Mi Tink Mi Gwaan Tek Mi Own Life

About

Mi Tink Mi Gwaan Tek Mi Own Life is a catchphrase that is meant to read "I think I'm going to take my own life" as if spoken in Jamaican patois. The phrase was popularized through an image macro in which it is presented over a photograph of the character Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) from the British soap opera EastEnders, which was first posted to Reddit in February 2024. It became increasingly popularized over the course of the year, particularly on X / Twitter.

Origin

On February 8th, 2024, Redditor u/hamsta5 posted an image macro to the subreddit /r/redscarepod^[1] consisting of the phrase, "Mi tink me gwaan tek mi own life," over a picture of the character Grant Mitchell from EastEnders, played by British actor Ross Kemp. The post garnered over 160 upvotes in eight months. This is the earliest known instance of the meme, although it is unclear if it is the true original.

Spread

The February 2024 Reddit post garnered viral spread over the following months, with the catchphrase becoming popularized on its own as users attached it to other images.

On February 12th, 2024, X^[2] user @bighealthyfr posted the phrase over an image of a man standing in the street, garnering around 100 likes in eight months. On May 25th, X^[9] user @platinummolar posted a version of the meme in which the phrase is edited over a photo of a sad clown on the bus, garnering over 8,000 likes in six months.

On August 7th, X^[3] user @dj_laundryy posted the phrase on its own, garnering around 400 likes in three months. On September 28th, a screenshot of the post was posted by Instagram^[4] user imunchie2, garnering over 1,800 likes in two months.

On October 23rd, 2024, X^[5] user @KYLEWILDFERN posted the original meme, garnering over 65,000 likes and 6,000 reposts in a month. On November 6th, X^[6] user @mountbellyache reposted it, writing, "this meme keeps popping into my head at random intervals like a catchy song," garnering over 73,000 likes and 4,000 reposts in five days. A screenshot of the post was reposted by Instagram^[7] user wot.the.heck on November 9th, garnering over 2,000 likes in two days.

On November 10th, content creator Justin Whang quote-reposted an image on X^[8] of actor Brad Pitt with dreadlocks in 2012, editing the phrase over the image, garnering over 83,000 likes and 5,000 reposts in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References