About

[Intensifies] is an Internet slang term that is typically used in audio descriptive image macros and vibrating GIFs to denote a drastic build-up of a particular action, opinion or sentiment in progress.

Origin

In Season 5 Episode 4 of the television drama series Breaking Bad, the protagonist Walter White and his son Walter Jr. rev their car engines while the closed caption reads "[revving intensifies]". On December 27th, 2012, an image macro featuring the Gorilla Munch cereal mascot with the caption "Rustling Intensifies" (shown below) was posted to the /tv/ (Television & Film) board on 4chan^[7] in response to the television crime drama series The Wire being called "a cop show."

Spread

On April 6th, 2013, the Tumblr blog Cinco Family^[1] highlighted a screenshot of Paul Rudd from a sketch on The Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! with the caption "[music intensifies]" (shown below). Within five months, the post gained over 700 notes. On July 2nd, Redditor vetro submitted a vibrating GIF to the /r/mylittlepony^[3] subreddit, featuring an illustration of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic characters Applejack and Rarity with the caption "scrunching intensifies" (shown below, right). In the first two months, the post received more than 1,000 up votes and 75 comments.

On July 15th, Redditor Flareboy323 submitted a vibrating GIF of the Doge Shiba Inu with the caption “wow intensifies” (shown below, left) to the /r/SuperShibe^[5] subreddit. More than two weeks later on July 31st, the same GIF was posted to the /sp/ (Sports) board on 4chan.^[4] On September 13th, a vibrating GIF featuring the famous portrait of French philosopher René Descartes was posted on the /vp/ (Pokemon) board on 4chan.^[6]

Google Map Points

On April 8th, 2019, Redditor Henrique_username posted a screen shot of the Google Maps query "Where can I have tea?" to /r/dankmemes^[8]. The image features countless points on the map. The post received 15,900 points (98% upvoted) in two days (shown below, left). On April 9th Redditors began using similar map formats including "intensifies" in the post caption. Redditor og-lollercopter posted a map of locations where one can buy a gun to /r/dankmemes^[9] (shown below right). The caption says "[Freedom intensifies]" The post garnered 56,700 points (93% upvoted) in a day.

Redditor TopDEXTA posted a point riddled image of Australia with the caption "[WILDLIFE INTENSIFIES]" to /r/dankmemes^[10](shown below, left). The post accumulated 1,400 points (98% upvoted) in a day. The same day, Redditor PAWAAAR- received 59 points (97% upvoted) on their "[Sweet Home Alabama intensifies]" image posted to /r/dankmemes^[11] (shown below, right).

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References