Bro Explaining

About

Bro Explaining refers to a photograph of a man wearing sunglasses and a Houston Astros shirt talking to a blonde woman in a white top. Circulated since 2011, in March 2020, the image gained popularity as a meme in which the man forces his knowledge about various topics, such as video game lore, onto the woman. In August 2022, a female version of the meme known as Girl Explaining emerged online as a gender-reversed variant of the format.

Origin

On June 7th, 2011, during a baseball game between St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros, FOX Sports Midwest showed a camera shot of a Houston Astros fan talking to a woman in the next seat. On June 8th, 2011, sports blog JoeSportsFan.com^[1][2] posted the image, captioned, "and it was at that point when she realized that his Dad's oil money wasn't worth the bro tales" (shown below).

On June 8th, 2011, sports blog Lobshots^[3] reposted the article and the image. On June 23rd, 2011, the image was reposted to Piximus^[4] as a part of a meme collection. On December 21st, 2011, the meme was posted to /r/funny^[5] subreddit, gaining over 1,300 upvotes.

It has been speculated that the man in the photograph is former American football quarterback Tony Romo, and that the woman is singer Jessica Simpson or model Joy Trimble.

Spread

In the following years, the meme was widely circulated online; however, the format did not see further spread. On March 2nd, 2020, Instagram^[6] user MasiPopal posted a meme based on the image in which the man tells the woman that you cannot die from the coronavirus unless you are already sick. The meme received over 35,000 likes in ten days.

On March 2nd, 2020, MasiPopal's meme was reposted to 9GAG,^[7] where it received over 10,400 points in ten days.

On March 3rd, 2020, Facebook^[8] group South Sask Kart Club posted the earliest known derivative of the format (shown below, left). On March 6th, Facebook^[9] group Nationwide Productions posted a meme that received over 600 reactions and 1,100 shares in five days (shown below, right).

On March 6th, 2020, Twitter^[10] user @KeefLynch tweeted the photograph, writing "What is he saying to her?" A March 7th reply by @DanyAllstar15^[8] gained over 240 retweets and 3,400 likes (shown below, left). A March 8th meme about Mortal Kombat by Twitter^[11] user @nanchoinventado received over 500 retweets and 4,000 likes (shown below, right).

In the following days, the format in which the "bro" forced his knowledge about various topics onto the woman gained a significant presence in meme communities on Facebook, as well as on Twitter.

Related Memes

Girl Explaining / Bro Girl

Girl Explaining, also known as Girl Bro Explaining or simply Bro Girl, is a photo of a woman at a concert appearing to loudly talk to a guy with a blank expression while wrapping one arm around him and gesturing off towards the distance in the direction of the camera. The reaction image appeared in early 2019 in Spanish-speaking meme circles and is typically used to circulate female-themed versions of the Bro Explaining meme with the genders swapped.

Milk Edinburgh

Milk Edinburgh, sometimes called Guy Explaining, is a photo of a man shouting into a woman's ear at a dance club. The image was shared online with captions imagining the man saying something that would make the woman appear bored. The photo was taken at Milk, a dance club in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was shared in memes with the club's logo on the photograph, hence the meme's name "Milk Edinburgh."

John Silver Explaining to Anna Jay

John Silver Explaining to Anna Jay refers to a series of image caption memes based on a still image of wrestler John Silver talking to wrestler Anna Jay, who is looking away while bulging her eyes, as if the topic Silver is talking about is weirding her out or she's trying to escape. The image, which originates from an episode of the "Being The Elite" YouTube series, gained virality on Twitter in February 2022, being used similarly to the Bro Explaining format.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References