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Memes

‘Godzilla Had a Stroke Trying to Read This and F*cking Died’: how the copypasta and meme blew up

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Photo of Angela Andaloro

Angela Andaloro

Godzilla in a bucket with text that says 'godzilla had a stroke trying to read this and ******* died'

Godzilla Had a Stroke Trying to Read This and F*cking Died is an absurdist copypasta and meme referencing a BTS photo from 1992’s Godzilla vs. Mothra, in which Godzilla is seen lying in a wheelbarrow. Versions of the meme have become popular ways to poke fun at typos and writing errors, though, similar to the Garfield Why Do They Call It Oven? copypasta, its nonsensical nature can be seen as a precursor to the brain rot memes of the early 2020s.

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Meme basics:

  • Meme Creator: iFunny user Alpha_Grizzly
  • Meme Type: Reaction, copypasta
  • First Appearance: May 24, 2019
  • Origin Source: iFunny
  • Peak Popularity: May 2021
    godzilla had a stroke google trends

Meme origins

The image that prompted the Godzilla Had a Stroke Trying to Read This and Fucking Died meme came from a collection of behind-the-scenes photos from 1992’s Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth.

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The photos were shared by Gizmodo in late August 2012, and later that month were shared to the r/movies sub on Reddit. One of the photos depicted Godzilla lying in a wheelbarrow.

godzilla wheelbarrow photo
Gizmodo

Cultural context

In the mid-2010s, jokes about hard-to-read text online were met with a new response. Comments would read, “I just had a stroke.” This is meant to indicate that something is hard to understand and in 2018, a subreddit titled r/ihadastroke appeared.

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The photo and copypasta appeared together for the first time in an iFunny post shared by user Alpha_Grizzly on May 24, 2019.

Godzilla had a stroke trying to read this and fucking died meme
@Alpha_Grizzly/iFunny

Within months, the meme appeared on r/ihadastroke, where it began to spread and gain more frequent use.

photo album blurb godzilla meme
@Alpha_Grizzly/iFunny
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dog yard godzilla had a stroke
u/OfficialRobloxDoge via Reddit

Godzilla Had a Stroke Trying to Read This and F*cking Died copypasta

In addition to the use of the meme, Godzilla Had a Stroke Trying to Read This and F*cking Died has become a copypasta reaction comment found across social media. It appears in two ways. For one, it calls out text posts that contain a lot of misspellings. In another sense, the copypasta slickly points out nonsensical things.

godzilla had a stroke reading this
u/OfficialRobloxDoge via Reddit
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godzilla had a stroke
@Thor_GodofLightning/MemeDroid

Meme examples

dictionary godzilla had a stroke
@Thor_GodofLightning/MemeDroid
worcestershire sauce godzilla had a stroke
@Thor_GodofLightning/MemeDroid
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gps jumbled words godzilla had a stroke
u/UH-OH-STINKYYYY via Reddit
In Body Image
u/UH-OH-STINKYYYY via Reddit
airplane aeroplane fly flight air godzilla had a stroke trying to read this
u/UH-OH-STINKYYYY via Reddit
godzilla had a stroke
u/UH-OH-STINKYYYY via Reddit
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couple selfie godzilla had a stroke
u/sumit_khot via Reddit
Godzilla had a stroke trying to read this and fricking died ban speech
u/sumit_khot via Reddit
godzilla had a stroke street signs
u/sumit_khot via Reddit
fried godzilla had a stroke
@ubitimun/9gag
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relations godzilla had a stroke
@ubitimun/9gag
garbled text godzilla just had a stroke
@ubitimun/9gag
i forgot to remember to forget godzilla had a stroke
@milesp-boiii/IMGFLIP
cat godzilla had a stroke
@milesp-boiii/IMGFLIP
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youtube comment godzilla had a stroke
@milesp-boiii/IMGFLIP
why do they call it oven godzilla just had a stroke
u/Gifflebunk via Reddit
me trying to read words i don't understand for the first time godzilla had a stroke
u/Gifflebunk via Reddit

More copypasta memes:

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