Forums / Discussion / Meme Research

"This looks shopped. I can tell from some of the pixels and from seeing quite a few shops in my time."

Anyone know source? ED just says "4chan meme" (link), wondering if there's a backstory, original image, etc.

thx to Wylie_ and inky in IRC #tumblrs for helping me identify the original catchphrase

So far this is the earliest usage I can find.
Othello @ Apr 8th 2006 10:56PM
http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/08/the-engadget-store/
I really don't think this is the origin, but we're getting closer.

Has anyone mined something awful for the answer? This image really smacks of goon work.

From FARK.com. I am looking for the link still (I know I know link or GTFO) but I know I was reading a thread and saw some guy say this and he got epically ripped on the rest of the thread, including the picture above that someone threw together. Ever since then I saw this all the time and it slowly moved on to reddit and digg.

kap we would never be that mean. Menning would but not me. Ya i would. . . link or GTFO N00BZ. jk

Hey Redspear, it's not about being mean. It's about having something to offer. It's what puts the "Know" in "Know Your Meme."

Chris Menning is the final boss of the internet.

To be on topic, there is a related XKCD comic.

• Looking around *
  Who me?

I'm more of a "end of the level somewhere in the later half of the game" boss.

I'm prettty sure that Yatta is the internet's FINAL boss form.

The earliest mention I can find is on this old website cached in 2003, metaeducation.com

[EDIT: the date was wrong. Cached in 2009]

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:5IjJAdzEeNkJ:metaeducation.com/%22thislooks+shopped%22&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

But the explanation offered on the site implies that this was already an established meme, so it starts even further back.

The earliest appearance on Fark that I can find is in 2005.
http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=1423724&hl=Charlotte-Churchs-topless-pics-stolen-The-Sun-is-there-but-with-no-pic-goodness

[EDIT: It says "This looks shopped" but says nothing about "seen plenty of shops in my time"

Speaking of where people place in the internet.

I always figured myself as the jackass who the protagonist has to protect in escort missions.

Yes, the one that doesn't have the common sense to hide or think for himself. The one that when he dies you fail the mission and have to do the damn thing agan.

hehehe

I need to look for evidence but I feel fairly certain that the first time I saw this was on a forum with the exact story that kap77 mentions. Someone says 'this looks photoshopped' regarding an obviously photoshopped image. Suddenly a new sig is born.

I'm going to second/third this being from Fark. However, while the Charlotte Church thread linked above has similar language, it seems coincidental: "Definitly shopped, you can clearly se the square pixelated image surrounding her face when you zoom." It seems the user was just describing what he saw. The earliest use I can find containing a variation on the phase "I can tell from the pixels and from seeing quite a few shops…." is from 2006.

Also, a permanent cache of http://metaeducation.com/ at different dates can be found here, so that seems to be a dead end (as there wasn't even mention yet of "looks shopped" in 2008).