Bill and Phil / I Have a Better Idea
Part of a series on Captioned Stock Photos. [View Related Entries]
This submission is currently being researched & evaluated!
You can help confirm this entry by contributing facts, media, and other evidence of notability and mutation.
About
"I Have a Better Idea", also known as Bill and Phil, is a captioned stock photo series in which two people discuss coining a new term, which typically includes a name pun joke followed by the sentence "I have a better idea."
Origin
On April 6th, 2015, the @InternetHippo[8] Twitter feed posted a mock dialogue in which a man named Phil proposes they call a giant advertising board a "philboard," followed by a man named Bill saying "I have a better idea" (shown below). Within two years, the tweet gained over 20,000 likes and 12,000 retweets.
On August 18th, 2016, a stock photograph of two men captioned with the mock dialogue was submitted to /r/youdontsurf,[1] garnering 13,500 votes (91% upvoted) and 100 comments over the next five months (shown below).
Spread
On September 17th, 2016, the /r/BillAndPhil[2] subreddit was launched for the captioned stock photos. On September 19th, /r/BillAndPhil[4] user Danchekker posted a captioned version of the School of Athens painting, featuring a name pun based on the word "philosophy" (shown below, left). On September 24th, Redditor buttwarmers posted a stock photo of two women joking about curing depression with genocide and suicide (shown below, right).[6]
On November 21st, Redditor doowi1 posted a stock photo of two men named Bill and Buil, who discuss what to call a building (shown below, left). On December 5th, Redditor cheesinator posted a stock photo of two men in lab coats named Robert and Ethan, in which they coin the name for ethanol (shown below, right).[5]
On December 12th, the original "philboard" image macro was reposted on Break,[3] where it gained over 277,000 views in two months. On January 25th, Redditor Eloykwik referred to the series as "Robert/Ethan memes," claiming they were seeing a "dramatic drop" on /r/memeeconomy.[9]
Various Examples
Search Interest
Not available.
External References
[1] Reddit – Giant advertising boards committee presents
[2] Reddit – /r/BillAndPhil
[3] Break via Wayback Machine – Tanks Worst Memes of the Week
[4] Reddit – Bill and Phil get intellectual
[5] Reddit – New kind of fuel
[6] Reddit – Jen and Sue cure depression
[7] Reddit – Where did the Bill and Phil meme come from?
[8] Twitter – @InternetHippo
[9] Reddit – Robert/Ethan memes having a dramatic drop
[10] Reddit – Theyre revolutionizing architecture
Related Entries 7 total
Recent Videos
There are no videos currently available.
Top Comments
Youyou Meme
Jan 25, 2017 at 08:44PM EST
Snickerway
Jan 25, 2017 at 04:38PM EST