I Wouldn’t Tell Anyone I Won The Lottery, But There Will Be Hints

About

I Wouldn’t Tell Anyone I Won The Lottery, But There Will Be Hints is a catchphrase that's often paired with an image macro or reaction image showing subtle wealth in an otherwise poverty-based setting. Going into 2022, it became a phrasal template in which meme creators replaced keywords to generate different, comedic outcomes. The first known use of the phrase was on Instagram in mid-2021.

Origin

On May 30th, 2021, the Instagram^[1] page 90stothefuture posted a meme that used the catchphrase in Impact font over a picture of a real-life Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles van. Over the course of 11 months, the meme received roughly 3,500 likes (shown below). Although it's the first known posting, the image was originally made on Imgflip by an unknown creator. Additionally, on the next day, May 31st, 2021, the Facebook^[2] page Books & Brews posted the meme with the top, black bar cropped out.

Spread

Sometime in early June 2021, the Facebook^[3] page Mexicans be like posted a meme that captioned a lobster in a Maruchan brand ramen cup, captioning it, "I wouldn’t tell anyone I won the lottery but there will be hints" (shown below, left). However, the Facebook post has since been deleted. The earliest known repost was made on June 11th, 2021 by Instagram^[4] user bharris8379 who received over 990 likes in 10 months. A "Mexicans Be Like" watermark is visible in the bottom right corner.

On June 15th, 2021, Facebook^[5] page What do you meme? reposted the meme but cropped out its watermark. Their post received roughly 2,100 reactions and 5,700 shares in 10 months (shown below, right).

On July 7th, 2021, Instagram^[6] user fakeyeezyboosts used the catchphrase with a new image macro of a man with many sunglasses, earning roughly 2,000 likes in nine months (shown below, left). On July 11th, 2021, Instagram^[7] user bandmemes6662 posted a version with an image macro of someone adding an extra string to their bass guitar, earning roughly 5,400 likes in nine months (shown below, right).

The catchphrase continued to trend on Instagram going into 2022 and also spread to Twitter. On January 15th, 2022, Twitter^[8] user evvok used the phrase to caption a photo of a simple meal with one large squid, earning roughly 9,100 likes in three months (shown below, left).

Additionally, the phrase started to morph into a snowclone in early 2022. As an example, on April 25th, 2022, the Instagram^[9] page babayagabiscuits posted a meme that had text reading, "I won't tell anyone that I've found religion but there will be hints," earning roughly 4,200 likes in two days (shown below, right).

'If I Won The Lottery, I Wouldn't Tell Anyone, But There Would Be Signs" TikTok Trend

In January and February of 2024, a version of the catchphrase circulated widely on TikTok as a viral trend. While early postings of a variant of the catchphrase from 2021 and 2022 exist on TikTok, the earliest posts (with the slightly altered language) come from January of 2024, with a high number of them made in the middle of February that same year. Users posted slideshows where the first picture was of themselves and the subsequent pictures were of products they would buy if they were to win the lottery. For example, @allison.private4 received over 5.5 million views and 913,000 likes in a week for a February 19th post in the trend (seen below left).^[10] @noah.beck also posted a version of the TikTok, earning over 10.4 million views and 1.4 million likes in six days on February 20th.^[11]

As the trend become more popular, larger accounts and brands began to participate, facing some backlash. For example, after @noah.beck posted his version, some commenters pushed back (seen below). Others took issue with posts in the trend made by Charlie Puth, Alyssa Violet and an account associated with Taylor Swift's PR operation.^[12]

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

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External References