Memes are like plants: they start as a small seedling and grow into something much bigger than originally expected.
Nothing could be truer than the “what in tarnation” meme – it started small and relatively funny but soon snowballed as things got seriously weird and seriously funny.
First up: the origin of this meme. It seemed to be first posted last month on Tumblr and showed a dog in a hat with the simple words “what in tarnation”.
Pretty funny stuff, and people soon picked up the dog and put their own spin on it.
When someone says "you all" instead of "yall" when addressing a group of people pic.twitter.com/pyzV5a6bsL
— Shaedy (@Shaeebutter) January 11, 2017
But that wasn’t enough and soon things descended into the bizarre. The formula is simple: add the now iconic brown cowboy hat to your picture with the caption “what in -ation.” The word just has to end in “ation” and you’re golden.Some people turned to animals for inspiration.
What in crustacean pic.twitter.com/lj2od15dc3
— What in (@whatin_ation) February 26, 2017
Whereas others took their jumping off point from popular culture.Card
what in formation pic.twitter.com/oOOHLvfkKj
— bree (@ayobreezus) February 24, 2017
what in unjust cancellation ? pic.twitter.com/9684OxCS0M
— emily angelica (@existentiaIly) February 25, 2017
And some paid tribute to politics with their interpretation of the meme.Card
what in questionable foreign relations pic.twitter.com/i7GH9w5ImR
— what in tarnation (@WHATINTARNATlON) February 28, 2017
Things got really meta when other memes came into play.Card
Some people put a bit too much intellectual thought into their memes.
wot in taxation without representation pic.twitter.com/qPYmztJMey
— Satan. (@saraabeann) February 24, 2017
wot in MLA Citation pic.twitter.com/4bIFJW07T5
— Lucas Sheriff (@LucasSheriff) February 25, 2017
WHAT IN STANDARD DEVIATION pic.twitter.com/lcmMmZYqyt
— Drew (@drew_gustafson) February 25, 2017
And some are just inexplicable.Card
Wot in constellation pic.twitter.com/1eBJZyr1AT
— Cole (@imcolenewton) February 22, 2017
Big up to everyone with a little bit too much free time who helped get this meme off the ground.
What in tarnation meme has gotten out of hand
— Chrollo Lucilfer (@MiloticSama) February 28, 2017
Who knew so many words ended in “ation”?
