About

Pedalo, not to be confused with what is commonly referred to as a paddle boat, refers to a German toy which one stands and rolls on. They are commonly known amongst Germans and began seeing use in memes on Reddit's /r/ich_iel, a German counterpart to /r/me_irl in the spring of 2018.

Origin

The Pedalo is a German toy one stands on and pedals. It meant to improve balance and coordination (video shown below).

It began seeing spread in German subreddits in the fall of 2017. On October 11th, 2017, an image of an older man on the toy appeared on /r/Fotoladenschlacht^[1] (shown below).

Spread

The toy began seeing wider use in ironic posts on /r/ich_iel in April of 2018. On April 23rd, user DoUEvenLiftBraah posted a Loss edit to the subreddit, gaining over 450 points (shown below, left). On April 23rd, a post captioned "Brother, where's my pedalo" gained over 610 points (shown below, right).

By May, the jokes had spread to english subreddits. On May 5th, a post on /r/me_irl with the product gained over 580 points (shown below, left). The same day, a post to /r/MemeEconomy gained over 40 points (shown below, right). The spread of Pedalo memes was inquired about on /r/OutOfTheLoop^[2] on June 18th, 2018.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References