What Is The ‘Help I Accidentally Build A Shelf’ Meme? The Google Search Suggestion Meme Explained

Google’s suggestion search bar can sometimes be a box of mysteries and jokes about what the tool will suggest to complete a sentence you are typing. The thing is, Google Suggestions or predictions are generated based on actual searches made by Google users.

Even though most of the suggestions are helpful, some can be quite amusing or even controversial, like the unusual "Help I Accidentally Build A Shelf."

Here’s how this unexpected Google Suggestion became a viral meme on the internet and why variations of it continue to persist online to this day.

Where Does The ‘Help I Accidentally Build A Shelf’ Meme Come From?

Is unclear who "accidentally built a shelf" and had to Google how to undo his action, or if it's just a doctored image. The earliest meme made in reference to the phrase "help I accidentally build a shelf" was posted to the site Tapiture.com on August 5th, 2013.

Another "Help I Accidentally Build a Shelf" meme variation can also be traced to a post on Froot.nl from February 3rd, 2015, demonstrating how the original concept of the original continued to spread over the following years.

What Are Some Of The ‘Help I Accidentally Build A Shelf’ Meme Variations?

The phrase became a viral meme in the late 2010s, especially on Reddit, where users shared different yet similarly odd Google Search suggestions.

One such example was Redditor /u/Weeaboo_JoJones, who posted a version of the meme that read, "Help I accidentally joined the Italian Mafia" to the /r/AnimeMemes subreddit on August 27th, 2019.

On November 4th, 2019, an unknown Redditor posted another version of the original meme to /r/ComedyCemetery, perhaps showing how the meme reached a point of saturation around this time, though it still pops up to this day under different variations.

For the full history of Help I Accidentally Build A Shelf, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.