Copium

About

Copium is a portmanteau of the words "cope" and "opium" used to describe a fictional drug to help one deal with loss. It is frequently used in a meme featuring Pepe the Frog hooked to an oxygen tank labeled "copium."

Origin

On June 17th, 2003, rapper Keak da Sneak released the album "Copium" in the United States.^[1] It is the earliest known usage of the word (shown below).

On March 30th, 2018, an anonymous 4chan ^[7] user posted the word in the /int/ board (shown below).

Spread

On July 5th, 2019, a 4chan^[8] anonymous user on the /pol/ board posted a meme of Pepe the Frog huffing copium from a tank (shown below).

In 2020, the meme featuring Pepe the Frog hooked to a tank labeled "copium" became a popular reaction image macro meme online. One of the earliest known uses of the meme was posted on June 26, 2020 by 9GAG ^[2] user stefanlinkoln (shown below).

On August 6th, 2020, Redditor ^[3] bananagan123 shared the meme in the /r/LoveForLandlords subreddit, where it received more than 1,200 points (905% upvoted) in less than one year (shown below, left).

The following month, YouTuber Vaush tweeted ^[4] the meme with the caption, "Trump rn." The post received more than 2,100 likes and 125 retweets in less than two months (shown below, center).

The following week, Twitter^[5] user @EverydayBastiat shared the meme, adding a Make America Great Again hat (shown below, right).

On October 3rd, 2020, Urban Dictionary ^[6] user enterprise1701 defined the term as "a metaphorical opiate inhaled when faced with loss, failure or defeat, especially in sports, politics and other tribal settings." The post received more than 135 upvotes in less than two months (shown below).

Search Interest

External References