About

Mom, I Threw Up refers to a catchphrase and meme series related to being a kid and having to tell your mom or your parents that you threw up, usually late at night by interrupting their sleep. The catchphrase is often paired with a humorous reaction image of a character standing in a doorway. The meme started on Twitter in late 2018 and spread to other platforms like Reddit and Instagram in the years following.

Origin

The earliest known meme related to the concept of telling your parents that you threw up was posted to Twitter on October 4th, 2018, by Twitter^[1] user Moristiko. The tweet (shown below) reads, "me walking to my parents room at 2am telling them that i threw up," paired with an image of a small alien standing in a doorway. However, the tweet has since been deleted. Evidence of its origin can be seen though via an Instagram repost shared on the same day by Instagram^[2] account dingusthefirst. This repost received roughly 20,800 likes over three years. It was also reposted to Reddit's /r/Memes^[3] on October 4th, where it received a little over 2,000 upvotes in six months.

Spread

The trend gained traction on Twitter going into the rest of 2018. For instance, Twitter^[4] user dontperciveme00 was the first online to use the phrase, "mom, i threw up," posting her tweet (shown below) on December 8th, 2018, using an image of a baby raccoon standing behind a sliding glass door.

Twitter^[5] user bbshairu posted a version of the meme on February 25th, 2019, inserting an image of herself standing instead of the small alien (shown below, left). Her tweet received 173 likes. Also in 2019, Instagram^[6] account luckynevx posted a version that used an image from Polygoons (shown below, right). The post received 131 likes in roughly two years.

The catchphrase picked up again in August 2020 when Instagram account negusflex paired "mom, I threw up" with an image of the Shadowy Buff Guy in a Doorway format (shown below). Although the post has since been deleted, it can be seen within a Facebook^[7] repost that it received roughly 8,600 likes in two days.

Going into the rest of 2020 and into 2021, more and more memes used the catchphrase and concept on various platforms. For instance, Twitter^[8] user Wiredhoney posted a tweet on September 25th, 2020, pairing the catchphrase with an image of Tracksuit Robert Pattinson Standing in the Kitchen (shown below, left). The tweet amassed over 290,000 likes in two years. A month later, Instagram^[9] account thesurrealbank posted a remixed version of the original meme (shown below, right). It received roughly 27,100 likes in two years.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References