About

Christian Weston Chandler (b. Christopher Weston Chandler), also known as Chris-Chan and CWC, is a YouTube vlogger and creator of the webcomic Sonichu. Around late 2007, Christian became a trolling target by Encyclopedia Dramatica and 4chan, due to his low quality body of work, unusual behaviors, and extreme reactions to hostility.

Online History

Early Life

Christian was born on February 24, 1982 in Charlottesville, Virginia^[1] and was raised in Ruckersville, Virginia for the majority of his life. Early in his life he was diagnosed with autism, though it is not sure when exactly this took place. He took interest in Sonic the Hedgehog from the time the earliest games came out, and later took interest in Pokémon as well. In 1994, his name was legally changed from Christopher to Christian after having it misheard by Leonard Bearstein of the Leonard Bearstein Symphony Orchestra, an animatronic musical project.^[2] In March of 2000, Chris created the Sonichu character after he was not allowed to use copyrighted characters in a school project, instead combining two preexisting characters to create an “original” character.^[1] After graduating from high school, Chris enrolled at Peidmont Virginia Community College, eventually obtaining an associates degree in Computer-Aided Drafting and Design. During this time at the college, Chris had been expelled for a year after attempting to pick up women via signs.^[3] Because of this, the dean of the college, Mary Lee Walsh, became a recurring villain in the Sonichu comics. Over the course of this expulsion, Chris began work on the first issue of Sonichu, completing it in March of 2005.^[4] Although it had originally focused on the Sonichu and Rosechu characters, the comic eventually turned focus toward his life.

Discovery by 4chan

Although he had had an online presence since at least 1999,^[10] Chris managed to escape the eye of trolls until 2007, when a drawing of Sonichu was posted on 4chan.^[11] Though the picture was anonymous, its source was later traced back to Chris, and his comic, website, and YouTube channel were thus discovered. After becoming aware that 4chan users had discovered him and reacted negatively to his content, Chandler attempted to reason with them by posting a video to his YouTube channel, a mirror of which can be seen below.

Sagas

Note: Only the more notable sagas are listed in detail here. For a more comprehensive list view the timeline below, or click here to be redirected to the “Saga” page on the CWC wiki.

Due to the large amount of drama arising from Chris, many have commonly agreed to separate different times of his life into “sagas” referring to the focus of certain trolls and other individuals.^[28]

Megan Schroeder / Adam Stackhouse / ED Sagas (2005-2011)

Megan Schroeder was a real-life friend of Chris’s whom he had met in 2005.^[5] Though she did not have any romantic interest in him, he tried to win her over anyways, going as far as to write her into the Sonichu comic. In 2007, Chris entered the Chop Chop Master Onion’s Rap Showdown, a Sony-held contest promoting the PlayStation Portable version of PaRappa the Rappa, in an attempt to get her to love him. At the same time a man named Adam Stackhouse created an entry with his sister which ultimately won first place (shown below, left).^[6] Chris, dejected, accused Adam of cheating to win, to the point that he made a video of himself shooting a picture of Adam (shown below, right).^[7] Megan told Chris that she was glad he lost and was disturbed by Chris’s obsession with her. ^[8] Despite this, the two were still friends until March 2008.

Soon after the creation of the Encyclopedia Dramatica article, Chris discovered it for himself. Distressed by the amount of negative attention toward him, the large amount bizarre sexually-themed troll art on the page, and a blurry photo taken of him without his consent, he declared war on the website, denouncing it as “slander”.^[12] He went on to start a flame war by creating several sockpuppets, attempting to write himself in a positive light, blanking the page, deleting sections of the article, getting into arguments on the talk page for the article, and uploading his own Rule 34 images, including the infamous ShecameforCWC.jpg, a pornographic image Chris had drawn of himself fingering Megan, to counteract the troll art.^[13] Megan discovered the picture, and after this, broke off all communication with Chris.^[9] In July of 2008, Chandler uploaded a video to vent his anger to the trolls and clarified that the woman in ShecameforCWC.jpg was Megan and not his fictional daughter as some had theorized (shown below). By Spring 2009, Chris had given up on editing the article, though he still attested that it was inaccurate and hateful. The page is still available on the Encyclopediadramatica.se version of the wiki.^[14]

Blanca / Jimmy Hill Sagas (2008-2009)

Blanca Weiss was the identity taken on by several trolls some time in 2008.^[49] The first trolling attempts were shared by three trolls who contacted Chris via instant messaging and telephone, and were able to keep Chris from posting videos for some time. The saga culminated with Chris sending the Sonichu medallion he wore at the time to one of the three trolls, Ickeriss69, who destroyed it on camera (shown below, right).^[50]

The second trolling attempts were carried out by Encyclopedia Dramatica troll Lordsillynipples, who successfully impersonated Blanca, and was able obtain pornographic photographs from Chris. These were leaked on September 11, 2008. ^[51] Though the Blanca saga ended by the end of the year, Chris did not seem believe that Blanca was a troll until 2010. It is unknown, however, whether he still believes she was a real person.

Around the same time of the Blanca saga, another troll, under the guise of English association football personality Jimmy Hill, claimed to be the true creator of Sonichu, and had turned the series into a successful franchise in the United Kingdom.^[52] Chris, offended by the portrayal of the Sonichu universe in Jimmy Hill’s version (Sonichu as a homosexual, Chris as an evil robot, etc.), as well as the supposed plagiarism of his work, addressed him several times, starting in a video from September 11, the same day as the first nude leaks.^[53] In a video dated October 13, Chris addressed Jimmy more directly (shown below, right).^[54] However by February of 2009, Jimmy’s site was no longer being updated, and Chris decided to stop paying attention to him.

The Clyde Cash Sagas (2008-2010)

Clyde Cash, is a pseudonym for a troll who is considered to be Chandler’s arch enemy. In December of 2008, Clash claimed that his younger brother, Ryan Cash, killed himself when Chris spontaneously announced he would stop publishing Sonichu.^[15] Cash began to harass Chandler several times, and Chandler responded with an apology video towards Cash (shown below, left). Around this time Chris drew an image of his new “sweetheart” named PandaHalo, who Cash, as an act of revenge on Chandler, told him he had raped PandaHalo who in turn supposedly became pregnant.^[55] He later posed as a Nintendo web designer named Gregg Mays in order to take a hold of his website and blackmail him into making a video stating he was gay (shown below).

After that, he impersonated Nintendo game director Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, convincing Chris that a Sonichu game was considered and rejected by Nintendo.^[56] Chris also uplaoded a video directed towards Miyamoto in a bid to to prove to him that he is the real Christian Weston Chandler, and not a troll (shown below, left). Later, Clyde was able to troll Chris in real life by not only getting another individual, Robert Simmons V, to act similar to Chris and actually talk to him,^[16] but by sabotaging a date with another girlfriend (who turned out to be another real-life troll) via sending a man in a pickle costume to the same location as the date.^[17] Clyde was claimed to be killed on May 22, 2009, though this was later proven to be false. The image of Lee Hotti became associated with Clyde after Lordsillynipples, the same troll who impersonated Blanca, told Chris that this was what Cash actually looked like.^[18] In March of 2010 Chris would upload a video in which he addresses his rage to many trolls, specifically Cash, and goes so far as to play out a scenario in which the two of them meet, ending in Cash’s death (shown below, right).

Bluespike / Julie Saga

BlueSpike was a troll who met Chris in December 2008, under the alias of Julie, a girl who wanted to be Chris’ girlfriend. Over the course of their relationship, Bluespike used his alias to divulge private information from Chris, typically of a sexual nature, and eventually led Chris to making a video of himself using an inflatable sex doll while yelling Julie’s name. ^[58]

During this time, BlueSpike assumed another identity under the alias of Max, claiming to be Julie’s younger brother while still maintaining the Julie persona as a seperate character. Over the course of an hour on March 3rd 2009, Max had managed to get into Chris’ PlayStation Network account and threatened to sell it on Ebay and stop Chris from seeing Julie altogether, unless Chris said “Billy Mays is the mayor of CWCville,”, whilst putting his Sonichu medallion into his anal cavity.

Ivy Saga

In March 2009, Chris met another troll by the name of Ivy who Chris believed was his girlfriend until later that year. The result of Ivy trolling Chris resulting in him implementing her as a character into Sonichu and many videos about him declaring his love for her, in the form of music videos, sexual content, and later, a marriage proposal. ^[28]

The saga officially came to an end in July 2009 when Chris learned that ‘Ivy’ had committed suicide, which he would later reference in the Sonichu comic as a tribute to her. ^[61]

Liquid Chris / Kacey Sagas

Liquid Chris was a troll who appeared in late June of 2009, claiming that Christan was an impersonator and that he was the real Chris. ^[19] He was able to bait Chris into reacting to him, and soon after a “CWCivil War” trying to prove who was the real Chris-chan broke out between the two, despite Liquid being an obvious imitator. The highlight of this was a karaoke competition, which the real Chris later retracted after losing. ^[20] After a two month long period of inactivity, Liquid’s at the time supposed girlfriend Kacey managed to gain contact with Chris, and pretended to almost be tricked by Chris into going to his house. ^[21] She pretended to break up with Liquid until she “learned” that Chris was tricking her. Liquid ended his trolling on November 6 with a video saying that he was given permission to marry Kacey. ^[22]

Asperchu / CWCipedia Sagas

Asperchu is a Sonichu parody comic written by Alec Benson Leary, first released on December 4, 2009. ^[23][24] Chris discovered the comic soon after after being sent several homoerotic pieces of artwork featuring the Sonichu and Asperchu characters. ^[25] On January 19, 2010, Chris posted a twelve-page portion of Sonichu featuring the Asperchu characters not only being saved from Alec, but also being rewritten into versions of themselves less insulting to Chris, along with an ultimatum insisting that these incarnations were now Asperchu canon. ^[23] Chris soon apologized for the trouble he was causing. ^[26] This was, however, seemingly taken back, as Chris soon after uploaded the final pages of Sonichu #10, depicting Alec and the staff of his Asperchu wiki being brutally murdered in various ways. ^[27]

The Surfshack Tito and CWC Exile Sagas

In March of 2010, Chris attempted to disconnect himself from the Internet. ^[28] It is commonly believed his former pastoral counselor Rochelle “Rocky” Shoemaker was behind this exile. ^[29] Although he was seemingly gone, Chris was, in reality, still around, contacting yet another potential girlfriend (see below), posing as a troll named “JenkinsJinkies” on the CWCki ^[30], and uploading various animations for Flipnote Studio. ^[31] He was also covertly photographed at several Fridays After Five events in Charlottesville, VA. ^[32] This saga ended in late August, when three videos leaked of Chris destroying his PlayStation 3. ^[33]

Jackie / Tomgirl Sagas

Jacklyn “Jackie” Romy was a troll who represented herself through a fake alias nicknamed “Jackie” accompanied by a picture of an anonymous female taken from a set of amateur adult photographs (shown below, left). Chris first got into contact with her in April of 2010,^[42] and the two corresponded via email for several weeks over the course of the month. During this period, Jackie discovered Chris’s online presence, which culminated into a video on April 21st where Chris describes what sexual acts he would perform on her (shown below, right).^[43][44]

Disgusted by his seeming unwillingness to be in a stable relationship, Jackie broke off communication with Chris until July.^[45] She attempted to give Chris advice on how to improve his life, which he ultimately ignored. In September 2010, she asked Chris to draw pictures of he and herself having intercourse, to which he obliged. He also made several videos targeting Jackie’s ex-boyfriend, and, through October, recorded several videos of him cosplaying in order to impress her, mostly as various cartoon characters. The Jackie saga ended after Chris stopped replying to her emails at the end of the same month, and to many it is still unclear whether “Jackie” was an online troll pretending to be a female interested in Chris or if she actually was real.

In late March of 2011, Chris sent an email to Jackie about a new interest he had picked up: crossdressing. ^[46] At the end of April, Surfshack Tito leaked images of Chris dressed in women’s clothing. In May, he joined the now defunct Tomboys and Tomgirls of Virginia forum, and was soon found out in the next month. ^[47] Over the course of August, Chris made a series of videos, named the “Calling Out” series, in an attempt to get trolls to apologize to him; only Surfshack Tito met his demands. ^[48] The Tomgirl Saga ended in September with the death of Chris’s father, Robert Chandler.

GAMe PLACe Saga

From dates as early as 2002 to 2008, one of Chris’ favorite places to hang out in Charlottesville was the local hobby and game store, the GAMe PLACe, owned by Michael Snyder. Chris enjoyed coming to the store because they sold video games and trading cards, and held weekly tournaments of the Pokemon Trading Card Game which Chris, at the time, had an interest in. It is also where he met Megan and became friends with her before the events of the ED saga occurred. ^[60]

However, during his time at the GAMe PLACe, Chris would repeatedly be warned by the store’s staff and Michael himself for numerous behaviors and incidents he caused, including racism, yelling at children, poor sportsmanship in card games and video games, and disrupting the shopping experience of other customers. This information was revealed by two trolls under the aliases of Mimms and Lucas, who experienced viewing the behavior first-hand when Chris was a regular customer. ^[59]

In August 2008, Chris was officially banned from the store by Snyder and was legally not allowed to come back, which would lead Chris to try and convince Snyder to appeal his ban by continuously sending emails to him, trying to sneak in the store itself and making apology videos through his YouTube channel at the time, to no avail.

On October 28 2011, Chris and his mother, Barbara ‘Barb’ Chandler, were arrested under the allegation that they had been trying to hit Michael with their car. Chris was sentenced to community service, one year of probation and mandatory psychiatric treatment on July 10 2012, nine months after the initial incident occurred. ^[57]

Reception and Spread

Chris has been received negatively by many sources, mainly for his low quality body of work, peculiar behaviors, extreme reactions to trolls, homophobia, racism, use of autism as a crutch, gullibility, questionable cleanliness, and obesity. In particular, his vlog from April 28, 2009 has been picked up and commentated on by both comedy website Fark.com and the nationally syndicated Opie and Anthony Show^[35][36] , and the peculiar I Got A Fish was discussed on G4’s Web Soup and the May 12, 2009 episode of Boston radio show The Toucher and Rich Show. ^[37][38] Chris was placed at the top spot on Heavy.com’s “20 Worst Internet Losers” list. ^[40] Comic book reviewer Linkara of Atop the Fourth Wall fame has called both Chris and Sonichu bizarre, and has stated he will never review Sonichu because he’d rather not pay any attention to Chris. ^[34] Notable voice actress Tara Strong, in a response to an accusation Chris made about her encouraging trolling with her video “Twilightlicious”, stated that she “hope[s] … [to] never meet the guy”. ^[41] Flash animator Henry Partridge has referenced Chris and Sonichu in several animations, including Nicolas Cage Wants Cake. ^[39]

Search Interest

External Sources

About

“Cash Me Ousside / How Bow Dah” is a memorable quote uttered by 13-year-old Danielle Bregoli on an episode of The Dr. Phil Show, during which she challenges the show’s audience to a fight with the phrase “Catch me outside, how about that?” in a thick accent. Online, the clip has been widely mocked in a series of image macros captioned with various frustrating experiences.

Origin

On September 15th, 2016, The Dr. Phil ShowYouTube channel uploaded a clip in which a 13-year-old girl named Danielle appears on the show with her mother, who has turned to Dr. Phil because Danielle is stealing cars. Tired of the audience laughing at her, she cries “Catch me outside, how about that?” The moment, shown in the video below, appears at about the 3:20 mark.

Spread

The clip, and particularly Danielle’s “Catch me outside, how about that?”, began spreading through the internet in the coming weeks. On October 2nd, 2016, an image of Danielle with “Cash me ousside, howbow dah?” written on it was posted to Memecrunch.^[1]

Jokes using the image macro began spreading on Instagram in late 2016 and early 2017,^[2] but did not spike in popularity until Facebook meme page Digital Memes^[3] began posting the jokes using the image macro as well as other screenshots from the Dr. Phil clip. Their most popular post, published on January 5th, received over 75,000 shares and 14,000 likes and reactions (shown below).

I’m About to Start Swinging

As the “Cash Me Ousside” video spread, another screenshot of the video which finds Danielle saying she’s on the verge of fighting someone with the phrase “I’m about to start swinging” began spreading as a reaction image.

It quickly became a popular image to recontextualize. For example, one of the most popular posts of the image was tweeted by @ziamalso,^[4] who captioned it “when i go to the park n they have swings.” The tweet, shown below, gained over 38,000 retweets and 65,600 likes.

Mandela Effect

On January 25th, 2017, redditor EL_DIABLOW posted a thread to /r/MandelaEffect^[5] claiming he clearly recalls seeing Danielle on a Dr. Phil episode in the late 2000s. The thread received 93 comments, many of which were agreeing that they too had remembered seeing the clip much earlier than it aired. Some suggested that the person people were remembering was the Gonna Have a Baby girl from the show Maury. On January 26th, YouTuber AwakeAliveAware posted a video discussing the Cash Me Ousside meme and the Mandela Effect, claiming she too remembered the clip airing long ago (shown below).

However, in a clip posted to the Dr. Phil Facebook page on February 2nd, 2017, a voiceover confirmed that Danielle appeared on the show in September and that she would be appearing on Dr. Phil again the following week.

Airplane Incident

On February 6th, 2017, TMZ^[6] reported that Danielle and her mother had been involved in a violent altercation with a third passenger on a Spirit Airlines flight out of the Los Angeles International Airport. The article contained video footage of the incident, showing the three women engaged in a physical fight following a verbal dispute (shown below, left). Spirit Airlines subsequently banned each of them from flying the airline for life. The following day, the Teen Drama Inc YouTube channel uploaded an alternate view of the incident (shown below, right).

Meanwhile, Danielle posted a video describing the fight on Instagram (shown below). The video was up for six hours prior to being removed, but was subsequently mirrored on YouTube.

Also on February 7th, The Daily Dot^[7] published a statement from Spirit Airlines regarding the violent altercation:

“Police removed three passengers from Spirit flight 310 during the boarding process at LAX Monday night following an altercation. The customers were refunded and refused service.”

Social Media Hack

On the evening of March 7th, 2017, Bregoli’s Instagram and Twitter accounts appeared to have been hacked by a group calling itself FACE Security.^[8] The group has changed her bio to cryptic Russian text that references The Washington Post’s new slogan, Democracy Dies in Darkness. It also promised to “leak” information at noon on March 8th, 2017.

As of 10:15 AM, March 8th, 2017, the 5 most recent posts on her Instagram are images and videos decrying her as “the modern day celebrity” who got famous for being disrespectful to her mother (YouTube embed of the videos shown below).

Complex^[9] speculated that digital media artist Josh Goldenberg, aka Glassface, was behind the hack and that “FACE Security” was referencing his persona. Meanwhile, the hack was covered by The Daily Beast,^[10] Refinery29,^[11] Elite Daily,^[12] and more. Some were skeptical of the hack’s validity. YouTube personality Whang! uploaded a video in which he declared that he was positive the hack is an attempt at viral marketing.

The hack was in fact an attempt at viral marketing, specifically for the video for the song “Juvy” by Mook Boy which stars Danielle Bregoli.

Glassface admitted to creating the hoax and video and released the following statement to Complex:

The intent of the project was to experiment with a lot of the forces we’re seeing in current events today – news cycles dominated by speculation, hacking, politics, culture, and to make it feel like all those things were imploding on each other. The project is an amalgam of memes, cultural and news talking points, culminating in a release on WorldStarHipHop. It’s meant to be an all-encompassing experience for the viewer. A lot of people have opinions about Danielle, and this played with that idea – voicing what the general consensus of some people may be. It was interesting to see how polarized peoples’ opinions were – some people stood up for her, while others wanted to see something negative happen. Ultimately – this whole project was accomplished with 4 pieces of visual media so I think it was a success. Also we lost a little bit of final quality when it was uploaded to WSHH– wish everyone could see the hi-res.

Fight Video Leak

On March 21st, 2017, WorldStarHipHop user Ghost uploaded a video of a physical altercation between Bregoli’s mother, Barbara Ann, and her daughter. In the video, Barbara Ann can be seen pinning Danielle down, calling her a “bitch,” and grabbing her by the hair.^[13] According to TMZ, the video “captured an incident that occurred 1 to 2 years ago, which would mean Danielle would have been 11 or 12.”^[14] Danielle claims the video was leaked by a former friend and that it was ‘nothing but friendly play fighting.’^[15]

Reality TV Show

On March 27th, 2017, TMZ reported that Bregoli signed a deal with a major production company to shoot a reality TV series. While the show has yet to be filmed, Danielle’s managers have confirmed interest from numerous production companies regarding a reality show with Danielle and her mother.^[16]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

5/7 refers to a rating for the 1999 drama film Fight Club shown in a Facebook status update attributed to user Brendan Sullivan. After the screenshot widely circulated on Imgur in December 2015, users began posting “5/7” ratings in comments sections as an inside joke on the image-sharing site.

Origin

On December 6th, 2015, Imgur^[1] user FreshPrinceofDenmark posted a series of Facebook screenshots in which a user named Robert Graves mocks various people in status update posts. One screenshot contained a post by user Brendan Sullivan, who gave the film Fight Club a rating of “5/7” (shown below).

The gallery contained an additional screenshot in which Graves mocks the 5/7 rating by suggesting that Sullivan actually means “a week” when saying “five days” (shown below). In the first 48 hours, the post gained over 463,000 views, 24,900 points and 1,100 comments.

Spread

The same day, the screenshots were reposted on FunnyJunk^[2] where they received more than 15,700 views and 380 points within 48 hours. Meanwhile, Redditor wakuboys submitted a post titled “What is with the 5/7 jokes?” to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[4] subreddit. On December 7th, 2015, Imgur^[6] user user8550 posted photographs of a man rescuing a sea turtle with the title “I Give This Man a 5/7.” On December 8th, Imgur^[5] user sadman13 posted a screenshot of the Fight ClubIMDB page edited with a rating of “5/7” (shown below).

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

Rain Drop Drop Top is a lyric from the song “Bad and Boujee” by hip hop group Migos that became a phrasal template for jokes primarily on Twitter, especially Black Twitter in late December 2016. The song’s first lyric is “Rain drop, drop top, smokin’ on cookie in the hotbox.” In the snowclone, “smokin’ on cookie in the hotbox” is replaced.

Origin

On August 27th, 2016, Migos uploaded “Bad and Boujee” to their Soundcloud page.^[1] As of December 27th, the track has been played over 49.4 million times. On October 31st, the group posted their video for the track to YouTube, where it has been viewed over 60.7 million times (shown below).

Spread

Initially, “Rain Drop Drop Top” spread in mid-December 2016 as a game among friends to jokingly prove their credibility/loyalty in which one person would text another “Rain Drop” and the other would have to reply “Drop Top.”

A week after the initial spread, “Rain Drop Drop Top” began appearing in more snowclones. One of the most popular was posted by @niicksx in a tweet that gained over 63,000 retweets and 107,000 likes in a week (shown below).

On December 25th, CavsFan2014 posted a thread to /r/OutOfTheLoop^[2] asking about the origins of the meme in a thread that gained 83 points.

Various Examples

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About

Roll Safe is an image macro serious featuring a screenshot of actor Kayode Ewumi grinning and pointing to his temple while portraying the character Reece Simpson (a.k.a. “Roll Safe”) in the web series Hood Documentary. The image is often captioned with various jokes mocking poor decision making and failures in critical thinking.

Origin

On June 1st, 2016, the BBC Three YouTube channel uploaded a mini documentary on the Hood Documentary series, in which the Ewumi is shown pointing to his head and smiling (shown below). Within eight months, the video gained over 1.04 million views and 1,300 comments.

On November 15th, 2016, the @FootyHumor^[1] Twitter feed posted a screenshot of Ewumi pointing at his temple along with a joke about starting a fight with a girlfriend in order to play video games (shown below).

Spread

On January 22nd, 2017, Twitter user @trapafasa posted the Roll Safe screenshot along with a caption noting that “‘men are trash’ tweets have gone down 70%” due to the approach of February (shown below, left). Within eight days, the tweet gained over 18,000 retweets and 17,000 likes. The following day, Twitter user @RyanWindoww^[10] tweeted the image along with the message “You can’t be broke if you don’t check your bank account,” receiving more than 74,000 likes and 47,000 retweets over the next week (shown below, right).

The following day, Redditor InformationSpork submitted a post asking about the meme to /r/OutOfTheLoop,^[4] where Redditor elfa82 cited the Hood Documentary series as the origin. On January 28th, 2017, the @girlposts^[5] Twitter feed posted the reaction image along with the message “you can’t get cheated on if you don’t get into a relationship,” gathering upwards of 14,000 likes and 3,700 retweets over the next four days (shown below, left). On January 30th, Twitter user @Trillxdadian^[6] submitted the Roll Safe screenshot captioned with “If you’re already late.. take your time.. you can’t be late twice” (shown below, right). Within 48 hours, the tweet garnered more than 51,000 likes and 42,000 retweets.

On February 1st, 2017, Redditor Dieselman25 submitted the screenshot of Ewumi in a post titled “Roll Safe Memes on the Rise Buy Immediately” to /r/memeeconomy.^[3] That day, Redditor SkipLoL submitted a screenshot of @Trillxdadian’s tweet to /r/BlackPeopleTwitter,^[7] where it accumulated over 7,700 points (96% upvoted) in less than 24 hours. Meanwhile, the news sites HipHopWired^[8] and Bossip^[9] published articles about the image macro series.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

“What in Tarnation?” is a rhetorical question meaning “what in damnation?”, which is often associated with Americans living in the Southern United States expressing incredulous bewilderment.

Origin

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary,^[5] the term “tarnation” originated in the late 1700s as a euphemism for “damnation.” On May 13th, 2003, Urban Dictionary user Ron Jackson submitted an entry for “what in tarnation?”, defining it as a phrase used by American inhabiting areas south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Spread

On September 23rd, 2015, Redditor holmoris submitted a post asking why the word “tarnation” was used an as an expletive in online games to /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[3] On December 11th, 2016, Tumblr user TheOneOddGirl^[4] submitted a photoshopped picture of a man with a stretched-out face peering at a tablet computer with the caption “When you find a city slicker on FarmersOnly.com / wot n ternation” (shown below). Within one month, the post gained over 59,300 notes. On December 30th, Redditor Nirocart64 reposted the image to /r/dankmemes,^[1] where it received upwards of 19,600 points (90% upvoted) and 270 comments.

On January 8th, 2017, Tumblr^[8] user banjirou posted a photograph of a Shiba Inu dog wearing a cowboy hat with the caption “what in tarnation” (shown below, left). Over the next eights days, the post gathered upwards of 12,000 notes. On January 10th, Twitter user @beetaylora^[10] reposted the image with the caption “Everyone in Alabama,” accumulating over 16,500 likes and 7,300 retweets within one week (shown below, right)..

On January 11th, 2017, Twitter user @Vincent_Ha1^[7] posted the Shibu Inu image macro along with the message “When your truck isn’t the loudest at Sonic” (shown below, left). Within five days, the tweet received more than 16,200 likes and 7,100 retweets. On January 12th, 2016, Twitter user @memeprovider^[6] tweeted the dog photo in reaction to people saying “you all” instead of “y’all” (shown below, middle). Within four days, the tweet gained over 23,000 likes and 10,400 retweets. The following day, Twitter user @TweetLikeAGirl posted the Shibu Inu photo with the message “’I’m sorry we don’t have sweet tea’,” gaining over 30,800 likes and 15,000 retweets in 72 hours (shown below, right).

The Cowboy Hat

On February 22nd, 2017, dozens of “wot n tarnation” parody image macros with a a cowboy hat photoshopped over the subject’s head began to surface on Reddit’s /r/dankmemes^[11] and /r/memeeconomy.^[21] In addition to the exploitable image of a cowboy hat, many instances also featured alternate captions that rhyme with the snowclone“what in (x)-ation.”

Search Interest

External References

About

Salt Bae is a nickname given to Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe, who was widely discussed on social media following the circulation of a video in which he flamboyantly sprinkles salt on a carved steak.

Origin

On January 7th, 2017, Gökçe uploaded a video of himself carving a steak and sprinkling salt over his forearm on to the meat (shown below). Within 48 hours, the video gained over 2.4 million views and 8,700 comments.^[1] That day, Twitter user @lolalissaa^[3] reposted the video along the the message “so this is #saltbae.”

Spread

That evening, @lolalissaa reposted another video in which Gökçe hangs a cooked slab of meat over a woman’s mouth, garnering upwards of 3,100 likes and 2,500 retweets in two days (shown below).

Also on January 7th, 2016, Twitter user @elBeardedBandit^[1] tweeted a You vs. The Guy image macro featuring a screenshot of Gökçe sprinking salt (shown below, left). Within 48 hours, the tweet garnered more than 48,000 likes and 33,000 retweets. The following day, Twitter user @NerdyAjet^[4] posted an illustration of Gökçe (shown below, right).

On January 8th, Twitter user @Ratchetveli tweeted a parody video of himself making greit with the hashtag #GritsBae (shown below). That evening, a Twitter moments page titled “The world is obsessed with a Turkish meat monger” was created, highlighting tweets about Gökçe’s video.^[2]

On January 9th, Twitter user @j.kube posted a parody of Gökçe’s video in which he carves several slices of bread before sprinkling salt over his forearm (shown below). In the coming days, several news sites published articles about Gökçe’s online fame, including The Verge,^[5] The Telegraph,^[6] NY Mag^[7] and Elite Daily.^[8]

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Ted Cruz Zodiac Killer refers to a mock conspiracy theory suggesting that the 2016 Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is the unidentified serial killer nicknamed the “Zodiac Killer,” who claimed to have killed 37 people in a series of anonymous letters in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Origin

On March 14th, 2013, the Twitter feed @RedPillAmerica^[2] posted a a tweet claiming that an upcoming Cruz speech would be titled “This is the Zodiac Speaking” (shown below).

Spread

On November 10th, 2014, Twitter user @Flash2844^[6] tweeted that Cruz’ deathbed confession would be “I am the Zodiac Killer” along with the hashtag “#TedCruzIsTheZodiacKiller” (shown below).

On December 15th, 2015, a Facebook^[8] page titled “Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer” was launched, garnering upwards of 9,400 likes over the next two months. On January 20th, 2016, Twitter user @Lindzeta^[10] posted a fake quote of Cruz confessing to the Zodiac Killer murders (shown below, left). That evening, Twitter user @ZeppoWilbury^[5] tweeted that Cruz was born in Calgary, Canada and that the Zodiac Killer’s first victims were named “Cal and Gary” (shown below, right).

On February 13th, 2015, Twitter user @vrunt^[1] tweeted for readers to Google the phrase “Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer” en masse for the phrase to appear on Google Trends. That day, he posted a screenshot of the phrase displayed during a CBS broadcast of that evening’s Republican presidential debate with the caption “holy shit we did it” (shown below).

On February 17th, activist Tim Faust began selling t-shirts printed with a depiction of Cruz as the Zodiac Killer (shown below).^[9] On February 20th, Twitter user Tim Nunley pointed out that Cruz was born after the killer’s infamous murders.^[4] On February 26th, NPR^[3] reported that many of the people involved in popularizing the meme think Cruz is “creepy.” On February 23rd, the On February 26th, the news site The Verge^[7] published an article about the history of the theory.

Larry Wilmore’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner Jokes

On April 30th, 2016, comedian Larry Willmore repeatedly referred to Ted Cruz as the “Zodiac Killer” during his closing act at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (shown below). The following day, Redditor youramazing submitted a post about the event to the /r/The_Donald^[12] subreddit, referring to Willmore as an “absolute madman”. On May 2nd, 2016, Yahoo News^[11] asked Cruz’s wife to respond to Willmore’s jokes, to which she replied “Well, I’ve been married to him for 15 years, and I know pretty well who he is, so it doesn’t bother me at all.”

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“Suh Dude”, short for “what’s up dude?”, is an expression popularized by Vine comedian Nick Colletti and American dubstep producer Tanner Petulla (a.k.a Getter) in a series of video clips uploaded in 2015.

Origin

On March 23rd, 2015, Colletti uploaded a Vine of himself yelling “ayy dude!” in a phone conversation with Petulla, who then responds to his greeting with “suh dude" (pronounced suh-dew), a casual way of saying “sup dude,” which in itself is a shorthand form of the expression “what’s up, dude?” (shown below).

On November 13th, Colletti uploaded a Vine of himself saying the phrase “suh dude” and making peace signs at the camera (shown below, left). The same day, Petulla posted several clips of himself saying “suh dude” to Vine (shown below, right).

Spread

On November 13th, 2015, Viner G. Avocado posted the “suh dude” clips edited together.^[2] On November 15th, Petulla posted the mashup video to his Facebook^[5] page, where it received upwards of 8 million views and 80,000 shares over the next two months. On November 20th, the Funny Things YouTube^[1] channel reuploaded the video (shown below). On November 22nd, Redditor guywhosaysyeah posted the video to the /r/videos^[3] subreddit.

On December 4th, Petulla uploaded a Vine in which he yells “suh dude” at a man riding a self-balancing scooter down the sidewalk (shown below).

On December 28th, Petulla’s retail site TrippyBurger^[4] began selling “Suh Dude” merchandise (shown below).

On January 16th, 2016, Petulla uploaded a Vine in which he and Colletti say “suh dude” and laugh while talking on the phone (shown below). In the first week, the video gained over 2 million loops, 61,000 likes and 29,000 revines. That day, the website Suhdu.de^[6] was created, which features a clickable button that produces an audio clip of Petulla saying “suh dude.”

Various Examples

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I’m Rick Harrison and This Is My Pawn Shop is a copypasta and video remix series based on the opening scene from the reality television series Pawn Stars, which is often altered to include a variety of other contexts using the phrasal template“I’m X and this is my Y.”

Origin

The American reality television series Pawn Stars was originally released in July 2009 on the History channel. During the show’s opening sequence, pawn shop owner Rick Harrison introduces the store and his family. A copypasta of the opening is rumored to have originated on 4chan sometime in February 2010, though the archived thread is no longer available.^[6] On May 6th, 2011, YouTuber Adfx0225 uploaded the intro (shown below).

“I’m Rick Harrison, and this is my pawn shop. I work here with my old man and my son, Big Hoss. Everything in here has a story and a price. One thing I’ve learned after 21 years – you never know WHAT is gonna come through that door.”

Spread

On August 25th, 2011, BodyBuilding Forums^[1] member ftown submitted a thread quoting Harrison’s opening monologue. On September 22nd, 2013, Steam user Dslyexiac submitted the copypasta to the LazyPurple’s Fantastically Phenomenal Fellas Steam Group.^[4] The copypasta remained relatively dormant until mid 2016, when it began appearing ironically on various platforms online. On June 3rd, 2016, the original opening monologue was submitted by Redditor Crowww to /r/copypasta^[5] subreddit. On August 8th, a compilation of notable Vine remixes featuring the Pawn Stars opening was uploaded to YouTube (shown below).

On August 13th, Redditor CKlandSHARK submitted a screenshot of an phone’s autocorrect programmed to switch the word “fine” with the Rick Harrison copypasta (shown below).

The same day, Redditor Wizardingg submitted Harambe the Gorilla-themed version of the copypasta to the /r/copypasta^[2] subreddit (shown below).

“I’m Harambe, and this is my zoo enclosure. I work here with my zoo keeper and my friend, Cecil the lion. Everything in here has a story and a price. One thing I’ve learned after 21 years – you never know WHO is gonna come over that fence.”

On August 15th, a version of the Harambe copypasta with added emojis was posted on the /r/emojipasta^[3] subreddit (shown below). The same day, Redditor hasib_xiv submitted a post asking about the copypasta’s resurgence in popularity to /r/OutOfTheLoop,^[7] where some speculated that /r/me_irl subreddit or ironic meme Facebook pages were responsible.

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Rare Pepes are unique illustrations and photoshops of the character Pepe the Frog which are ostensibly valued as if they are trading cards based on their relative saturation on the web. After a collection was posted for sale on eBay in March 2015, Rare Pepes have been frequently listed by users on other online marketplaces.

Origin

Starting in October 2014, users on the /r9k/ (robot9000) board on 4chan began referring to original illustrations and photoshops of Pepe the Frog as “Rare Pepes”; sharing the “rare” images of Pepe as if they were trading cards, some of which were posted with watermarks to retain their value (shown below).

Spread

On March 28th, 2015, an anonymous 4chan user submitted a thread to the /r9k/^[2] board, which confessed to stockpiling “rare Pepe” images in order to “flood the market” and depreciate their value (shown below).

On March 31st, a post was submitted to /r9k/^[3] highlighting an Imgur gallery^[15] with over 1,200 pictures of Pepe. In the first week, the gallery received more than 260,000 views. In early April, the collection of Pepe images were listed on eBay, where it reached a price of $99,166 before being removed from the site (shown below).

On April 1st, the /r/rarepepemarket^[13] subreddit was launched for discussions about the images. On April 3rd, the Internet humor site Smosh^[4] published an article about the rare Pepe images. The same day, YouTuber mustard uploaded a video titled “1,200 Rare Pepe Memes for Sale,” featuring a slideshow of Rare Pepe images (shown below).

Also on August 3rd, Redditor QuahogBay submitted a post asking for an explanation of the Rare Pepe phenomenon to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[7] subreddit, garnering upwards of 1,200 votes (92% upvoted) and 200 comments in five months. By April 9th, there were over 230 “rare Pepe” listings on eBay.^[5] On April 12th, The Daily Dot^[8] published an article about the origins of the Rare Pepe meme. On May 11th, BuzzFeed^[6] published an article about Rare Pepes online. On May 18th, YouTuber ayy caramba uploaded a clip from an Israeli television show with fake subtitles discussing a Rare Pepe economic crash (shown below).

Online Listings

In the coming months, additional postings selling Rare Pepes were postings on eBay,^[9] with over 230 active listings as of September 2015. Additionally, ads for Rare Pepe collections were created on Craigslist.^[10] On August 13th, 2015, an ad titled “Seeking Rare Pepe Trader – Third Roomate” was created on the Chicago Craigslist board.^[11] On September 9th, a request to buy Rare Pepes for $50 was placed on the New York City Craigslist^[10] board (shown below). The same day, The Daily Dot^[12] published an article about the Craigslist listings.

Market Exchange

In September 2016, the site RarePepeWallet was created as a database for Rare Pepe images formatted as trading cards, which can be traded using the cryptocurrencies Counterparty or PepeCash.

In February 2017, Bitcointalk Forums^[15] member American Pegasus purchased a card design titled “My Little Pepe,” featuring an illustration of Wojak riding Pepe the Frog (shown below), for 1 million PepeCash (approximately $3,500 at the time of sale).

On February 13th, Twitter user @ActualAdviceBTC tweeted that Pepe would be bigger than Dogecoin, since it can “literally rarify memes” (shown below). On February 21st, The Daily Dot^[16] published an article about RarePepeWallet titled “The Rare Pepe economy is real, and there’s serious money behind it.”

Various Examples

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Big Smoke’s Order refers to a scene in the 2004 action-adventure game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in which the character Big Smoke orders an enormous amount of food at a drive thru restaurant. Online, the order has circulated as a copypasta, leading many to speculate about its contents.

Origin

In the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas mission “Drive-Thru,” the protagonist Carl Johnson proceeds to a Cluckin’ Bell fast food restaurant with his fellow gang member Big Smoke, who proceeds to order a long list of items.^[2] On February 16th, 2010, YouTuber james227uk uploaded the scene, which gathered more than 740,000 views and 1,900 comments over the next seven years.

Transcript

Voice Comm: Can I take your order please?
Big Smoke: Carl, what do you want? You gotta eat to keep your strength up, man.
CJ: Ey, I’ll take a number 9, fat boy.
Ryder: Give me a number 9, just like him.
Sweet: I’ll have a number 6 with extra dip.
Big Smoke: I’ll have two number 9s, a number 9 large, a number 6 with extra dip, a number 7, two number 45s, one with cheese, and a large soda.

Spread

On March 8th, 2014, YouTuber ICEnJAM uploaded a sprank call to a McDonald’s restaurant using a Big Smoke soundboard (shown below, right). Within three years, the video gained over 1.5 million views and 2,500 comments. On April 9th, 2015, YouTuber UrbanWildernessGuy uploaded a 1-hour-long remix of the scene (shown below, right).

On October 30th, 2016, YouTuber FlyingKitty uploaded a remix of the scene set to the tune of the 1992 hip-hop song ""Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang" by Dr. Dre (shown below, left). On June 5th, Big Smoke’s order was submitted as a copypasta to the /r/copypasta^[1] subreddit. On November 22nd, YouTuber ComradeWarbear uploaded a video examining what items Big Smoke may have ordered from the Cluckin’ Bell restaurant (shown below, right).

On November 23rd, the Behind The Meme YouTube channel posted a video about the “two number 9s” part of Big Smoke’s order (shown below).

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“My Name Is Jeff” is a memorable quote uttered by the character Greg Jenko (played by Channing Tatum) in a falsetto voice during a scene in the 2014 action comedy film 22 Jump Street. An audio clip of the quote has been prominently featured in many videos on YouTube and Vine.

Origin

On June 4th, 2014, the film 22 Jump Street was released as a sequel to the 2012 film 21 Jump Street. In the film, police officers Morton Schmidt (played by Jonah Hill) and Greg Jenko go undercover as hispanic gang members, leading Jenko to introduce himself as “Jeff” (shown below).

Spread

On May 22nd, 2014, YouTuber i Smoker uploaded a clip of Jenko saying “My name is Jeff,” which gathered upwards of 1.7 million views and 520 comments in the first two years.^[1] On November 19th, Viner ec me uploaded a clip from the 1999 hip hop music video “My Name Is” by Eminem with “My name is Jeff” dubbed over the track (shown below, left). On December 9th, Viner Gavin Lawrence uploaded a clip from the 2002 super hero film Spider-Man edited with the “My name is Jeff” clip (shown below, right).

On December 11th, YouTuber ALotVines uploaded a compilation of notable Vine remixes of the “My name is Jeff” clip (shown below, left). On January 28th, YouTuber NFLvinesNFL uploaded another compilation (shown below, right). In approximately one year, the videos gained over 12 million and 2.3 million views respectively.

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Persian Room Cat Guardian is a reaction image macro series and photoshop meme featuring photographs of a stuffed toy cat seated on top of a box with arms outstretched. Image macros of the photos are typically captioned with frustrating or annoying situations, using the stuffed toy’s pose to convey an incredulous reaction.

Origin

On August 5th, 2013, DeviantArtist^[1] AnyaBoz posted a photograph of a stuffed cat toy titled “Persian Cat Room Guardian,” describing room guardians as “small creatures that protect one’s home from negative spirits and energies” (shown below).

Spread

The images remained undiscovered until early 2016, when they began appearing on Instagram in the form of reaction image macros. On February 5th, 2016, the @ratchetpeoplemeet Instagram^[5] page posted an image macro featuring two photos of the stuffed toy with the caption “When you ask your girl what’s wrong and she gets mad even more and says ’you’re supposed to know’” (shown below, left). Within four days, the image gained over 8,500 likes. The following day, Anyaboz posted several photos Tumblr^[3] blog, including another image macro with the caption “When you wake up from a nap and your mom starts yelling at you” (shown below, right).

That day, Anyaboz updated the DeviantArt page noting that the picture had “become somewhat of a meme” and encouraged others to credit her when using the photo. On February 7th, Reddit captainchase submitted the photograph to the /r/photoshopbattles subreddit, describing it as a “monkey looking thing.” Within 24 hours, the post gathered upwards of 2,100 votes (91% upvoted) and 100 comments, many of which contained edited versions of the image (shown below).

The same day, Redditor majkadajk submitted a post titled “What is the origin of the stuffed white monkey looking thing?” to /r/OutOfTheLoop,^[4] to which Redditor Beast_Mode_Alfy cited Anyaboz DeviantArt page. Also on February 7th, the @gymmemesofficial^[6] Instagram page posted an image macro of the stuffed toy with the caption “When you get done with the dumbbells and see someone else racked theirs in place of yours” (shown below).

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Evil Kermit is a captioned image series featuring a screenshot of the Muppet character Kermit the Frog talking with his nemesis Constantine dressed as a Sith Lord from Star Wars, who instructs him to perform various indulgent, lazy, selfish and unethical acts.

Origin

In 2014, the musical comedy film Muppets Most Wanted was released, in which the character is confronted by his look-a-like Constantine dressed in a black cloak (shown below).

On November 6th, 2016, Twitter user @aaannnnyyyyaaaa^[1] tweeted a screenshot of Kermit the Frog standing next to a Sith version of himself with the caption “me: sees a fluffy dog / me to me: steal him” (shown below). Within 10 days, the tweet gained over 31,800 likes and 22,500 retweets.

Spread

The following day, Twitter user @PinkMiruku^[7] posted an Evil Kermit who instructs her to skip class, receiving upwards of 12,200 likes and 10,200 retweets over the next eight days (shown below, left). On November 8th, 2016, Twitter user @kenihanas^[8] tweeted the picture along with a caption about feeling tempted to spend his saved money (shown below, right).

On November 12th, Twitter user @jola_jade tweeted the image captioned with a mock dialogue in which her conscious tells her to “overreact” (shown below, left). Within 72 hours, the tweet accumulated more than 54,000 likes and 40,700 retweets. On November 14th, Twitter user @BreaSimone^[9] tweeted the Kermit image captioned with a joke about arguing with her boyfriend (shown below, right). In 24 hours, the tweet garnered upwards of 37,000 likes and 28,000 retweets.

That day, the pop culture news site Pop Sugar published a slideshow of Evil Kermit examples. That same day, Cheezburger^[5] published a post about the trending captioned images. Also on November 14th, Twitter^[6] launched a moments page for the series titled “Evil Kermit wants you to indulge in your vices.” On November 15th, 2016, Redditor Hcyon1 submitted a post titled “Evil Kermit memes are growing buy now buy now” to the /r/MemeEconomy^[3] subreddit. Meanwhile, BuzzFeed^[4] published a listicle of Evil Kermit examples.

Evil Miss Piggy

On November 17th, Instagram^[10] user meme.w0rld uploaded a photoshopped version of the Evil Kermit image in which the Muppet character Miss Piggy talks to herself about abstaining from engaging in oral sex with an attractive man (shown below). That day, the image was reposted to the /r/BlackPeopleTwitter^[11] subreddit.

The following day, Redditor Zantazi submitted a post urging viewers to “buy pig memes before they get banned” to /r/MemeEconomy^[12] subreddit, along with an image macro in which Miss Piggy talks herself into sleeping with a well endowed man (shown below, left). Also on November 18th, Redditor mississippijones posted an Evil Miss Piggy about consuming alcohol ot /r/TrollXChromosomes^[15] (shown below, right).

On November 21st, the pop culture news site Bossip^[16] published an article about the Evil Miss Piggy memes. On November 22nd, Instagram user @thegainz^[14] posted an Evil Miss Piggy image about friendzoning (shown below). The following day, Redditor alphawuff91 p to /r/niceguys,^[13] where it gathered upwards of 3,700 votes (90% upvoted) and 100 comments in less than 24 hours (shown below). That day, the pop culture blog Teen^[17] published a listicle of Evil Miss Piggy memes.

Various Examples

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Conceited Reaction is a reaction image in which the rapper Conceited is shown looking off camera while pursing his lips, which is typically paired humorous captions to indicate feelings of anxiety or disapproval.

Origin

On January 13th, 2013, YouTuber G-Unit Asia uploaded footage of a rap battle between rappers Conceited and Jesse James, in which he Conceited is shown pursing his lips and rolling his eyes during James’ verse (Shown below).

Spread

On September 15th, 2016, Twitter user Bekgurk^[8] tweeted a GIF of Conceited from the rap battle captioned with a joke comparing how someone looks in a mirror compared to an iPhone camera (shown below). That day, Conceited retweeted the GIF, which gathered upwards of 32,500 likes and 27,400 retweets within two months.

On October 10th, 2016, Twitter user @WiseGuy_wes27^[3] reposted the GIF along with a mock conversation featuring a white person’s reaction to being asked “would you trade skin with a person of color?” (shown below). The following day, Redditor MGLLN submitted a screenshot of the tweet to /r/BlackPeopleTwitter.^[2] Over the next two weeks, the tweet gathered upwards of 20,200 likes and the Reddit post received more than 4,500 votes (82% upvoted).

Throughout the rest of the month, image macros featuring the Conceited reaction regularly hit the front page of /r/blackpeopletwitter (shown below).^[4][5][6] On October 22nd, Redditor Black_Gotenks submitted a post noting that the “reaction face meme” of Conceited was gaining traction on Black Twitter to /r/MemeEconomy.^[7]

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About

“Vape Nation” is a satirical comedy sketch video produced by H3h3 Productions in which host Ethan Klein parodies the emerging subculture of vaping among stoners while visiting various locations in New York City. Upon its YouTube release in late March 2016, jokes and image macros featuring memorable quotes from the video began circulating on Reddit, Twitter and Tumblr.

Origin

On March 21st, 2016, H3h3productions uploaded the “Vape Nation” video, in which he portrays a vaping device user wearing a marijuana-leaf printed T-shirt and bandanna while repeatedly telling random pedestrians “go green” and “vape nation” while walking around New York City (shown below). Additionally, the video contains a electronic remix of the “I’m Ethan Bradberry” audio clip as background music. Within one week, the video gained over 2.75 million views and 33,000 comments.

Spread

That day, Redditor DemiPixel uploaded the video to the /r/videos subreddit, where it gathered more than 10,100 votes (64% upvoted) and 1600 comments. Meanwhile, the official @h3h3productions Twitter feed posted a video of himself vaping outside the WABC-TV New York news station filmed by anchor Bill Ritter (shown below).

Also on March 21st, the Tumblr^[5] blog Ethan Klein’s double chin posted an image macro of Klein dressed as the vaping character with the caption “so lit” (shown below, left). The following day, Tumblr user theprolapsedanus^[6] highlighted an image macro of the character squatting in the street with the captions “#VapeNation” and “#GoGreen” (shown below, right).

On Twitch, an emote was enabled featuring an image of Klein’s head from the video, which can be displayed by typing “VapeNation” (shown below). In the coming days, many users posted tweets about the video accompanied by the hashtag “#vapenation.”^[3]

Examples

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Expanding Brain is a meme in which a series of images compare the brain size of a person relative to a certain factor. Though the expanding brain is usually implied to showcase intellectual superiority over various objects, it is more often used in an ironic sense to imply the opposite, where objects of derision are implied to be of higher standard than objects that are usually highly regarded. For example, when used with Whomst, a person who uses “who” will be shown with the smallest brain, while a person who uses the most ridiculous variation, i.e. “whomst’d’ve”, will be shown with the largest brain.

Origin

This meme originated as part of the “Whomst” meme where the left column was derivations of the word “Who” were paired with increasingly elaborate pictures of brains depending on how intense the “who” variation was. One of the most popular early examples was posted to /r/dankmemes on January 31st, 2017 by janskishimanski^[1] in a post that gained nearly 1,200 upvotes.

Spread

As “whomst” variations on the Expanding Brain template grew more elaborate, other subjects were applied to Expanding Brain, such as video games and politics. Expanding Brain variations continued appearing on /r/dankmemes and /r/MemeEconomy throughout the month of February.

Various Examples

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“Allahu Akbar” also referred to by the term Takbir, is an Islamic Arabic expression widely used by Muslims in various contexts. It is commonly translated as “God is [the] greatest” or “God is greater” in English.

Origin

The phrase has been used by Muslims for over a millennium in various cultural and religious rituals, including as an expression of faith, distress call and declaration of victory. One of the earliest notable utterances of the Takbir on record is attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad at the Battle of Badr on March 13th, 624 A.D.

In the West, the phrase is often associated with Islamic extremism, largely due to its widespread usage^[1] by militant jihadists as a battle cry shortly before or while committing an act of terrorism, most notably during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as well as its frequent appearance in English-language documentaries, films and other media on the subject.

On May 3rd, 2013, the news youtube channel Global Daily News^[10] uploaded a video of be an FSA fighter bringing down an assad helicopter with a chinese Fn-6 MANPADS.^[11] This clip would later then be used as a clip for “allahu akbar” videos remixes.

Spread

On November 17th, 2005, Urban Dictionary^[4] user 23(tu-three) submitted an entry for “Allahu Akbar,” defining it an expression “used predminately by Muslims.” On November 30th, 2008, Ebaumsworld^[9] user freshsquilla uploaded a video titled “Allahu Snackbar,” in which an explosive weapon backfires and kills two Arabic men. On October 23rd, 2012, Redditor notsafeforviewing posted an animated GIF of a man yelling “Allahu Ackbar” in a crowded room prior to detonating several containers filled with silly string to the /r/ImGoingtoHellForThis^[7] subreddit, which gathered more than 2,100 upvoted (87% upvoted) before being archived (shown below).

On November 17th, the Israel Spokement^[5] YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “Terrorist Yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’ and Explodes.” On January 15th, 2014, a post about the parody phrase “Allahu snackbar” was submitted to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[8] subreddit. On June 15th, Redditor biff2204 submitted a post titled “Asleep on a plane, I was woken to this guy shouting in my face” to /r/videos,^[6] featuring a clip of a man yelling “Allahu Akbar” near the exit door on an airplane (shown below, left). In five months, the video gained over 4,800 votes (93% upvoted). On July 19th, YouTuber Creme de la meme TV uploaded a video of a toilet exploding while a man repeats the phrase “Allahu Akbar” titled “allahu akbar.webm” (shown below, right).

On September 10th, YouTuber bloodburgerEARTH^[3] uploaded a montage video titled “Collection of failed ‘allahu akbar’”, featuring video footage of explosives detonating prematurely and firearms backfiring. On September 20th, FunnyJunk^[2] user plaguehammer submitted an edited PSA commercial in which a man can be heard yelling “Allahu Akbar” while a car flips over and kills several children (shown below). On October 29th, the “Allahu Akbar Compilations” YouTuber channel was launched, featuring videos with a voice yelling “Allahu Akbar” dubbed over the background audio (shown below).

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“Succ” is an internet slang term typically used as an alternate spelling of the word “suck” in reference to the act of fellatio. It is often associated with image macros of the character Spongebob Squarepants and the Layers of Irony comic.

Origin

On May 22nd, 2014, Tumblr user woodmeat published a post with the message “she succ me thru my boxers.”^[2] Within two years, the post gained over 11,000 notes. Soon after, Tumblr user Shagia uploaded an image of the Feels Guy with the caption of “she succ me thru my feel ….” (shown below, right).^[1]

Spread

On September 9th, 2015, YouTuber CasinoCowboyProductions uploaded a reading of “He Will Never Have a Girlfriend” parody comic ending with an image of Spongebob Squarepants saying “she succ me” (shown below, left). On October 16th, YouTuber Pustules TV uploaded footage of Gordon Hurd laughing and saying “you will never get the succ” (shown below, right).

On October 26th, YouTuber FilthyFrank uploaded a video in which an alien doll says “give me the succ” while receiving a lap dance from a stripper (shown below). Over the next year, the video gathered upwards of 5.3 million views and 26,000 comments.

On April 22nd, 2016, an anonymous 4chan user posted a thread featuring an image of “Spongebob Squarepants”: with the caption “she succ me” accompanied by a greentext story about receiving oral sex while thinking of the picture (shown below). That day, a screenshot of the thread was submitted to /r/4chan,^[7] where it accumulated upwards of 2,600 votes (95% upvoted) prior to being archived.

On September 14th, 2016, the Behind The Meme YouTube channel uploaded an episode on the meaning of the term, which received more than 69,000 views and 590 comments within one month (shown below).

Layers of Irony

Layers Of Irony refers to an exploitable four-panel web comic of a floating head, also known as Meme Man, having a conversation with another character, in which they refer to “layers of irony” as a form of enlightenment (shown below).

On February 25th, 2016, YouTuber JeZ uploaded a reading of the comic titled “Succ,” which garnered upwards of 780,000 views and 1,900 comments over the next eight months (shown below, left). On April 19th, YouTuber Tugumi uploaded a video titled “Succ.mov,” in which he plays a clip of the echoin “succ” audio from JeZ’s video in a classroom (shown below, right).

Zucc

On May 27th, 2016, the Facebook^[5] page “Fucc the Zucc” was launched, featuring image macros and photoshopped pictures of Mark Zuckerberg. On June 6th, the Facebook Page “Utopian Raspberry – Modern Oasis Machine” posted a photoshopped image of Zuckerberg dancing captioned with the word “Zucc” (shown below, left). On June 27th, the Difficulty II Facebook^[6] page posted a Layers of Irony parody comic in which Mark Zuckerberg says “Zucc” to the Goose on Fire (shown below, right).

On August 10th, Urban Dictionary user NicholsSA submitted an entry for “zucc’d,”^[8] an alternate spelling of the word “zucked” which gained popularity during Facebook’s crackdown on Weird Facebook pages.

On October 10th, 2016, YouTuber punpun uploaded part of a Mark Zuckerberg Facebook Live stream in which he asks commenters to explain the “zucc thing” (shown below). That day, the video reached the front page of the /r/youtubehaiku^[4] subreddit.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References