What Is The Joke Of "Sneed's Feed And Seed?" The Long-running Simpsons Joke Explained

For years, one joke from The Simpsons has become the ultimate IYKYK gag, a blink-and-you'll miss it sign that reads "Sneed's Feed and Seed (Formerly Chuck's)," a general store in rural America.

Though the sign appears on screen for no more than two seconds, it has become one of The Simpsons most famous gags, particularly online, resulting in the creation of hundreds of memes over the course of more than a decade. Here's what the secret behind this quick, naughty joke in The Simpsons.

What Is The Joke Of "Sneed's Feed and Seed (Formerly Chuck's)"

The Simpsons is pulling off a little wordplay trick to put a dirty phrase in the audience's mind. "Sneed" rhymes with both "Feed" and "Seed," so it would follow that if the establishment was owned by "Chuck" rather than "Sneed," you'd get "Chuck's F--- and Suck." It was first explained online in 2000 by Benjamin Robinson at the Simpsons Archive website.

Why Did This Joke Become So Popular?

The spread of the meme in popular culture seems to come from people remembering the sign but not putting together the joke behind it until later in life. It started circulating on 4chan around 2012 and began becoming a meme on the site as more people found they were having the same experience.

The prevalence of such posts then became a meta-joke, as "Sneedposting" became the subject of meme backlash, and people made parodies joking about the prevalence of "Sneed" posts and memes online.

Of course, as is the case with memes, the backlash flipped, leading to a surge of post-ironic Sneed-related memes. As it stands today, "Sneed" is one of The Simpsons most iconic memes, which is quite a feat since again, it barely appeared in the show and was never spoken.

For more information, check out the Sneed's Feed and Seed entry on Know Your Meme.