Can You Watch Him While I Go Smoke?

About

Can You Watch Him While I Go Smoke? or Can You Watch Her While I Go Smoke? refers to a catchphrase used on Twitter to caption memetic characters and image macros pretending that they are a child who needs to be watched while the caretaker goes and smokes weed or cigarettes. The phrase was first coined in early 2020.

Origin

On April 17th, 2020, Twitter^[1] user TheBreyKeys tweeted, "Can you watch her while I go smoke," captioning a screencap of the horror movie Orphan (shown below, left). The tweet received only one quote retweet, however, it is the first known use of the catchphrase. The next day, April 18th, 2020, Twitter^[2] user mywholeass tweeted, "can u watch him while i go smoke," captioning an image of Petscop and receiving three likes in two years. A few hours later on April 18th, 2020, Twitter^[3] user huntypilled tweeted a photo of a monkey dressed like a schoolboy, captioning it, "Can you watch him while I go smoke," and received roughly 1,000 likes in two years (shown below, right).

Spread

The catchphrase received mass usage within semi-viral tweets going into the remainder of 2020, however, it peaked in usage on June 16th, 2021, when Twitter^[4] user cryb0i used the catchphrase with an image of a frog tied to a bathroom stall, gaining roughly 274,100 likes in 16 months (shown below, left). It should be noted, however, that on October 23rd, 2020, Twitter^[5] user PainxPiss posted the meme first, gaining over 100 likes in two years (shown below, right).

Continuing into 2022, the phrase received increased usage. For instance, on October 1st, 2022, Twitter^[6] user whotfisjovana used the catchphrase for a cow on a skateboard, gaining over 7,000 likes in six days (shown below, left). On October 5th, 2022, Twitter^[7] user huntichon paired it with a human-boyish dog, gaining roughly 42,500 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References