About

"Genuinely" refers to the memetic use of the adverb "genuinely" in video caption memes on TikTok and Instagram Reels, playing on the word's ubiquity and exaggerative function. Commonly written in all-caps like "GENUINELY" to humorously emphasize its use, the word was integral to a Slang Overload series that developed in late 2025 that paired it with other buzzwords like Chicago Drill Reverse Edit, Wabi Sabi and Turks and Caicos, all stemming from the "Reach Flow State" snowclone. Its original memetic use on TikTok roughly traces back to the Me Genuinely Tweaking meme from 2023, and to online AAVE in general, largely manifesting in GIFTok and JuggTok video caption posts.

The satirical overuse of "Genuinely" notably mutated in November 2025, leading to variant terms like "Lowkeuinely," a portmanteau of "lowkey" and "genuinely," and the use of its synonyms like "sincerely." Commenters also often called out the use of "genuinely" in videos by sharing a stock image of a "cherry on top."

Origin

Memetic use of the word "genuinely" can be traced back to the term's use in 2023 in the "Me Genuinely Tweaking" snowclone and phrasal template, which used the word to emphasize the verb "tweaking," a slang term synonymous with "freaking out."

The first-known memetic use of the snowclone on TikTok was shared by TikToker^[1] @awtree (formerly @nfbofficial) on February 18th, 2023. The video caption post shows a character "genuinely [tweaking]" when his car won't start after taking a "rhino pill" for male sexual enhancement. Over two years, the video received over 366,600 likes.

Spread

In the following months, the Me Genuinely Tweaking snowclone spread on TikTok. Many used the Animatronic Tweaking video as the background for video caption memes.

The snowclone then spread across social media, such as on November 11th, 2023, when Twitter / X ^[2] user @FUTCHZ1LLA tweeted a GIF caption post, using a GIF from rapper Mario Judah's "Die Very Rough" video, adding a caption that joked about an Overwatch teammate spamming "I need healing!" Over two years, the tweet gained over 4,100 likes.

Memetic use of "genuinely" resurfaced en masse in late October and early November 2025. For instance, on October 21st, 2025, TikToker^[3] @.c0dee._ shared a Playboi Carti video caption meme, reading, "When you're talking to yo hb and get into unethical goons and he genuinely starts listing the most insane things so then you genuinely question why you fw this nga." Over one month, the video received over 195,400 likes.

On November 13th, TikToker^[4] @the.great.gooner4 shared a video caption meme using clips of coal mining, paired with a caption that used "genuinely" several times for comedic effect, reading, "Genuinely how it feels when you're Genuinely at the doctor and they Genuinely ask you what hurts but the ChatGPT servers are Genuinely down." Over 13 days, the video garnered over 142,200 likes.

On November 21st, 2025, TikToker^[5] @ess.ey shared a Slang Overload video caption meme that referenced Chicago Drill Reverse Edits and the term Wabi Sabi. Over five days, the post gained over 16,400 likes.

On November 25th, TikToker^[6] @spobloo shared a Chicago Drill Reverse Edit meme that swapped "genuinely" with "sincerely" and added a trademark symbol to the word. The video's caption also referenced the Quarter Zip Dude and Reach Flow State trends. The meme gained over 126,300 likes in a day.

Related Memes

Lowkenuinely

Lowkenuinely, also spelled as Lowkeuinely, refers to a portmanteau of the words "lowkey" and "genuinely," which was coined in November 2025 as a reaction to the Slang Overload use of the latter.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References