About

Mercury Is in Gatorade and Mercury Is in The Microwave are catchphrases used to parody the astrological notion that interpersonal communication is affected when Mercury is in retrograde. The theory is built on the astronomical fact that every four months, the planet Mercury orbits the Sun faster than the Earth, making it appear as though it is moving backward when viewed from Earth. The parody phrases first appeared on the internet in 2009 and have become a cliché in astrology circles, often used to mock those who follow astrology as well.

Origin

On September 6th, 2009, Twitter^[1] user @JohnCMayer tweeted the line, "I don't mean to get all astronomical, but I think Mercury is in Gatorade. #stealingjordanrubinsjokes." The now-suspended Twitter account belonged to singer-songwriter John Mayer, and the person referenced in the hashtag appears to be his friend and film director, Jorden Rubin. The tweet can be accessed via a retweet from Twitter user @samanthaperry on September 6th, though the original no longer exists (seen below).

On June 18th, 2014, Twitter^[2] user @cumdrizzle posted the earliest known tweet saying "Mercury is in the microwave," gathering just two likes in roughly eight years (seen below).

Spread

The phrase "Mercury is in Gatorade" continued to become popularized over the coming few years, with "Mercury is in the microwave" also seeing further spread (though less prevalently). For example, on December 7th, 2017, Instagram^[3] user @thequietestrevolution posted an Elmo Rise meme that gathered over 1,000 retweets in nearly five years (seen below).

On October 13th, 2021, TikToker^[4] @emmalinechilds posted a video using the "Gatorade" version of the phrase and gathered over 1 million plays and 300,000 likes in nearly one year (seen below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References