About

Left Exit 12 Off Ramp is a series of exploitables in which a car swerving into an off ramp. On the highway sign, the meme's author photoshops something the author disapproves of and something they would prefer. The car swerves toward the preference.

Origin

The meme is a photoshop composite based on a YouTube video entitled "How to exit freeway like a boss." Uploaded on July 4th, 2013, the video by YouTuber^[7] Fredrik Sørlie shows a car drifting into an off ramp; however, there are no highway signs at the off ramp. The video (shown below) received more than 97,000 views in four and a half years.

Spread

The earliest known use of the video as a meme was posted on December 29th, 2017 by HiddenLOL^[6] user anon90. The post (shown below) entitled "made a template, don't know if it has potential, template in comments," shows car with the Swedish flag on it avoiding a photoshopped highway exit for "Continue being a stable first world country" and taking the exit for "Mass uncontrolled migration from third world nations." When shared by Redditor ^[3] Throwthowk, the post (shown below, left) received more than 275 points (94% upvoted) in less than one week.

That day, HUGELOL^[2] user dankhunt42 posted a version entitled "end it pls," which shows the car labeled me avoiding the exit for "A great life full of opportunities friends , girlfriends" for the exit "Fucking kill myself." The post (shown below, left) received more than 40 points in less than one week.

The next day, on December 31st, Redditor^[4] Laughing_Fish posted a variation on the /r/dankmemes subreddit. This version shows "A new year filled with new opportunities to better myself and make a difference" on the left. On the right, it reads, "Another year of shitposting memes on Reddit." The post (shown below, center) received more than 18,600 points (96% upvoted) and 120 comments in four days.

On January 1st, 2018, Imgur ^[5] user ArigatoKamisama posted another New Years version, featuring "New year new me" and "same shit different year." The post (shown below, right) received more than 2,100 views in three days.

Various Examples

External References