Copper Wiring

About

Copper Wiring, also known more generally as Copper Memes, refers to an ironic concept in various memes that centers on stealing copper wire or other copper goods and materials from homes, junkyards and people due to its value and ease of resale. Although it's been referenced in memes as early as 2014, it wasn't until 2020 that the concept took off en masse, populating platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Reddit. The trend also relates heavily to Balkan Memes and Schizoposting.

Origin

Metal Theft

Metal theft is a crime that involves the stealing of items purely for the value of their constituent metals or scrap.^[1] It has been prevalent in global culture since the 1990s, coinciding with the rise of industrialization that made scrap metals like gold, silver, copper, aluminum, brass and bronze more valuable and prevalent over time. According to Wikipedia, scrap metal sold for $77 a ton in 2001. By 2008, it hit nearly $500 a ton.

In 2007, the Californian government, according to Wikipedia, suspected that metal theft was on the rise because it was funding drug addicts' habits who found it easy to steal and flip. In 2014, it was reported that scrap metal theft cost the U.S. government roughly $1 billion annually according to the Department of Energy.^[2] One of the most prominent metals that's consistently stolen is copper, mostly in the form of copper wiring, tubing or plumbing and pipes.

Memes About Stealing Copper Wiring

The earliest known joke made online about stealing copper wiring coincided with the increased attention that metal theft, in general, received in 2012 due to multiple thefts that were reported that year. As an example, the first user on Twitter to make a joke about stealing copper wiring was Twitter^[3] user Cool_Jesse, whose tweet included the concept of having copper wiring being an attractive trait to include in a sext. The tweet was posted on May 5th, 2012, and it received six likes over 10 years (shown below).

Spread

The concept became more prevalent on Twitter going into the rest of 2012. For instance, on August 13th that year, Twitter^[4] user guymessages posted a tweet that read, "i would like to take you to ruby tuesdays to make up for stealing the copper wiring from your house. Give me another chance girl," earning 15 likes and 23 retweets over 10 years (shown below, left). On April 1st, 2013, Twitter^[5] user Blarebare posted a tweeted reading, "Girl, I'll steal your heart like it was copper wiring," earning 11 likes over the course of nine years (shown below, right).

Stealing copper wiring continued to trend on Twitter going into the rest of the 2010s, however, it was popularized en masse in 2020 after Twitter^[6] user trrvvb posted a meme on October 7th, 2020, that aligned with Schizoposting and fell under the umbrella of As a Kid / As An Adult memes. The meme (shown below) received roughly 7,900 likes over the course of two years.

Stealing copper wiring memes appeared in more abundance going into the rest of 2020 and 2021, spreading to platforms like Instagram. For instance, on September 13th, 2021, Instagram^[7] account @trevorallenunofficial posted a meme that earned roughly 8,700 likes over the course of four months (shown below, left). On Reddit, multiple copper wiring memes were shared in the now-banned /r/2balkan4you subreddit. For instance, on October 1st, 2021, a meme was shared to /r/2balkan4you^[8] that referenced copper wiring and used the likeness of both the Doomer and Doomer Girl (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References