About

I Would Simply refers to a snowclone popular on Twitter in which a person presents a hypothetical problem then states "I would simply" perform an ostensibly simple solution that in actuality requires a great deal of effort.

Origin

On January 3rd, 2017, Twitter user @prawn_meat^[1] tweeted "if i ever fell in some quicksand i would simply thrash around until i was out. it's that simple." The tweet gained over 35 retweets and 200 likes (shown below).

Spread

Over the following months, @prawn_meat continued tweeting with the format. Popular examples include a March18th, 2017^[2] post that gained over 70 retweets and 370 likes (shown below, left) and an August 30th tweet^[3] that gained over 200 likes (shown below, right).

The regularity of these tweets inspired others to take on the format. Others include an October 23rd, 2017 tweet by @aynrandy^[4] that gained over 230 retweets and 2,300 likes (shown below, left). A September 23rd, 2018 @randygdub^[5] tweet about Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court Nomination that gained over 2,600 retweets and 23,000 likes (shown below, right).

As of May 2019, the format continues to be popular, particularly on Weird Twitter. On May 13th, user @alex_navarro^[6] tweeted about the upcoming Game of Thrones finale, gaining over 1,600 retweets and 14,000 likes (shown below, left). On May 19th, user @lukeoneil47^[7] tweeted about the recent Milkshake Throwing controversy, gaining over 330 likes (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References