Gen Z's seeming love affair with AAVE and queer slang has produced a peculiar dialect that's often confusing and completely contextless.

Every day, a new phrase gets plucked from its original setting and blended into the internet's genre of brainrot. Perhaps nowhere is this practice better documented than on Stan Twitter, where people flex their cultural fluency through ironic speech. The latest meme earworm mocks those who unknowingly misuse slang in an attempt to look hip.

Here's the origin of the memetic catchphrase "When The Chile is Tea But The Finna is Gag."

Where Did the Catchphrase "When the Chile Is Tea but the Finna Is Gag" Originate?

The phrase, "When the chile is tea but the finna is gag💀💀 Sis im dead as a chile😭😭😭," was first posted on February 15th, 2025, by X user @yasscorrset, which was paired with a GIF of model Alex Consani looking vaguely distressed and glamorous, racked up 133,000 views and 4,000 likes in a month.

The expression jumbles a handful of slang terms: "chile" (a phonetic spelling of "child," often used to express exasperation), "tea" (meaning gossip), "finna" (a contraction of "fixing to" or "about to") and "gag" (queer slang for being shocked or overwhelmed).

Together, they form a sentence that's not quite right, but the misuse is the punchline. The humor lies in how badly it mangles the original expressions, poking fun at people who mimic the style without understanding the structure or the culture.

How Did the Catchphrase "When the Chile Is Tea" Spread?

Two weeks after the tweet dropped, on February 27th, 2025, singer Ethel Cain read it aloud on a livestream, and her deadpan delivery turned the nonsensical phrase into a meme that was quickly spread around by her fans. A fan reupload of the clip to Twitter received over 36,000 views and 1,700 likes in seven days.

ethel cain during her latest livestream: ‘when the chile is tea but the finna is gag, sis i’m dead as a chile’ 😭 pic.twitter.com/If0048olIy

— Ethel Charts (@EthelCharts) February 27, 2025

That same day, TikToker @heart2kie posted an edit using the soundbite and a video of Alex Consani, the original GIF subject. The post received over 113,000 likes within a week, and the audio was quickly absorbed into FlopTok, a corner of TikTok devoted to Stan culture.

@heart2kie the finna is gag 😵 #CapCut #emergencyintercom #ethelcain #alexconsani ♬ b2b instrumental – Dario

What Are Some More 'The Chile Is Tea But The Finna Is Gag' Memes?

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For the full history of When The Chile Is Tea But The Finna Is Gag, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.