Boy Math / Girl Math
Part of a series on Girl Dinner. [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
Girl Math and Boy Math are slang terms referring to a series of jokes that were popularized on TikTok and Twitter / X in the summer of 2023 about how women and men fudge or misvalue certain goods or statistics, such as women using wonky math to justify a purchase or men overstating their height through myriad caveats.
Origin
On August 2nd, 2023, TikToker samjamessssss[1] posted a video in which she discussed the phenomenon of "Girl Math" after Girl Dinner was popularized on the app. Her video joked about the wonky math some women use to justify purchases, including "Anything under five dollars feels free" and "If you return an item for $50 and then spend $100 on another item, it's like only spending $50." The video gained over 629,000 likes in six weeks (shown below).
@samjamessssss just girl things #girldinner #girlmath ♬ original sound – samjamess
Spread
Over the following month, others on TikTok and Twitter joked about the concept of "girl math" as it spread online. For example, on August 15th, 2023, TikToker @danielasotohealth posted a video about the trend, gaining over 151,000 likes in five weeks (shown below, left). On September 7th, TikToker @casandra.mazzucco posted a video explaining how she and her friend justified their purchases with "girl math," gaining over 2 million likes in three weeks (shown below, right).
@danielasotohealth Girl math makes me feel seen 🥹#greenscreen #girlmath #girlmaths ♬ original sound – dani 🤍
@casandra.mazzucco justifying our purchases with GIRL MATH 🧐🥲 #girlmath ♬ original sound – CAS MAZZUCCO
The rise of the trend led to articles in several news publications in August and September 2023, including BuzzFeed,[2] The Washington Post[3] and The Independent.[4]
Boy Math
Shortly after the rise of "Girl Math," several commenters, particularly on Twitter / X, began hypothesizing about "Boy Math" as a response. On August 16th, 2023, Twitter user @BowTieBernard[5] joked that "Boy Math" centers around buying items in bulk to save money in the long run, gaining over 60 retweets and 660 likes in roughly one month (shown below).
Starting in mid-September 2023, jokes about more irrational forms of "boy math" began growing popular. For example, on September 14th, Twitter user @_1ivvi[6] joked about how men use "Boy Math" to inflate their height to 6', gaining over 1,000 retweets and 15,000 likes in 12 days (shown below, top). On September 25th, user @LaCienegaBlvdss[7] posted a child support-focused example of "boy math," gaining over 3,400 retweets and 14,000 likes in one day (shown below, bottom).
Various Examples
@thebobmarleyy im crying #swiftok #swiftie #taylorswift #girlmath ♬ original sound – marley brown (taylors version)
@ongsquad Girl Math FTW #MomsOfTikTok #GirlMom #GirlMath #McDonaldsFries #MommyDaughter ♬ original sound – Ong Squad
@mckennaelianna somehow it makes sense #girlmath ♬ original sound – kenna 📚🍷
@_arianarosado it was actually only $6 but whatever #girlmath ♬ original sound – ariana
Search Interest
Unavailable.
External References
[1] TikTok – @samjamessssss
[2] Buzzfeed – You've Heard Of "Girl Dinner," But This TikToker Just Brought Up "Girl Math" And It's Probably The Most Accurate Thing I've Ever Heard
[3] Washington Post – ‘Girl math’ is fun, but don’t let it fool you
[4] The Independent – Teenager attempts to explain ‘girl math’ to her father ‘Money in my app, it’s free’
[5] Twitter – BowTiedBernard
[7] Twitter – LaCienegaBlvdss
Related Entries 1 total
Recent Videos
There are no videos currently available.
