About

Chonk is an internet slang term used to describe overweight cats that grew popular in the late summer of 2018 after a photoshopped chart of cat body-fat indexes renamed the "Chonk" scale grew popular on Twitter and Reddit. Additionally, "Oh Lawd He Comin'," the final level of the Chonk Chart, was adopted as an online catchphrase used to describe large objects, animals or people. It is not to be confused with the Saturday Night Live sketch of the same name.

Origin

The term "Chonk" was popularized in a photoshopped edit of a chart illustrating cat body-fat indexes and the risk of health problems for each class (original chart shown below).

The first known post of the "Chonk" photoshop, which classifies each cat to a certain level of "chonk"-ness ranging from "A fine boi" to "OH LAWD HE COMIN," was posted to Facebook group THIS CAT IS C H O N K Y on August 2nd, 2018 by Emilie Chang (shown below).

Spread

The chart surged in popularity after it was tweeted by @dreamlandtea^[1] on August 10th, 2018, gaining over 37,000 retweets and 94,000 likes (shown below).

After the chart was posted there, it began growing popular on Reddit. It was reposted to /r/Delighfullychubby^[2] on August 13th, 2018, and /r/fatcats on August 16th.^[3] Additionally, cats were shared with variations on the phrase "Chonk." In @dreamlandtea's Twitter thread, she rated several cats on the Chonk scale (example, shown below, left). On /r/tumblr, a screenshot of a post featuring a "good luck cat" titled "Lucky Chonk" gained over 27,000 points (shown below, right).

The popularity of the phrase led to the creation of a subreddit, /r/chonkers,^[4] that gained nearly 400 subscribers in less than a month. Some photoshops of the chonk chart also spread on Reddit. For example, an edit showing various versions of Pikachu on the chart posted to /r/me_irl gained over 1,200 points (shown below, left). The chart gained further popularity when it was posted to /r/pics^[5] September 29th, 2018. The poster claimed one of their coworkers at a vet clinic put the chart in their office, gaining over 13,000 points (shown below, right).

Oh Lawd He Comin'

As the chart grew in popularity, the final level of "Chonk," known as "Oh Lawd He Comin," became a frequently-used caption and catchphrase for images of large animals and objects online, both facetiously and sincerely. For examples, on October 4th, 2018, Twitter^[6] user @dgahk captioned an image of a kitten with the phrase. The post received more than 64,000 retweets and 171,000 likes in less than two months (shown below, left).

However, animals and objects other than cats were also labeled "Oh Lawd He Comin." For examples, Twitter^[7] user @homo_cidal tweeted an image of a lizard with the caption (shown below, center). Twitter^[8] user @TheJWittz tweeted a video of the Pokémon Snorlax with the caption. The post received more than 1,500 retweets and 10,000 likes in less than one week (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References