Being Silly / Too Silly

About

Being Silly or Too Silly refers to a set of memes that riff on the adjective "silly," often using the innocent connotations of the word for satirical exploitation by portraying "being silly" as a problem. Memes referencing the word "silly" have existed throughout meme history, leading to both "Being Silly" and "Too Silly" becoming recognizable catchphrases in their own right, prominent on Twitter and Instagram, often in the form of a Whisper text-post. Some notable "silly" memes are 'Tis A Silly Place, I'm Just a Silly Little Guy and Every Day I Put On My Silly Little Outfits And Do My Silly Little Tasks. Many "silly" memes also use derpy animals like silly cats with two prominent examples being the BLEHHHHH :P Cat and the Baby Seal With Tongue Out.

Origin

Although the word "silly" has been used in memes dating back to the 2000s, the subversion of the word "silly" in memes didn't manifest online until the late 2010s and early 2020s. For instance, currently, the first-known, viral meme to use the word was posted on October 26th, 2019, by Twitter^[1] user MafiosoRo who wrote, "Underrated form of intimacy: being silly together," and earned roughly 23,400 likes in four years (shown below).

Despite the aforementioned tweet, the first meme trend to solidify the concept of subverting the word "silly" was Every Day I Put On My Silly Little Outfits And Do My Silly Little Tasks which was started by a viral tweet sent by Twitter^[2] user dream__attack on February 18th, 2020, earning more than 57,000 likes and 18,000 retweets in less than one year (shown below).

Spread

Following Twitter user dream__attack's tweet and the trend that it started, the word "silly" was used in more meme content across social media platforms. For instance, on December 15th, 2020, Twitter^[3] user makeupaguy tweeted, "guy who is being WAY too silly today," earning roughly 2,600 likes in two years (shown below, left). On November 1st, 2021, Instagram^[4] user trevorallenunofficial posted a meme with a Peewee Herman doll and text reading, "this world is hard on silly men…" The post received roughly 23,200 likes in two years (shown below, right).

On January 25th, 2022, Twitter^[5] user swagmastarpaul tweeted, "Your honor I was just being a silly little goose," earning roughly 112,700 likes in one year (shown below, left). On the same day, Instagram^[6] user shrekthings posted a meme showing Shrek with text that urged their viewers to normalize being silly and goofy. The post received roughly 17,000 likes in one year (shown below, right).

Going into 2022 and 2023, "silly" memes continued to surface across platforms. For instance, on May 30th, 2022, Instagram^[7] user inhalemybees posted a Babe, Can You Touch Me Already meme in which the man's speech bubble read, "hold on im being silly." The post received roughly 28,300 likes in nine months (shown below, left). On August 21st, 2022, Twitter^[8] user the_life_of_daz tweeted a Whisper post reading, "i got too silly," over an image of an insane man in a straightjacket. The tweet received roughly 189,600 likes in six months (shown below, right).

Related Memes

She Let Me Hit Because I'm Goofy

She Let Me Hit Because I'm Goofy or She Let Me Hit Cuz X refers to a viral November 2021 tweet reading "nice 400lb squat bro she just let me hit cuz i’m goofy," joking that you don't need to lift to attract women, you just need to be goofy. The tweet inspired a snowclone phrase on Twitter where users replace "goofy" with another trait, often male-centric and ironic, boasting it as more attractive to women than lifting or another stereotypically manly trait. The trait of "being silly" was also substituted often.

Me In My Silly Little Bed

Me In My Silly Little Bed, continued Avoiding My Silly Little Tasks, most commonly refers to an image macro showing a cat tucked into bed alongside the quote, suggesting the poster would rather stay in bed, being silly than do what they need to. The image macro was first posted by Instagram user HollowCloth prior to September 2021 and went viral through reposts that year, inspiring photoshops and redraws changing various aspects of the meme. The phrase is also attached to images of other animals in bed. It is similar to the "Everyday I Put On My Silly Little Outfits" and Sleep Tight Pupper formats.

Okay Now Let's Do A Silly One

Ok Now Let’s Do A Silly One, also written Okay Now Let’s Do A Silly One, is a catchphrase used at the end of tweets and text posts that make the reader imagine the silly version of a given, usually not-so-innocent task or activity. The phrase stems from a cliché and axiom about taking group photographs or selfies, commonly portrayed as a "white person stereotype" by some online.

SpongeBob Episodes B Silly As Hell Then Have On Shot Like This

SpongeBob Episodes B Silly As Hell Then Have On Shot Like This refers to a series of tweets and image macros using the misspelled punchline and different variations of it. The phrase was first mentioned on Twitter in July 2021, and the images used alongside the caption are usually creepy or strange in nature similar to the freezeframe moments in SpongeBob.

Me And The Bad Bitch I Pulled By Being X

Me And The Bad Bitch I Pulled By Being X, also written Me And The Bad Bitch I Pulled From Being X, is a phrasal template that jokes about getting an "out of my league" girlfriend who the man is able to attract due to some unlikely personality trait, such as being cringe or based, by replacing the last word of the catchphrase. It was first used on Twitter in late 2021, spreading across social media within meme captions. Additionally, it relates to the "She Let Me Hit Because I'm Goofy" snowclone due to many of the memes referencing "being silly" as a way to pull the bad bitch in question.

Silly Cats

Silly Cats is a 2022 trend of referring to cats as silly animals who are prone to mischief and tomfoolery, and usually involves combining cat images with captions containing the word in image macros. Launched by memes such as "Me in My Silly Little Bed" and Bleh Cat, the format is a part of the larger "Being Silly / Too Silly" meme archetype.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References