About

I'm So is the beginning of a phrase popularized on Facebook and Twitter which goes on to explain why the user is such a stereotypical citizen of their city.

Origin

On September 12th, 2009, Twitter user Owtlaw^[1] sent out a tweet introducing the hashtag #imsomephis, which went on to explain why he is a prime example of someone from Memphis, Tennessee.

Spread

On July 17th, 2014, the first entry for "I'm so (fill in city)" was added to Urban Dictionary^[7] by user Benny Blue2 who defined it as:

"It's pretty much an attention starved individual stating that they're proud of being from said city, and stating so by explaining that they are legit by either knowing of an old landmark that has been torn down or may still exist or by taking part in dumb ass past times which would most definitely get you arrested, or by reminiscing about past times, or phrases that no one uses or cares to take part in.

Also on July 17th, Deadline Detroit^[2] published an article titled "Detroiters Reach Back to Tell on Social Media: 'I'm So Detroit I …" which highlighted a trend of people using the phrase "I'm so Detroit" to explain their affinity for the city on Facebook, as well using the hashtag #imsodetroit to express the same sentiment on Twitter. Though the hashtag #imsodetroit was introduced by Twitter user GQue5050^[3] on December 10th, 2009, shortly after the introduction of #imsomemphis, the Deadline Detroit article marked a the beginning of a push for local sites to cover the spreading trend. On July 21st, the trend was covered by Chicago Now^[6] and on July 22nd, the trend was covered for their respective cities by Alabama Media^[4] and HotToddy^[5] (Oxford).

Notable Examples

External References