About

Amharic Curse and Armenian Curse are copypastas featuring ominous, threatening messages generally written in Amharic using the Ge'ez script or Armenian using the Armenian alphabet, paired with a variety of cursed images. Amharic text copypastas saw a significant surge in popularity following the announcement that Donald Trump had contracted COVID-19 in early October 2020.

Origin

On October 24th, 2019, Twitter user @cursed66666^[7] posted the following message:

"Your sinful soul is beyond salvation and you will know neither peace nor pain, only the endless cold of emptiness The time of repentance is over, because your crimes outweigh any commission by your evil type The end is close, the vessels of sin Oblivion awaits Praise to Allah"

On November 2nd, 2019, the same Twitter^[8] user posted a similar message translated into Amharic, along with 4 black-and-white images featuring occult symbols (shown below).

Spread

On January 4th, 2020, Redditor master_of_the_void submitted a screenshot of a text message conversation containing a photoshopped image of a deformed woman looking at the camera, followed by Amharic writing, to /r/translator.^[2]

On July 28th, 2020, Twitter user @tsukkiskys posted a tweet criticizing the use of the language in memes, stating "I speak amharic and it upsets me how y’all have completely disrespected it and turned it into something it’s not." Within three months, the tweet gained over 34,000 likes and 11,000 retweets.

Donald Trump's COVID-19 Diagnosis

Following the positive diagnosis of Donald and Melania Trump Positive for COVID-19, Twitter users spammed Amharic text in response to Trump's tweet announcing the infection. One of the most commonly used copypastas was:

ኃጢአተኛ ነፍስህ ከመዳን በላይ ናት እናም ሰላምን ወይም ሥቃይን አታውቅም ፣ የንስሐ ቅዝቃዜ ብቻ አብቅቷል ፣ ምክንያቱም ኃጢአቶችህ ከማንኛውም ተልእኮ የላቀ ስለሆነ ፣ መጨረሻው ቀርቧል ፣ የኃጢአት መርከቦች

Your sinful soul is beyond salvation and you know no peace or pain, only the cold of repentance is over, because your sins are greater than any mission, the end is near, the ships of sin

On October 2nd, 2020, Trump was sent to Walter Reed medical center to be treated for the virus. From the hospital, Trump tweeted "Going well, I think! Thank you to all. LOVE!!!" In response, Twitter user hecklinglunn^[4] replied with the Amharic Curse copypasta (shown below). Within 24 hours, the tweet gained over 2,500 likes and 190 retweets.

Other users again criticized this surge in memes, pointing out the insensitivity to the millions of Amharic speakers in the world. In the coming days, the curse was covered by Mashable^[5] and Vice.^[6]

It's legit starting to piss me off Ethiopians have told y'all a million times not to use their actual f--king language as some evil demon script. It especially churns my stomach cause Amharic is such a beautiful language and Ethiopia has such culturally significant roots

— lucid dream 💫 (@ramdaughter) October 2, 2020

"Armenian Curse"

Following the announcement that Trump had lost the 2020 election, many accounts tweeted similar "curse" tweets at him, this time in Armenian. Of these, the most common copypastas were:

Սատանան ձեր ճիրաններում կպահի ձեր հոգին, նա ձեզ կմղի դեպի հավերժական խավար, կզգաք դժոխքի կրակոտ փոսերը, կայրեք, մինչ մենք ծիծաղենք

Satan will hold your soul in your clutches, he will push you into eternal darkness, you will feel the fiery pits of hell, burn while we laugh

միսն ու արյունը ձեր հավերժ երիտասարդության համար: արյունոտ մահը որսում է իր մարմինը և ընտանիքի հետ նետում այն խավարի մեջ

flesh and blood for your eternal youth. The bloody death seizes his body and throws it into the darkness with his family

Search Interest

External References