Since the inception of memes, cats have emerged supreme. Of course, people love their dog memes, too, but part of what makes cats so lovable is their quirky behaviors and many, expressive faces. One example of this is the crying cat meme (or cat crying meme, if you prefer), which has even spawned its own merchandise. For those wondering how this meme got started and how people use it, we’ve got you covered.
Origin of the crying cat meme
The crying cat meme was first published online by an anonymous Meme Generator in 2014, according to Know Your Meme. The picture, it said, is a version of “serious cat,” another altered cat photo. Since its inception, the original meme concept has generated more than 925 new images.
How did crying cat memes spread?
In 2016, an anonymous 4chan poster published an image of a bigger cat that had the same expression on its face. The photo was accompanied by the following caption: “First it’s smug, then it’s fat. It’s living my life.” This picture is a photoshopped version of another picture of a sleeping cat with crying eyes.
Since then, this meme has been shared a number of times and reached virality. In January 2017, a Facebook user posted the picture and captioned it “sad react only.”
In 2018, a reddit user asked members of the /r/OutOfTheLoop subreddit about the origin of the meme. This sparked a small discussion about its origin and ended in more people sharing “crying cat” more broadly.
What’s the origin of the crying cat pictures, and why am I seeing them all over now?
byu/plebdev inOutOfTheLoop
How are people using crying cat memes?
The meme features a cat which has been Photoshopped to have teary, glassy eyes. As such, most people use the meme in situations where they’re trying to hold it together—just barely!—or are holding back tears.
Here are some of the best examples of the crying cat meme we could find.
So wait… What is “serious cat”?
According to Everything is Viral, the original photo of “serious cat” first hit the internet in 2005 on a Korean lulz community, Humor University. The image of the “serious cat” was paired side-by-side with a photo of celebrity DJ/rapper Jae Young. Thinking that the two looked similar, the photo spread across the Korean web, with fans initially calling the animal the “Jae-Young cat.”
Unfortunately, though, we still don’t know how the exact picture of “serious cat” came to the web. According to Know Your Meme, the “serious cat” meme appearance on #YTMND and 4chan. It’s emergence produced a number of new memes and eventually became known as “serious cat.”
Crying cat meme template:
Editor’s note: This article is regularly updated for relevance.
Related memes:
- The ‘cat coughing’ meme, explained
- A history of Hamster memes: Is there anything more adorable?
- Sad cat memes to make you laugh (or cry)
- Who is the furry friend in the ‘Woman Yelling at a Cat’ meme, and why is she yelling at him?
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