Curse of the Nile

About

Curse of the Nile is a hieroglyphics copypasta that's a variant of the Curse of Ra copypasta, Amharic Curse copypasta and the Pharaoh's Curse meme. The copypasta surfaced in late 2023, often paired with a variant of L + Ratio reading, "L + dont care + CURSE OF THE NILE ‼️ ‼️" The copypasta was started by an Instagram comment from a user named wagadoogado in late August 2023.

Origin

On August 31st, 2023, Tumblr^[1] user cursedpinterest posted a screenshot of a currently unknown Instagram comment section showing one user (e) saying, "I'm pretty sure those are fake hieroglyphics I'm not sure though," and another user (wagadoogado) replying a week later with the copypasta:

L + dont care + CURSE OF THE NILE ‼️ ‼️
𓀔𓀇𓀅𓀋𓀡𓀡𓀕𓀠𓀧𓀨𓀣𓀷𓀷𓀿𓀿𓁀𓁶𓁰
𓁴𓁿𓂀𓁾𓁵𓁯𓂞𓂤𓂗𓃃𓂾𓂺𓂹
𓃞𓃙𓃖𓃓𓃕𓃓𓃜𓃘𓃙𓃟𓃛𓃞
𓂺𓃂𓂿𓂺𓃃𓃂𓂛𓂏𓅱𓅥𓅩𓅦
𓅹𓅸𓅳𓅩𓅪𓄭𓄫𓄮𓄬𓄗𓄑𓄌𓃦
𓃧𓃨𓃤𓃟𓃓𓃅𓃁𓂽𓃂𓂊𓁾𓂀𓁽
𓁼𓁠𓁛𓁟𓁦𓁜𓁭𓁡𓀔𓀇𓀅𓀋𓀡𓀡𓀕𓀠𓀧𓀨𓀣
𓀷𓀷𓀿𓀿𓁀𓁶𓁰𓁴𓁿𓂀𓁾𓁵𓁯𓂞𓂤𓂗
𓃃𓂾𓂺𓂹𓃞𓃙𓃖𓃓𓃕𓃓𓃜
𓃘𓃙𓃟𓃛𓃞𓂺𓃂𓂿𓂺𓃃𓃂
𓂛𓂏𓅱𓅥𓅩𓅦𓅹𓅸𓅳𓅩𓅪𓄭𓄫𓄮
𓄬𓄗𓄑𓄌𓃦𓃧𓃨𓃤𓃟𓃓𓃅𓃁
𓂽𓃂𓂊𓁾𓂀𓁽𓁼𓁠𓁛𓁟𓁦𓁜𓁭𓁡𓀔𓀇𓀅
𓀋𓀡𓀡𓀕𓀠𓀧𓀨𓀣𓀷𓀷𓀿𓀿𓁀𓁶𓁰𓁴𓁿
𓂀𓁾𓁵𓁯𓂞𓂤𓂗𓃃𓂾𓂺𓂹𓃞𓃙
𓃖𓃓𓃕𓃓𓃜𓃘𓃙𓃟𓃛𓃞𓂺𓃂

The screenshot (shown below) gained over 490 notes in 19 days on Tumblr.^[1]

Spread

The screenshot quickly spread online, such as in a photo slideshow posted by TikToker^[2] @area69___ on September 4th, 2023. Then, the image was shared in a more viral slideshow posted by TikToker^[3] @gamernutts on September 5th, gaining roughly 648,500 plays and 105,600 likes in two weeks.

On September 15th, 2023, X/Twitter^[4] user @EverythingOOC posted a skewed and saturated screenshot of the original Instagram comment, gaining roughly 44,500 likes in four days (shown below).

The skewed and saturated screenshot gained viral reposts on Instagram in the days that followed, such as a post shared by Instagram^[5] user @lilcasper.v2 on September 18th, gaining roughly 153,600 likes in one day. During the same timeframe, videos on TikTok^[6] also started to reference the variant curse.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References