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I Ain't Exactly / But I Ain't Exactly
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About
I Ain't Exactly / But I Ain't Exactly refers to an exploitable image of a mischievous looking cartoon character standing next to text reading, "I ain't exactly," then a phrase or a word, followed by, "but I ain't exactly," and another related word or phrase. For example, "I ain't exactly canceled, but I ain't exactly not canceled."
Origin
On an unknown date in 2014, Igor Zakowski uploaded a stock image of an orange cartoon man with a large nose grinning mischievously and rubbing his hands together, titled, "Cartoon Illustration of Funny Mischievous Guy Character" (shown below) to Alamy[1] and GL STock[2] under another title.
On August 9th, 2019, /u/tgentry02 posted an image to /r/popheadscirclejerk[3] referring to an alleged cancellation of musician Melanie Martinez featuring Zakowski's cartoon colored completely green standing next to text reading, "I ain't exactly cancelled, but I ain't exactly not cancelled" garnering over 274 upvotes in a year a and a half (shown below). That same year, DankSpaghetti began selling merchandise on Red Bubble[4] featuring the same image. It's unknown who created the image.
Spread
On January 8th, 2021, @sarahlugor tweeted[5] the "I'm not cancelled" image with the phrase edited to read, "I ain't exactly horny, but I ain't exactly not horny" garnering over 41,800 likes and 4,700 retweets in a month (shown below). This increased interest in the format and inspired new versions. The image was reposted to /r/TooMeIrlForMeIrl[6] on January 13th, garnering 5,900 upvotes in just over 3 weeks.
On February 1st, @virafied tweeted[7] a new version of the meme, garnering over 64,700 likes and 15,000 retweets in a week (shown below, left). On the same day, @obsessedwithcatboys posted a collection of 7 original "I Ain't Exactly" memes to Instagram[8] (example shown below, right) garnering over 17,400 likes in the same span of time.
On February 2nd,@_justwinnie tweeted,[10] "my response to rene descartes" along with a version of the meme reading, "I don't exactly think, therefore I ain't exactly," referencing the philosopher René Descartes, "I think therefore I am" philosophy, garnering over 139,000 likes and 25,900 retweets in 6 days (shown below). The image was re-posted to Tumblr[11] on February 3rd, garnering over 4,900 notes in a comparable span of time.
On February 5th, StayHipp[9] published an entry on the meme.
Template
Various Examples
Search Interest
N/A
External References
[1] Alamy – Cartoon Illustration of Funny Mischievous Guy Character – Image ID: DX6WAM
[2] GL Stock – Mischievous Guy Cartoon Illustration
[3] Reddit – Melanie Martinez
[4] Red Bubble – I ain't exactly cancelled
[5] Twitter – @sarahlugor
[6] Reddit – TooMeIrlForMeIrl
[8] Instagram – obssessedwithcatboys
[9] StayHipp – ‘I AIN’T EXACTLY BUT I AIN’T EXACTLY’ MEMES
[10] Twitter – my response to rene descartes
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