It all started with a single post in 2019, written in the voice of a cat: "you KICK miette? you kick her body like the football? oh! oh! jail for mother! jail for mother for One Thousand Years!!!!"

The author, poet and novelist Patricia Lockwood, has written several award-winning works of literature. But her post about Miette, as a meme, certainly ranks among her most well-known and beloved works. But where did this meme come from and how is it used today? Let's explain.

Where Does 'Miette' Come From?

Miette the cat came from an animal rescue facility, according to Lockwood's later statements to the press. Miette the meme came from a post Lockwood made on Twitter / X in Match of 2019. At the time, the post was an absolute banger, scoring a great number of likes and quote-posts.

The meme spread to other platforms as well, embedding itself as deeply and rapidly in the discourse of online cat lovers as a cat's claw kneading a wool blanket directly before curling up to sleep on it.

How Do People Use 'Miette' Voice?

In an interview with The Cut, Lockwood compared Mite's imagined voice to the voice of a British orphan. It seems like this shrill, plucky and flabbergasted voice is endlessly adaptable, and often fits the mood of so many animals.

What Does 'Miette' Voice Mean?

It is an eternal human impulse to make up funny voices for animals. This activity has been the basis for some of the most enduring mythology and art over the millennia of our existence on this planet. From myths about Coyote to the major motion picture Penguins of Madagascar, some of the best examples of human creativity rely on giving voices to animals.

Some of the best memes do as well. Miette voice carries the wholesome energy of a certain side of the internet: people sharing the goofier parts of themselves, describing the cute things they love and the fancies which, usually, you just keep to yourself.

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For the full history of Miette, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.