Explain in Basketball Terms meme.

Explain in X Terms

Part of a series on Basketball. [View Related Entries]

Updated Jun 26, 2023 at 05:17PM EDT by Philipp.

Added Dec 09, 2022 at 02:08PM EST by Philipp.

PROTIP: Press 'i' to view the image gallery, 'v' to view the video gallery, or 'r' to view a random entry.

This submission is currently being researched & evaluated!

You can help confirm this entry by contributing facts, media, and other evidence of notability and mutation.

About

Explain in Basketball Terms, also Explain in Fortnite Terms and similar inquiries, is an explanation format that involves a certain event being explained by drawing parallels with a prominent sport or a video game. First gaining virality in comment sections under posts about football and basketball, the inquiry format achieved a significant presence on social media in 2022.

Origin

"Explaining in basketball terms" is an instance of metaphorical explanation in which a parallel is drawn before a situation unknown to a user and a situation in a familiar setting, i.e. basketball. The method of "explaining in basketball terms" has been mentioned online since at least the early 2010s, and likely before that (early Twitter[1][2][3] mentions shown below, left and right).


baboon wife @14Myards Thanks for trying to explain the economy in basketball terms but I don't actually understand basketball either. 9:06 PM Jul 7, 2011 Hannah @hcash19 Apparently all you have to do to teach drunk hannah how another sport works is explain it in basketball terms 9:49 PM Apr 23, 2012

"Explaining in basketball terms" began shaping into a meme format in the spring of 2019, as comments requesting to translate football and baseball news started appearing in replies to news posts by ESPN, Bleacher Report and other sports outlets, with other users replying with such explanations. For example, on March 5th, 2019, Twitter[4] user @NoahK2044 posted such a request, with user @fcknTERRY replying (exchange shown below, left). On March 12th, Twitter[5] user @RayanRayanouti asked to explain American football news in basketball terms, with user @KeyBloo providing an explanation (exchange shown below, right).


B-R Bleacher Report ✪ Official Entering game: Real Madrid 2-1 Ajax After 18 minutes: Real Madrid 2-3 Ajax (aggregate) SIN O 31 @Bleacher Report · Mar 5, 2019 5 tērrÿ @fcknTERRY Fly Emirates LICE 257 ARC Noah K @NoahK2044 Mar 5, 2019 Replying to @Bleacher Report Someone explain in basketball terms please 27 1 ♡ 1,289 5 Replying to @NoahK2044 and @Bleacher Report Real Madrid is playing like the Lakers. 3:24 PM Mar 5, 2019 ↑. ↑ LeadingNFL @LeadingNFL Mar 11, 2019 BREAKING: Tyrann Mathieu has signed a 3-year, $42M deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. WOW. 37 1,284 Rayan @RayanRayanouti · Mar 11, 2019 Replying to @LeadingNFL explain this in basketball terms plz 9 1 27 chwis @KeyBloo Replying to @Rayan Rayanouti and @LeadingNFL Lakers signing klay 12:32 AM Mar 12, 2019 3,312 2 ↑ +] ↑

Through 2020 and early 2020s, the trend developed further, first to include requests to explain sports situations in football (both association and American), and later to translate them to Fortnite and other video games.

Spread

Already in mid-2019, the presence of requests to translate situations in other sports to basketball terms became a subject of mockery. For example, on July 14th, 2019, the news account @FadeawayWorld posted a tweet[6] calling out the requests as "annoying and embarrassing." The tweet (shown below, left) gained 35 likes in three years.


FW Fadeaway World @FadeawayWorld "Can somebody explain in basketball terms” in the comment section of any other sports post by espn or bleacher report is so annoying and embarrassing 5:00 PM Jul 14, 2019 Jerry Slaphouse @JerrySlaphouse Replying to @Bleacher Report and @brfootball "explain in basketball terms" 5:44 PM Aug 14, 2019

For example, on January 6th, 2020, Twitter[7] user @Q_yoU_Ayee replied to a request with a tweet that gained over 480 retweets and 7,000 likes in three years (shown below, left). On October 4th, 2021, Twitter[8] user @smamitex explained the October 2021 Facebook Outage in football terms, with the tweet gaining over 1,100 retweets and 32,500 likes in one year (shown below, center). On July 8th, 2022, Twitter[9] user @IAMTHESLIME_ commented on the current status of the Elon Musk Twitter Deal by explaining it in Fortnite terms, with the tweet gaining over 90 retweets and 3,000 likes (shown below, right).


Mike @Olmikelaaawry Jan 6, 2020 Shannon Sharpe sent Orlando Scandrick to the man upstairs. UNDISPUTED LIVE 1,106 Tomorrow. Wird's. Ifm-Sud Bowl favorite after wild weekend of games? HAWKIT TO EM 21 13 Eagles lose to Seahawks 17-9 after Cars Wentz exits in 1st Qtr with lead injury Could Philly have won this matchupil Vesitz hadn't left the game? 21.3K Marcus Perez @Markaaaay. Jan 6, 2020 Replying to @Olmikelaaawry can someone explain this in basketball terms t62 Dunder Mifflin This is Qua @Q_you_Ayee 61.4K 545 (→ FS1 : : Replying to @Markaaaay and @Olmikelaaawry You got bought on the team to fix the defensive problem at the point guard position you get 24, 30, 28 ,30 and 40 scored on back to back games they cut you. u talk bad about them on tv cause they lost in the playoffs for the same reason they cut you for but you was no help 2:06 PM Jan 6, 2020 from Chesapeake, VA Now HipHop News *!! Now HipHop News !! @NowHipHopNews Oct 4, 2021 So, someone deleted large sections of the routing....that doesn't mean Facebook is just down, from the looks of it....that means Facebook is GONE. 15K 208 J. @TotalKroos Oct 4, 2021 Replying to @NowHipHopNews_and @BenjaminEnfield explain in football terms Seasonal Spam @spamitex 187.1K 4:01 PM Oct 4, 2021 192K 1 283 4,681 Replying to @TotalKroos and @BenjaminEnfield Football but someone took the football 소 ←] IGN @IGN Jul 8 ✪ Official UPDATE: Twitter is suing Elon Musk. bit.ly/3Rln9f9 IGN @IGN. Jul 8 ✪ Official BREAKING: Elon Musk has officially terminated his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter.ign.com/articles/elon-... 465 dee @slowwaker. Jul 8 Replying to @IGN explain in fortnite terms 10 t 6,464 djb | JUSTICE999 @IAMTHESLIME 8:26 PM Jul 8, 2022 12 32.3K 668 소 : Replying to @slowwaker and @IGN elon musk builds 5 star hotel in 5 seconds but twitter pulls out golden RPG. whether or not elon notices and kills them in time or not is up to the third party making noise

The trend reached significant popularity in 2022, as Fortnite and other popular multiplayer games such as Apex Legends were requested for metaphorical explanations.

Various Examples


R Corn * @upblissed Dec 8 they released a DEMON for a WNBA player ????? SAY CHEESE! @SaycheeseDGTL - Dec 8 Russia frees WNBA player Brittney Griner in prisoner swap, with US releasing Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. 1,540 ballin for ethan @ethanmonke62 Dec 8 Replying to @upblissed explain this in fortnite terms 1 20 5 Ted K fan page @wesuckman t 15.5K 9:55 AM Dec 8, 2022 167.5K 615 Replying to @ethanmonke62 and @upblissed Season 3 john wick traded for a free Christmas skin ⠀ KENNY BEECHAM @KOT4Q. Mar 8 Explain the Russell Wilson trade in NBA terms for me t 1,208 24 87 1,522 TATE'S WRED @TatesBurner Replying to @KOT4Q Lowry to the lakers RS Sun Life S3 1:47 PM Mar 8, 2022 RS 21K (→ : ... Trill Withers @TylerlAm. Dec 4, 2019 If you explain molecular biology to me in terms of basketball "would you rathers" I think I could understand it kyle 10 @knicks_tape99 1 84 1:41 PM · Dec 4, 2019 664 (→ : Replying to @TylerlAm "The mitochondria is a lot like Miami bron"
timthetatman @timthetatman. May 28 can someone explain to me in American football terms what is happening at this Liverpool Madrid game? 182 494 Hunter @StolzeHunter 8,459 3:26 PM · May 28, 2022 企 Replying to @timthetatman Hundreds of Cowboys rushed the entrance at the Super Bowl and now fans are getting pepper sprayed and turned away, wait nvm this makes no sense the Cowboys wouldn't be in the Super Bowl Junior @JrMoneyGetting. Oct 30 halloween is basically 9/11 for n----- in a relationship t 5,084 154 cristian @PapiCristian99 Oct 30 Replying to @JrMoneyGetting I get no hoes explain this to me in fortnite terms 17 20 6 Other Worldy @NxLoveKy 61.1K 4:58 PM Oct 30, 2022 787 ↑ ↑ Replying to @PapiCristian99 and @JrMoneyGetting She's wearing skull trooper and letting multiple squads in her box doing the most unimaginable emotes for them RPN.ETH @rpnickson Sep 3 The Ethereum Merge is almost here and I will explain it in NBA terms. 265 RPN.ETH @rpnickson t 1,015 The merge aims to make Ethereum more efficient by switching to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) from its current Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. Basically Ethereum will soon become Lebron James with a 27.34 career efficiency rating, but is currently Reggie Bullock (9.2 PER) 1:02 AM Sep 3, 2022 3,649 bibigo LAKERS 6 chime DAVERICKS 25 : ...

Search Interest

External References

[1] Twitter – @14Myards

[2] Twitter – @hcash19

[3] Twitter – @angelicaaawho

[4] Twitter – @fcknTERRY

[5] Twitter – @KeyBloo

[6] Twitter – @FadeawayWorld

[7] Twitter – @Q_yoU_Ayee

[8] Twitter – @spamitex

[9] Twitter – @IAMTHESLIME_

Recent Videos

There are no videos currently available.

Recent Images 43 total



+ Add a Comment

Comments (1)


Display Comments

Add a Comment


Word Up! You must login or signup first!