag just inside the door*
Person 1: "Thanks, that was helpy"
Also - most responses to the "photoshop the sun between my fingers" request meme
Said of someone providing unwanted assistance or advice, often in a context-insensitive, ineffectual, and condescending manner.
The manager delegated it to me, but then got helpy when I started trying to get it done, so I'll have to do it over when I'm alone in the office.
Helpy people assist in such a way that the task becomes more messy and complex and takes far longer than it would if you'd just done it yourself. Helpyness is small children or pets assisting with cooking or folding clothes, or anyone you don't know offering to help set up a tent.
Because Poppy was so helpy with the cooking, I had to clean cake mix off the ceiling.