About

Bite the Curb, also known as Biting the Curb, is a catchphrase said before curb-stomping someone, making the victim open their mouth around a concrete or sidewalk curb before stomping their jaw and teeth down onto it. The idea of biting the curb became a meme on TikTok in 2024, coinciding with a Bite the Curb Video that's a scene from the 1998 film American History X (where the term originates). Bite the Curb memes made light of the brutal act by recreating curb stomps with dolls and animations, posing situations in which one must choose between biting the curb and some other difficult task (the latter of which is always chosen by the meme's subject) or using the phase like an IYKYK.

Origin

The term "bite the curb" was coined in the 1998 movie American History X when the character Derek Vinyard, a neo-Nazi (played by actor Edward Norton), makes a Black character (Lawrence) bite the curb before curb-stomping him and killing him.^[1]

The scene inspired real-life neo-Nazis to copycat the killing, dating back to 2002.^[2] A "bite the curb" scene was also included in the last season of The Sopranos, committed by Tony Soprano.^[3]

Definitions for "bite the curb" were added to Urban Dictionary ^[4] as early as March 2003 (shown below).

Spread

Posts about biting the curb surfaced on Reddit's /r/funny^[5] in the early 2010s, however, none gained viral engagement. The first known viral post to reference the phrase was shared by X^[6] user @TylerIAm on April 25th, 2020, referencing an NFL player, gaining over 1,500 likes in four years (shown below, left).

On October 13th, 2021, webcomic artist Gryzloko posted a Super Mario comic about biting the curb to /r/funny^[7] receiving over 52,000 upvotes in three years (shown below, right).

The concept of biting the curb became most known on TikTok in early 2024, following multiple viral videos that made light of the brutal act. An early, viral example was a video posted by TikToker^[8] @officialronfromnowhere on March 21st, 2024, who joked about getting jumped and hearing one of his attackers suggest biting the curb, gaining over 1.2 million plays and 134,800 likes in two weeks (shown below, left).

On March 25th, 2024, TikToker^[9] @alexysoleke posted a video in which she said that she looked up a "bite the curb vid" (likely the American History X scene), gaining over 5.2 million plays and 298,100 likes in 10 days (shown below, right).

More humorous iterations followed going into early April 2024, like a recreation of biting the curb made with Sour Patch Kids, posted by TikToker^[10] @offbrandmexican08 on March 29th, gaining over 2.4 million plays and 254,300 likes in six days (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References