That Really Rustled My Jimmies

About

“That Really Rustled My Jimmies” is an expression that is used to convey feelings of discontent or discomfort in response to someone else’s post in imageboards and discussion forums, most notably on 4chan.

Origin

The phrase originated on the /r9k/ board of 4chan on December 15th, 2010 in a thread about “times when someone really rustled your jimmies.”^[1] It was told in the style of a normal greentext story on 4chan, except using the outdated language from the 1950s. However, Google Insights reveals that the phrase “really rustled my jimmies” has been spotted as trending as early as in June 2010, which remains unverified.

The absurdity of the phrase “Rustled Jimmies” instantly led to a variety of responses to the OP, most notably an image of a frowning gorilla with the overlaid text “that really rustled my jimmies” in the popular Impact font. The original photograph of the gorilla can be found in a Flickr post titled “nors”^[7] uploaded by Frank Wouters on July 4th, 2007.

Spread

Although remarked upon a couple times by others in the 4chan community, both the thread and the image of the gorilla went relatively unnoticed until later on when another user posted an image taken from the front of a box of Gorilla Munch cereal^[2] with the overlaid text “My Jimmies Remain Unrustled.”

These two images came to define the idea of rustled and unrustled jimmies in later threads on 4chan’s /v/ (videogames) /x/ (paranormal) and /tv/ (television) board; the meme spread to other websites such as Newgrounds^[6] and FunnyJunk, as well as on social networking sites like Tumblr^[5] and Facebook^[12].

On February 23, 2012, a thread was created on 4chan’s /v/ board called Jimmies General^[11]. This thread was sticky-featured and lasted for over 650 posts before being archived. It is one of the largest threads dedicated to unrustling jimmies to date and it is the first jimmies thread to have been sticky-featured on 4chan. On February 24, 2012, the name of the /v/ board was changed from Video Games to ‘Jimmies.’

James Ferrario Standoff

On April 12th, 2012, Modesto, California resident James Ferrario shot dead a uniformed deputy police officer and a locksmith who had come to evict him from his house. He then barricaded himself inside, and caused a standoff with local law enforcement.^[13] Shortly thereafter, a troll posted an AMA thread on 4chan’s /b/ board, claiming to be Ferrario.^[14]

The news of the standoff was quickly picked up by Sacramento FOX affiliate KTXL Fox 40.^[13] A reporter made the mistake of featuring the aforementioned /b/ thread, and claimed that Ferrario had a gorilla fetish (due to numerous Jimmies-related images being posted), saying that he called himself “Jimmy Russel” or “Jimmy Rustle.” Once /b/ got word of this, Jimmies jokes exploded over the thread, and spread across the site.

Notable Examples

The expression has since spawned a series of image macros that are mostly based on cute illustrations or photographs of various animals, along with the caption conveying that either jimmies have been rustled or unrustled.

Videos

On youtube, fans upload videos showing image macros of the Gorilla Munch gorilla narrated by various, mainly classical, types of music. These videos have the purpose of giving delight when one’s jimmies have been rustled.

Search Interest

The result of Google Insights queries reveal that the phrase “really rustled my jimmies” began trending as early as in June 2010, though the existence of an instance corresponding with the date remains unverified.

External References