"Do a barrel roll" is a phrase as common as "Do a flip!" in today's slang economy, a catchphrase so timeless that it sounds more like an age-old idiom than a meme. But did you know that the phrase has a very particular origin for when it rose to online fame? Here's where the phrase first originated, and how it spread into one of the most popular English catchphrases in the world.

Where Does The Phrase 'Do A Barrel Roll' Come From?

The phrase "barrel roll" was coined as a way to describe a combat airplane maneuver where a plane twirls in a cylindrical path while continuing to fly in the original direction. The move combined a loop and a roll and was named so because it made the aircraft appear as though it were doing a loop inside a barrel laid on its side.

But the phrase "do a barrel roll" can be traced to a feature in the 1997 video game Star Fox 64, in which Peppy Hare orders the player to "do a barrel roll!" while approaching four stationary turrets firing lasers in the game. A YouTube video showing this scene was uploaded in 2007, gathering over 6 million views in over a decade.

How Is The Phrase 'Do A Barrel Roll' Used In Memes?

In the late 2000s, several meme trends about barrel rolls took off online. The phrase was often repeated in 4chan threads, spawned a Facebook fan page, and sparked popular meme trends on websites I Can Haz Cheezburger and YTMND.

Even corporations got in on the joke, with Google enabling a search easter egg that would make the browser page turn 360 degrees when prompted with the phrase "Do a barrel roll."

What Are So Examples Of Memes Using The Phrase 'Do A Barrel Roll?'

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For the full history of the phrase "Do a barrel roll," be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.