About

Mic Drop and Drop the Mic are expressions referring to the practice of intentionally letting a microphone fall to the ground as a display of bold confidence following a successful performance. Colloquially, the expressions have also been used to celebrate the delivery of an impressive argument or insult.

Origin

According to an article on Slate^[2] titled “The History of the Mic Drop,” the practice of letting a microphone drop on stage was popularized by rappers and comedians in the 1980s. The earliest known example occurred during comedian Eddie Murphy’s 1983 stand-up special Delirious, in which he drops the microphone on stage after a fan yells “Shut up bitch!” at a heckler (shown below, left). The earliest known reference to the practice in hip hop is contained within the 1987 track “I Ain’t No Joke” by Eric B. & Rakim, in which Rakim raps “I used to let the mic smoke, now I slam it when I;m done and make sure it’s broke” (shown below, right).

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During a scene in the 1988 comedy film Comedy to America, the lead singer of the fictional R&B band Sexual Chocolate finishes a song and yells “Sexual Chocolate!” while dropping the microphone (shown below, left). In the 2000s, comedian Chris Rock employed the mic drop at the end of his stand-up sets (shown below, right). On September 5th, 2006, a theater house manager published a post on his personal blog,^[3] which urged performers to stop damaging microphones by dropping them on stage.

On March 19th, 2007, the channelzerotv YouTube channel uploaded footage of rapper Big Daddy Kane dropping the mic on stage at a concert in Chicago, Illinois (shown below, left). In 2008, Saturday Night Live introduced the character Obnoxious Microphone Guy (played by Bobby Moynihan), who would steal microphones from public speakers, yell “what” and then drop it to the ground (shown below, right).

On October 4th, 2011, Urban Dictionary^[1] user Nicki Menagerie submitted an entry for “mic drop,” defining it as “when a performer or speaker intentionally drops/throws the microphone to the floor after an awesome performance.” On February 7th, 2012, the Comedy Central YouTube channel uploaded a skit from the show Key & Peele, in which United States President Barack Obama approaches a street rapper, takes his microphone and says “I’m the leader of the free world” before letting the mic fall to the ground (shown below, left). Within three years, the clip gained over 4.5 million views and 1,800 comments. On April 24th, Obama appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he sings a “slow jam” with the show’s host before dropping the microphone on stage (shown below, right).

On July 4th, 2013, a page for “Mic Drop” was created on TV Tropes.^[4] On July 11th, 2015, actor Bryan Cranston dropped the microphone after delivering a “your mother” joke to an audience member during a panel Q&A session at the Nerd HQ convention (shown below, left). On July 27th, the JackInTheBox YouTube channel released a commercial in which the fast food company’s mascot drops a microphone after introducing a new sandwich (shown below, right). On August 27th, the OxfordDictionaries.com^[5] added “mic drop” to its online dictionary.

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“Objection!” is a image macro series where the subject is often pointing an index finger next to the iconic speech bubble from the game Phoenix Wright, which exclaims “Objection!” These images can then be used as reaction images by those who wish to bring up contradicting facts to a claim previously posted. (See also Phoenix Wrong)

Origin

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a video game first released by Capcom in October 11th, 2001 where you play the role of the prominent lawyer, Phoenix Wright. This was the first installment to the Phoenix Wright Series and later went on to build upon it with game after game including installments such as Phoenix Wright: Justice for all, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, and even games starring a different lead role such as Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. (Along with the spin-off, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.) The gameplay for the most part features text based adventure surrounding the lives of the previously mentioned Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice as they battle other attorneys in court, scourge crime scenes, and ultimately reach the ultimate goal of a “Not Guilty” verdict. The phrase “Objection!” is notable for its prevalence in the series, its over-the-top bombastic nature, the iconic finger-pointing gesture that goes with it, and comedic liberal usage throughout gameplay, as opposed to it, in reality, being far more orderly notion in real life, used to point out things that go against proper court proceedings.

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Mrdictionary.net

Launched sometime around the seventh of July in 2006, a website under the title of “Objection!” was launched, which was described as allowing users to “put words in the mouths of various characters from the series: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney”. With more than 7,000,000 objections saved to date, it has exploded in renowned popularity in a manner which can only be described by its creators as “stupidly popular”. Users can input up to around 790 characters, and have their objections accompanied by various themes throughout the series if (tunes) is typed just before their message. Though Objections created cannot be edited, saved or transferred upon completion, permanent links will still trace back to the final product which is saved to the server.

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About

Furry Scale, also known as the Anthro Scale, refers to a series of charts and discussions regarding the artistic continuum between human furries and animals.

Origin

On February 7th, 1996, the earliest known example of a furry scale was posted in a document titled “The Code of the Furries”,^[1] which contained a rating system for where people “fall on the human-to-animal scale”:

1 : Basically human, with minor furry features (perhaps eyes, nose, ears, claws, some fur, etc)
2 : Humanoid, with significant furry features (muzzle, tail, etc); this includes centaurs and mer-people
3 : Anthropomorphic animal (or taur)
4 : Equally comfortable on two or four legs (or, if you’re a taur, on four or six)
5 : Animal shape, with some unusual features (perhaps hands, speech, etc); this includes most dragons, gryphons, etc
6 : Normal animal shape

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On June 16th 2010, pixiv user かｂ uploaded a chart which depicts a girl transforming into a fox up a set of stairs (shown below, left).^[2] An English variation features the slogan “Knowing is half the battle” from the cartoon G.I. Joe along with the phrase “Oh shit nigga what are you doing” (shown below, right). This scale subsequently inspired an infrequently used tag on Pixiv^[3] containing similar images.

On December 4th, 2012, DeviantArtist^[5] Timscorpion uploaded an illustration titled “Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism,” depicting a human-moth hybrid transforming into a moth (shown below).

On March 3rd, 2014, Redditor Psykun submitted a furry scale image featuring the character Bastet from the third person action multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game Smite to the /r/Smite^[4] subreddit (shown below).

Various Examples

Po-ju Furry Scale

One of the most frequently used images of furry scale originates from Hentai artist known as Po-ju, showing 5 different levels of furry, ranging from fully human to fully cat. Various parodies of this translated version circulate on the web, including those that only use English captions and do not use Po-Ju’s art.

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Can’t Argue With That is an exploitable three-pane cartoon series featuring a stick figure character with the look of disapproval who reluctantly refrains from raising an objection. The image of the character is typically used as a reaction image to highlight the utter lack of logic behind an absurd statement.

Origin

It is unclear exactly when or where the cartoon was first uploaded, but the earliest known instance that is accessible online was uploaded by Flickr user Joe Loong on January 12th, 2009, tagged #walk and #away.^[1]

Spread

On June 9th, 2009, the image was featured in a post titled Silverton Mountain- Don’t Believe the Hype on 14erskiers^[2], a skiing activities blog created by Brittany and Frank Konsella. On July 31st, 2009, the cartoon character appeared on Kotaku and Stompfest.^[3][4] On June 24th, 2012, FunnyJunk^[5] user Hydromatic used the last two panels of the cartoon in response to a comment posted under a Sudden Clarity Clarence image macro. The comment received 113 upvotes.

On October 21st, 2012, the image was used again in a FunnyJunk post titled He has got a point picture.^[6] In November 2012, the image also appeared in a “You laugh, you lose” thread on Vandriven^[7] and a “funny pictures” thread on Neoseeker Forum.^[8]

Notable Examples

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No1Curr is an abbreviation of the phrase “no one cares” typically used in online discussions to dismiss someone else’s post or remark as insignificant, similar to other snide reaction memes like “Didn’t Read, LOL” and Look at All The Fucks I Give.

Origin

The term is said to have been coined by KatieKylie, a LiveJournal member and diehard fan of Christina Aguilera, on a spin-off site of the celebrity gossip community Oh No They Didn’t, where it became used to heckle articles about individuals widely regarded as unworthy of discussion.^[12] The earliest known mention of “No1Curr” can be found in a comment posted by LiveJournal member Hay_Bitch in an article^[13] about the details of Resident Evil 5 Collector’s Edition published on January 17th, 2009.

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The earliest UrbanDictionary^[2] entry for “No1Curr” was submitted on June 11th, 2009, by user no1currz, which reads:

“Something you say when someone says something stupid, irrelevant or just ridiculously weird.

The hashtag instance of #no1curr on Twitter was tweeted by Cliffysworld^[3] on October 9th, 2009.^[4] On June 18th, 2010, a post about the boy band The Jonas Brothers titled “NO1CURR About The Jonas Brothers” was published on Ohnotheydidn’t,^[9] which sparked the first wave of search interest.^[10]On May 30th, 2011, DeviantArt artist saladsalty^[8] uploaded a GIF of a dancing pineapple which says “no1curr.”

On June 7th, the Tumbr blog no1curr-opinions^[5], which features images with sexist, homophobic, or overly privileged messages edited so they no longer falls in those categories, was created.On June 13th, YouTuber lolavermillion^[1] uploaded a video of the ’90s Disney castle with “no1curr” appearing at the base instead of Disney. As of March 2014, the video has more than 23,000 views.

On October 15th, Tumblr blog sayitwithgifs^[7] posted a GIF of the “no1curr” Disney castle. As of March 2014, the post has over 80 notes. On March 3rd, 2012, YouTuber DannyNoriega^[6] uploaded a video titled “no1curr” that explains no one cares if you delete them from your Facebook friends. As of March 2014, the video has over 36,000 views.

Notable Examples

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“Hack 127.0.0.1” is an online expression used to taunt a self-proclaimed hacker in a mocking manner. The phrase originates from an IRC chat log in which a user named “bitchchecker” is tricked into attacking 127.0.0.1, an IP address that is typically designated for accessing the computer’s own network services, otherwise known as the localhost.

Origin

On April 6th, 2005, the German hip hop music site StopHipHop^[12] posted a chat log from the #stophiphop IRC channel in which a user named “bitchchecker” enters the channel and threatens to hack another user named “Elch” for booting him, to which the latter responds by inviting him to attack the localhost^[2] loopback IP address 127.0.0.1. Unaware of its consequences, Bitchchecker then ends up repeatedly crashing his own computer.

Transcript

On April 9th, Total Illusions Forums^[1] member Cochrane posted an English translation of the German chat transcript:

<bitchchecker> tell me your network number man then you’re dead
<Elch> Eh, it’s 129.0.0.1
<Elch> or maybe 127.0.0.1
<Elch> yes exactly that’s it: 127.0.0.1 I’m waiting for you great attack
<bitchchecker> in five minutes your hard drive is deleted
<Elch> Now I’m frightened
<bitchchecker> shut up you’ll be gone
<bitchchecker> i have a program where i enter your ip and you’re dead
<bitchchecker> say goodbye
<Elch> to whom?
<bitchchecker> to you man
<bitchchecker> buy buy
<Elch> I’m shivering thinking about such great Hack0rs like you

• bitchchecker (~java@euirc-61a2169c.dip.t-dialin.net) Quit (Ping timeout#)
  

Precursor

On May 23rd, 2001, a comic was published on the webcomic archive User Friendly,^[6] featuring a woman sitting at a computer who tricks a hacker into attacking his own IP address (shown below).

Spread

On April 27th, 2005, Slashdot^[4] user RawGutts submitted a link to the original forum thread in a post titled “The Planet’s Most Moronic Hacker.”^[4] On the following day, Museum of Hoaxes^[5] user Alex created a page titled “Tale of a Clueless Hacker," in which the author questioned the authenticity of the chat log. On June 10th, Urban Dictionary^[7] user thetron defined “127.0.0.1” as a practical joke that can be played on networking n00bs. On January 23rd, 2009, the tech news blog Slopjong^[8] posted an article about the bitchchecker chat log. On June 11th, 2008, Ubuntu Forums^[10] member Vivaldi Gloria posted the bitchchecker log. On July 28th, a profile article for bitchchecker was created on the Italian Language version of the wiki Uncyclopedia.^[9] On November 14th, 2009, Toribash Forums^[11] member hAsbroken posted a thread about the IRC chat log. On May 27th, 2011, the computer networking blog Network World^[3] published an article titled “Worst Hackers Ever?”, which included the IRC log among several other hacking FAIL stories.

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“Spoopy” is an Internet slang word used to describe something that is comical and spooky at the same time. Originally seen on a photograph of a misspelled Halloween sign, the term is also closely associated with another slang word 2Spooky on the microblogging site Tumblr.

Origin

On October 15th, 2009, Flickr^[1] user Mike Woodridge uploaded a photo of a Halloween sign with the word “Spoopy” written in a skeleton-style font (shown below).

Spread

On February 7th, 2011, the Tumblr^[4] blog Arts Farts & Cocks posted another photograph of a “spoopy” Halloween sign (shown below, left), gaining over 20,400 notes in the first three years. On December 28th, 2012, Flickr^[1] user Lindsay Blankenship posted an illustration of a woman in front of a cobweb with the word “Spoopy” written on the bottom (shown below, right).

On June 18th, 2013, Tumblr user sp00pyzorak3^[2] posted Woodrige’s photograph of the spoopy sign juxtaposed with a picture of a cake with the word “creppy” written on it (shown below). In the next three months, the post gathered upwards of 137,500 notes.

On September 26th, FunnyJunk^[6] user orgodemir submitted a post titled “2spoopy” to the Internet humor site, featuring an animated GIF from the 2007 horror film Paranormal Activity with the character Patrick from the animated television series Spongebob Squarepants edited into the scene (shown below).

On October 2nd, Redditor Wretched cereal submitted an image macro titled “2spoopy wow” to the /r/SuperShibe^[3] subreddit, featuring an edited photograph of the “Doge” Shibu Inu with an exposed skull (shown below).

Various Examples

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Beta Uprising is a term used to refer to a rebellion or rebel movement instigated by beta males, especially those with anti-women opinions, against alpha males and females. The term, which originated as a serious call among men’s rights activists, gained popularity as an ironic rallying cry on 4chan’s /r9k/ (ROBOT9001) board, often accompanied by Angry Pepe and Wojak images.

Origin

The earliest online uses of the term can be found on the men’s rights movement blog Fight For Justice in a post named “The Beta Uprising” submitted on December 9th, 2011. The author, a user named legalfighter, defined the term as a fight against the male individuals with power, a.k.a. Alpha Males, taken from the book Liberty or Equality by the Austrian socio-political theorist Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn.^[10]

The earliest uses of the term on /r9k/ can be found in a thread about the Aurora, Colorado theater shooting perpatrator James Holmes, submitted on August 7th, 2012, referring to that massacre as being part of a beta uprising.^[6] Another post on /r9k/ referenced the beta uprising two days later.^[7] However, the term didn’t gain traction until late 2013, when an anonymous user posted a copypasta on November 14th which described the scenario of a modern beta uprising.^[8]

Spread

Over the next year, the term grew in use, with posters beginning to associate it with images of Wojak and Pepe the Frog (mostly the Angry Pepe variant). /r9k/ users claimed the term as referencing the start of a violent revolution against normies and others who deny them a happy life.^[5] On December 19th, 2014, a blog titled “Beta Uprising” was created, with just one post containing the definition of the term.^[3] On June 6th, 2015, reddit user Buttonwalls submitted a thread on /r/OutOfTheLoop asking about the term, gaining over 20 points (74% upvoted) and 60 comments in less than 4 months.^[2] On August 27th, 2015, imgur user xawedude9000 uploaded an album titled “The Beta Uprising”, containing screencaps from /r9k/ referencing the term, gaining over 18 points and 15,000 views in a month.^[4]

2015 Umpqua Community College Shooting

On September 30th, 2015, a thread was posted on /r9k/ where the poster told users from the Northwestern United States to not go to school,^[9] with some of the posters encouraging the OP and giving him tips, proclaiming the OP the founder of a beta uprising. The next day, a mass shooting was reported at Umpqua Community College in Roseberg, Oregon; the shooter was identified as Chris Harper-Mercer. In the following hours, the archived thread was flooded by reactions and featured in various news reports, many of them highlighting the term.^[11][12][13]

In the next few days after this event, the /r9k/ board was flooded with threads about the beginning of the beta uprising. On October, 1st, 2015, another thread on /r/OutOfTheLoop asking about the term was created by user concretetown, gaining 35 points (83% upvoted) and over 70 comments in three days.^[1] A day later, Taiwanese animators from Next Media Animation uploaded a video titled “Oregon shooting: 4chan users post ‘beta-uprising’ jokes before UCC school shooting – TomoNews”, featuring an animation explaining the beta uprising and gaining over 90,000 views in two days.

Various Examples

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I Hate Everything (sometimes shortened to IHE), is the YouTube channel run by Alex Bolton, a New Zealand-born English vlogger who specializes in critiques of various digital media and productions, including video games, films and TV shows, and many other aspects of contemporary pop and internet culture. Since its YouTube debut in August 2013, Bolton’s channel has garnered moderate popularity for its thoughtful and to-the-point commentaries.

Online History

The channel for I Hate Everything was created by Alex Bolton, the videos’ main narrator, on August 23rd, 2013. IHE’s first video, which is about fans of the YouTuber PewDiePie, was uploaded 2 days later. The video has received 370,000 views and 18,000 likes as of November 2015.

IHE continued to make videos for popular trends both on and off the Internet. His most popular videos as of November 2015 discuss Minions (shown below, left), /b/ (shown below, right), and the Don’t Judge Me Challenge.^[1][2]

The channel also featured a series titled “Search for the Worst”, a series in which IHE looks at the lowest ranked movies on IMDB (including Troll 2, Birdemic, The Room, and Cool Cat Saves the Kids), reviews them, and then ranks them from best to worst. The lowest rated movie on his list is The Amazing Bulk (2013).

Cool Cat Copyright Claims

Following the publication of his review of Cool Cat Saves the Kids in early November 2015, Derek Savage, the creator of the children’s anti-bullying movie, filed a copyright infringement claim against IHE’s videos along with two other review videos from other YouTube accounts. Following the copyright claim, IHE posted a reaction video to the claim, announcing that he had put The Search for the Worst on hold. After tweets by Savage’s purported Cool Cat Twitter account began circulating online, IHE posted a follow-up video to address the tweets and criticize what he perceived as arbitrary aspects of the copyright enforcement process, for instance, why the review of the same film by his peer critic YourMovieSucks remained untouched.

Bolton briefly removed both videos after receiving e-mail complaints from Savage, which characterized IHE as “bullying” and “threatening,” though they were soon made available again with a third video discussing Savage’s emails. Bolton received support from fellow YouTube critics, such as YourMovieSucks and Caddicarus, as well as his fans. On November 28th, 2015, the strike by Savage against IHE was eventually dropped by YouTube and IHE uploaded a video detailing the events that had transpired between him and Savage since his last video (shown below, right). According to IHE, Savage had impersonated attorneys of a law firm in order to scare him into removing several videos from his channel. Savage has not yet responded to this assertion.

Channel Suspension

On January 19th, 2016, Bolton uploaded a video to his second channel, JAR Media, explaining that his main channel had been suspended (shown below). At the end of the video, Bolton called on his fans to complain to YouTube about the suspension using the hashtag #FREEIHE, and that he would wait to see what would happen. In the comments of the video, several popular YouTubers including JonTron and h3h3 Productions offered their support along with the hashtag. On the following day, IHE’s main channel was reinstated.

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Shuric Scan refers to a series of YouTube Poop Music Videos based on Shuric Scan 1.99crk, a keygen song created by tPORt.^[1] The song is also a remixed version of the audio track Battling Precariously from TECMO’s 1990 game for NES console Ninja Gaiden II.^[2][3] Shuric Scan eventually became known for the high quantity of .veg replaces for the song, which are considered low quality by many.

Origin

The first YTPMV using the song was “manwith10scans” by YouTube user tomgoodmen^[4], who uploaded it to YouTube on June 29th, 2010. The video has since gained over 7,000 views in under 6 years.

Spread

Later, on September 29th, 2010, YouTube user ThatR0bGuy uploaded a video titled “YuricScan” featuring the character Reo Kawamura from the anime series Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo (shown below, left). The video has since gained over 140,000 views in under 6 years. On September 23rd, 2011, YouTube user edyneedsstp created a .veg file for a compilation of scans, and linked the .veg in the description (shown below, right). The .veg later went on to become highly used due to the simplicity of using it.

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“Cheeky Nando’s” is a British expression typically used on social media to describe a quality dining experience at the South African restaurant chain Nando’s. In late 2014, the phrase began trending in captions of selfie photographs featuring subjects making an “A-OK” hand signal.

Origin

The British slang term “cheeky” is often used to describe someone who is exhibiting charming or irreverent behavior. The exact origin of the phrase “cheeky Nando’s” is unclear. The earliest known use was featured in the title of a hip hop track uploaded by SoundCloud user Buzy Ray on November 25th, 2011 (shown below).

Spread

On September 26th, 2012, Flickr^[6] user Finn Harries posted a photograph of himself pointing to a plate a food with the caption “having an exceptionally cheeky Nandos.” On January 19th, 2014, Twitter user Marcus Butler posted a tweet about “cheeky Nandos,” gaining over 3,400 favorites and 820 retweets over the next two years (shown below).

On October 26th, 2014, Twitter user @LukeLiddle^[3] posted a photograph of the singer Morrissey making an “A-OK” hand sign while performing on stage, accompanied by the tweet “When your Nandos is extra cheeky” (shown below).

On December 21st, 2014, Urban Dictionary^[1] user CheekiPeriPeri submitted an entry for “Cheeky Nandos,” associating the phrase with men who wear “converse/flip flops”, “skin-tight pants,” “skimply composed vests/T-shirts” and an “orgy of gel.” On March 27th, 2015, Urban Dictionary^[2] user Rekt92 submitted another entry for “cheeky nandos,” defining it as a phrase used by “fuckboys” on social media. On May 9th, Tumblr user ahrned^[7] reblogged a post by user chavvesty explaining the meaning of “cheeky Nandos,” gathering upwards of 58,300 notes in the next 72 hours (shown below).

On May 12th, BuzzFeed^[4][5] published a listicle highlighting examples of “cheeky Nando’s” tweets, along with a separate article about Americans confused by the expression. In the coming days, several other news sites published articles about American’s confusion with the phrase, including Cosmopolitan,^[8] The Irish Examiner^[9] and Vpoint News.^[10]

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Pun Dog is a three-panel image macro series featuring photographs of an Alaskan Klee Kai dog with animal-themed puns and anticlimactic punchlines, in a similar vein to the advice animal characters Bad Joke Eel and Lame Pun Coon.

Origin

The photographs of the dog playing with a stuffed toy was submitted by Redditor lawlissmodia to the /r/aww^[3] subreddit on October 30th, 2012 (shown below, left). However, the pictures went mostly unnoticed until Redditor Huglifehero re-posted them on November 19th via /r/aww,^[4] where they drew more than 8,500 up votes and 130 comments prior to its archival. On March 9th, 2013, the first captioned image macro in its multi-pane form was submitted by Redditor ZeakQ in an /r/funny^[7] post titled “Is it Real?” The post garnered upwards of 21,600 up votes and 240 comments prior to being archived (shown below, right).

Spread

On February 20th, 2014, Redditor gamesbeawesome submitted a Pun Husky image macro titled “A Spelling Bee” to /r/funny,^[9] which gained over 3,400 up votes and 50 comments in the first 13 days (shown below, left). The same day, the Internet humor blog Tastefully Offensive^[5] posted a Pun Husky joke about the title of a dog magician (shown below, right). In the next two weeks, the post gathered more than 60,300 notes.

On February 23rd, MSN^[6] highlighted several notable examples from the image macro series, referring to it as “Bad Pun Dog.” On February 28th, actress Anna Kendrick tweeted a side-by-side photograph comparing herself to the Dog pictured in the third panel, both shown with an open-mouthed smile. On March 3rd, the Internet news blog UpRoxx^[8] published an article about the meme, which included a slide show of notable examples.

Various Examples

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About

“Everyone Loses Their Minds” (sometimes known as “Joker Mind Loss”) is an image macro series based on a screen capture of the villain Joker (played by Heath Ledger) from the 2008 superhero film The Dark Knight. The captions typically juxtapose two thematically related events or actions that lead to drastically different public reactions.

Origin

In a scene in The Dark Knight, the Joker disguises himself as a nurse to meet with the character Two-Face while he is in the hospital. Upon visiting him, the Joker mocks how differently the citizens of Gotham react to his threats of violence depending on who the targeted victim is (shown below).

“If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it’s all ‘part of the plan’. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!”

On April 14th, 2012, a Quickmeme^[1] page titled “Joker Mind Loss” was launched, featuring a screen captured image from the scene accompanied by various captions ending with the phrase “everyone loses their minds!”

Spread

On February 26th, 2013, Redditor Damien submitted an image macro to the /r/Advice Animals^[2] subreddit, which mocked the European horse meat scandal (shown below, left). Within three months, the post gained more than 4,800 up votes and 95 comments. On March 28th, Redditor n2bass submitted an image macro suggesting that Reddit swap the regular front page with the new submissions page for April Fools Day to the /r/AdviceAnimals^[5] subreddit (shown below, right), which received over 9,500 up votes and 110 comments in the next two months.

On May 8th, Redditor clever_belle submitted an image macro commentary on how women are treated on Reddit to the /r/AdviceAnimals^[4] subreddit (shown below, left), garnering upwards of 5,600 up votes and 530 comments within one week. On May 10th, Redditor davidsjo complained about the American public’s reaction to high-speed rail transportation using a Joker Mind Loss image macro on /r/AdviceAnimals^[3] (shown below, right). In the first 72 hours, the post accumulated over 9,500 up votes and 110 comments.

Various Examples

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Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared is a short musical film directed by Becky Sloan & Joseph Pelling. The film begins with an anthropomorphic character of a notepad singing a seemingly innocent tune about creativity, but as the song progresses, the lyrics and the video take on an increasingly grimdark tone. Due to the ambivalent nature of the film, it soon gained the reputation of a shock video and many viewers have since shared their reactions and analyses of its hidden meaning.

Origin

The original video was uploaded to Vimeo^[3] on July 28th, 2011, followed by a mirrored upload on YouTube on the next day. The short film was produced by the film and animation group THIS IS IT Collective^[1] and directed by its members Becky Sloan & Joseph Pelling.^[2] The video begins under the premise of a singalong segment typically featured on children’s puppet shows, but takes an unexpected turn with the lyrics exploring darker themes such as death towards the end. As of May 6th, 2015, the film has over 6,000 likes on Vimeo and 25 million views and over 200.000 likes on Youtube.

Spread

“Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” was screened during various film festivals in 2012, most notably at The Wrap Shortlist Film Festival^[4] and the Sundance Film Festival,^[5] the latter of which was mentioned in an article^[7] published by the The Sundance Institute. The film also received the Midnight Shorts award at the South by Southwest film festival in March 2012.^[6]

In the weeks and months following its release, the short film was featured in numerous articles on art blogs and other websites such as Short of the Week,^[8] Animated-Review,^[9] Whitezine,^[10] Have You Seen This,^[11] Laughing Squid^[12] and This is Colossal.^[13] On May 9th, 2013, Youtube channel The Fine Bros uploaded a video in which well known Youtube celebrities react to the video. As of June 24th, 2013, the video has nearly 5 million views and 10,000 likes. It was also featured various other websites such as the Smosh Pit,^[14] Bloguh^[15] and Loitering Lion.^[16]

Theories

Some viewers have questioned and speculated the possibility of a deeper meaning behind the video, leading to critical analyses of the lyrics that are both serious and facetious. One of the leading theories interprets the film as a metaphor to how children are conditioned to act in a certain way due to some of the lines spoken by the notebook.

Various Examples

Green is Not a Creative Color

The lyrics “Green is not a Creative Color” gained popularity amongst the viewers due to its randomness, resulting in various fan artworks dedicated to the phrase.

Fan Art

Reaction Videos

Sequels

On January 6th, 2014, Becky&Joe released Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared 2 – TIME,^[19] a sequel to the original film featuring the same characters as they’re now being tought about time from a talking clock, while keeping the more grimdark tones present at certain sections. The Youtube release of 2 days later managed to gain around 2.5 million views in the first two weeks it was up.

In the days following its release, the sequel was covered by Co.Create,^[20] Neatorama,^[21] Digital Arts^[22] and the Huffington Post.^[23] On Tumblr people quickly started pairing the clock from the sequel with the notepad from the first part throughout January, commonly drawing the two characters in a humanized form, resulting in large amounts of fanart of the duo (shown below). This ship was given the nickname padlock^[24] by its fans, as a portmanteau of “notepad” and “clock”.

On May 20th, 2014, the Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared YouTube channel released a 19 second Kickstarter video titled HELP^[25], in which the puppets were tied up. It shows the puppet’s kidnapper holding a hammer over the red puppet’s head, and forcing him to say, “If you’re watching this, then we need your help”, then a link pops up which brings you to the Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared Kickstarter page^[26].

Three days later, on May 23rd, they released another Kickstarter video, which was the same length of the first one, titled HELP #2^[27], in which the puppet’s kidnapper was mumbling on phone, then it shows the yellow puppet, who has a bag on his head, he was crying and saying “I don’t like it!”.

As of September 2014, they reached their goal and they announced that four new episodes were being made, and as of May 2015, 2 have been released.

On October 31st, 2014, Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared 3^[28] was uploaded to YouTube. This episode was about love and didn’t feature as much gore as the previous ones. In the first week of its upload, it had over 3 million views. On March 31st, 2015, Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared 4^[29] was uploaded, this one was about using computers and how addictive they can be. In its first week it had over 2 million views.

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About

h3h3 Productions is a YouTube channel run by the married couple Ethan and Hila Klein, which typically feature videos reacting to content uploaded by pranksters and hip hop artists (specifically producer DJ Khaled) on the video sharing platform.

History

On April 29th, 2011, the h3h3productions YouTube^[1] channel was launched. On March 13th, 2013, the first video was uploaded to the channel, which discussed the different methods for wiping after defecation (shown below).

On May 12th, the channel uploaded a YouTube poop video titled “warm it up exe That’s a 10!,” which gathered upwards of 3.7 million views and 1,600 comments within three years (shown below, left). On November 20th, 2014, the channel posted a reaction video to a news story about a woman who dropped out of college after accidentally purchasing a computer with the Ubuntu operating system (shown below, right). Over the next year, the video garnered more than 800,000 views and 3,400 comments.

On December 3rd, h3h3productions uploaded a video criticizing “kissing prank”: videos on YouTube, which received over 4.1 million views and 3,900 comments within one year (shown below, left). On July 22nd, 2015, the channel posted a video reacting to the Tai Lopez “Here in My Garage” advertisement (shown below, right).

On October 5th, h3h3productions posted a video examining prank videos targeting homeless people, which guest starred YouTuber Filthy Frank (shown below). Within two months, the video gained more than a million views and 6,400 comments. As of December 2015, the YouTube channel has upwards of 440,000 subscribers and 54 million video views and the couple’s Patreon^[8] page has more than 1,200 patrons. Later, on January 22nd, the pair released a 2nd video, titled Ravioli Hungry Gold Digger Prank, in which Frank and Ethan play out a fake prank involving a gold digger women chasing after a man with ravioli.

Online Presence

On Spetember 13, 2013, the h3h3productions Facebook^[7] page was created, gathering over 51,000 likes within three years. On August 19th, 2014, the /r/h3h3productions^[6] subreddit was launched for discussions about the YouTube channel. On November 24, 2015, the h3h3 Wiki^[9] was created.

Fandom

Fans often publish posts related to the channel on Tumblr under the tag “h3h3”.^[2] On YouTube, a variety of mashups and remixes featuring content from the channel’s videos have been uploaded.^[4] On September 17th, 2014, YouTuber alex richards uploaded a remix of Ethan coughing to create the h3h3 theme song (shown below, left). On April 20th, 2015, YouTuber Ollie White uploaded a dubstep compilation featuring the cough clip (shown below, right).

Additionally, various remixes have been uploaded to Soundcloud^[5], including at mashup featuring music by Death Grips (shown below).

Fanart

On DeviantArt there are several pieces of artwork featuring Ethan Klein tagged under “h3h3productions”.^[3]

Fullscreen Copyright Controversy

In late July 2015, the video company Fullscreen flagged h3h3production’s most popular video, which was subsequently removed for copyright infringement. On August 4th, Klein posted a video to his Ethan and Hila channel reacting to the take down, which claimed his video qualified as “fair use” (shown below). The same day Ethan uploaded his response, YouTuber and game critic, Jontron tweeted a link to the video. Within four months, the video gathered upwards of 520,000 views and 2,100 comments. Following the backlash, Fullscreen removed their copyright claim.

Search Interest

External References

Editor’s Note: This entry contains graphic content and may be offensive to some users. View it with your own discretion.

About

“Sweden Yes” is a catchphrase used to mock multiculturalism and gender equality politics, specifically Swedish ones. The catchphrase has also inspired the phrasal template “X Yes”, refered to countries with a progressive ideal.

Origin

The first use of the phrase can be found on the German imageboard Krautchan’s international board in mid-January 2012, when a problem with the board software removed users’ flags. On January 18th, 2012, a thread asking the users to tell reply with their country of origin and if they had ever tasted semen was submitted, with the first reply being, “Sweden Yes,” as a mockery of Sweden’s bad multicultist reputation.

Click for more detail

Background

Sweden has been known for being positive towards non-european immigration, and being the EU member state that accepts the most political refugees. A poll made in January 2015 showed that more than the 70% of the Swedish population was positive towards non-european immigration, 23% of which were very positive towards it.^[9]

Spread

On November 13th, 2013, the subreddit /r/SwedenYes was created, featuring news related with immigration and gender equality.^[8] The earliest archived instance in /pol/ comes from a novelty thread where the Family Guy character Brian Griffin asks for the best country to immigrate to. One of the posts, made on November 29th , 2013, contained the message “Sweden Yes”.^[3] On the same day on the same board, a thread about Swedish military contained a post with the catchphrase.^[4] The same thread featured various posts with the catchphrase.

Captain Sweden

Captain Sweden is a series of webcomics featuring an anthropomorphisation of Sweden multiculturalist and progressive thinking named Captain Sweden, often depicting him having interracial intercourse. The first instance of the comic can be found on a Diary.ru post by user ~dovolen, on April 5th, 2007, featuring two immigrants robbing a woman, when Tolerastov, a man dressed as a drag queen, appears and persuades the robbers into having intercourse with him.^[5] The first translated version of the comic can be found on Rule34, adding the Swedish flag to Tolerastov and naming him Captain Sweden, also featuring the catchphrase.^[10]

On May 4th, 2013, user Taikuri uploaded to the Finnish media sharing webite Naamapalmu another Captain Sweden comic, despicting Captain Sweden making a snowman more “tolerant”.^[7] Both comics began being posted on multiculturalist discussions, specially on /pol/.^[6]

On March 28th, 2015, animator Alerta Judiada uploaded to YouTube a video named “Captain Sweden Saves the Day!”, featuring an adaptation of the original comic, gathering over 72,000 views in less than two months.

Various Examples

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About

Brendan Fraser’s Alimony refers to a series of jokes on various imageboards about American actor Brendan Fraser’s alimony payments, which mock the actor’s mental health with speculation that he is depressed and suicidal. The jokes are sometimes accompanied by an edited photo of Fraser with the dentist Gino DiGiannantonio’s hair from The Barber image macro series and the phrase “Just fuck my shit up.” The jokes also derived into a movement to help Fraser and revive his actor career.

Origin

On December 27th, 2007, Brendan Fraser announced that he and his wife Afton Smith were getting a divorce after nine years of marriage.^[4] In early 2013, Fraser petitioned the courts for a reduction of his alimony, asserting he was unable to meet the annual obligation of $900,000.^[1] On February 16th, 2015, a thread featuring an edited picture of Fraser with DiGiannantonio’s hair and the post “I-is he gonna make it?” was submited on 4chan’s /tv/ board.^[5] The image was originally made by the Tumblr user stargates on December 10th and 12th, 2014.^[12][13]

Spread

The phrase “Just fuck my shit up” has been used as a forum game on 4chan, with one poster starting with “JUST” and others trying to follow in a combo, in a similar vein to Lankyposting. On April 11th, 2015, the board /just/ was created on 8chan^[3] for Brendan Fraser-related posts. On March 30th, 2015, YouTuber Beavan Cotterhill uploaded a video titled “Latest Brendan Fraser 2015 #savebrendanfraser #unfuckhisshit”, featuring a song about Fraser and promoting the hastags #savebrendanfraser^[8] and #unfuckhisshit (shown below, left).^[9] The next day, the @SaveBrendanFraser Twitter account was launched, which highlights edited photos of Fraser.^[7] On April 3rd, 2015, YouTuber Justin Cuck uploaded a video titled “Just Fuck My Shit Up – Help to save Brendan Fraser’s career”, featuring footage of Fraser with the song “Bring Me Back To Life” playing in the background. On April 17th, Redditor PointOfRecklessness submitted a post asking about the Fraser meme to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[11] subreddit. The meme continues to be a popular topic on /tv/, with users discussing plans to revive Fraser’s career and “un-fuck his shit”.

Various Examples

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About

Dindu Nuffin is a pejorative term that originated on /pol/ to mock and criticize black people during the numerous riots throughout 2014 and 2015.

Origin

The phrase “dindu nuffin” is derived from a bastardization of the phrase “didn’t do nothing”, a plea for innocence often used in reference to unarmed black men killed by police. One of the most famous instances of the usage of this phrase can be found in a comic. Detractors often use “dindu nuffins” to refer to sympathizers of the black community.

The phrase originated on /pol/ around August 2014^[1], during the riots in Ferguson, Missouri started as a response to the shooting of Michael Brown.

Spread

Including the Ferguson Protests, the phrase has been used in /pol/ and /b/ threads about Baltimore Riots, The Death of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin’s death and other threads mocking black people.

Search Interest

External References

About

“YouTube Poop Music Videos”, also known by the acronym “YTPMV”, are musical YouTube Poops, similar to a MAD video. Like a YouTube Poop, they feature various clips from TV shows, movies, commercials, and other video sources, but the clips are sequenced to fit to a rhythm and tone of a song. Some videos also follow the “Lyrical” formula, which involves causing the characters imitate singing to the song. Videos in the Lyrical formula often have original compositions as the background music.

Origin

The first example of a YTPMV is YTPMV: You Are An Egghead, uploaded on October 21st, 2007, by YouTube user Vorhias. The video included clips from the Super Mario World TV show matched up to an original composition. The video has since gained over 100,000 views in under 9 years.

Spread

YTPMVs have become a popular genre of videos, and have garnered a community which participate in various activities such as Soccers and Collaboration videos.
YouTube user MrRoboto113 later uploaded a video on January 19th, 2008 of a YTPMV made out of Dr. Octogonapus clips and the song Someday by the band Sugar Ray (shown below, left). The video has since gained over 2 million views in over 8 years. Later, on May 28th, 2010, YouTube user EnigmaEvocative uploaded video combining Trololo and Rainbow Tylenol (shown below, right). The video has since gained over 3 million views in under 6 years.

Various Examples

External References

About

Gabe the Dog Remixes are a series of YouTube Poop Music Videos (YTPMV) which typically feature various music tracks dubbed over footage of a minature American Eskimo dog named Gabe.

Origin

Gabe the Dog is owned by the Canadian YouTube user deathtrips, formerly known as gravycp.^[1] On January 8th, 2013, a video Gabe barking titled “The New Dog Source” was uploaded onto the gravycp account, where it gained over 60,000 views in the next three years. On November 1st, 2014, deathtrips posted the video “Newest Dog Source” of Gabe (shown below, right).

Spread

One of the most popular remixes was created by the YouTube user shaliek, which featured the Herp Alpert song “The Midnight Tango”; this remix has been viewed nearly 400,000 times since its January 27, 2013 upload. On February 6, YouTube user Lewdachris uploaded a remix featuring the song “Time to Air” by 青龍, which was viewed over 130,000 times. On June 14, YouTube user skylark uploaded a remix featuring “I Am A God” by Kanye West, which has been viewed over 160,000 times. On July 4, 2014, YouTube user widddddd uploaded an edit which swapped Gabe’s bark with the word “fuck” taken from a video of a teenage boy, which received over 150,000 views.

deathtrips himself created several popular remixes, including a remix of “We No Speak Americano” by Yolanda Be Cool, which was viewed over 200,000 times, and a remix of “The Next Episode” by Dr. Dre which was viewed over 175,000 times.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Editor’s note: The interest spike in August of 2012 is due to the release of the movie Gabe the Cupid Dog. Anything after that may be interpretted as relating to the meme.

External References