Krill Yourself / Krill Issue / Krill Puns

Content Warning: Portions of this entry make mention of suicide, which some may find difficult or upsetting. If you need support or are dealing with suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's website or call 1-800-273-8255.

About

Krill Yourself is an algospeak slang expression that combines the suggestion to kill oneself with the I'm One in a Krillion meme format. The expression and memes based on it first achieved online virality in March 2023 together with other krill memes.

Origin

On March 8th, 2023, during the initial virality of the I Am One in a Krillion meme from the 2011 film Happy Feet 2, Instagram user koro.milks posted a screenshot of a story poll in which the poll creator asked about a humorous hypothetical situation in which the krill suggested the reader to "krill" themselves. The post (shown below) received over 670 likes on Instagram^[1] in roughly five months (original author unknown).

Prior to March 20th, an unknown user posted a still image of two krill shrimps staring intently captioned "Ermmmmm, krill yourself?" The image, which borrowed the structure from the Erm… What the Deuce meme format, saw viral spread in late March and April 2023 with multiple reposts on iFunny,^[2][3] Reddit^[4] and other sites, being used as a reaction. For example, an April 21st, post by Redditor memerman69-nice in the /r/okbuddyretard^[4] subreddit gained over 8,300 upvotes in three months.

Spread

In the following months, the portmanteau saw viral spread online, with users sharing reaction GIFs and images featuring it. For example, on April 2nd, 2023, Redditor f1shb01 posted a meme that received over 770 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard^[5] four months (shown below, left). On April 14th, Twitter^[6] user @DACLIUM posted an edited version of a Man Breaking Chains meme^[7] that gained over 2,000 retweets and 8,800 likes in four months (shown below, right).

The phrase maintained online popularity as algospeak and as a reaction image format in the following months, sometimes being used in combination with the You Should Kill Yourself… Now! meme format.

Related Memes

I Am One in a Krillion

I Am One in A Krillion is a catchphrase and viral video of a scene from Happy Feet 2 in which a krill denies that he looks the same as the other krill, saying, "There's only one of me in all the world. I am one in a krillion." The scene was uploaded to YouTube in 2012 and became the subject of memes in late March throughout April 2023 on sites like Twitter and TikTok.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References