Please Stop Praying For My Grandpa, You Are Making Him Too Strong

About

Please Stop Praying For My Grandpa, You Are Making Him Too Strong is a catchphrase derived from a viral 2013 Twitter post poking fun at the expression "thoughts and prayers." A variation of the post was popularized on Tumblr by partybarackisinthehousetonight in 2016 and gained viral spread over the following years, often alongside images of strong or ironically strong older men, including a photo of an old man doing a wheelie on a mobility scooter from a 2013 Taco Bell ad that has become the subject of photoshops.

Origin

On January 9th, 2013, Twitter^[1] user @woodmuffin posted, "Please stop praying for my grandpa u are making him too strong. He broke out of the hospital & cops say their tasers don't work on him :(" garnering over 19,700 likes in 10 years (shown below).

Please stop praying for my grandpa u are making him too strong. He broke out of the hospital & cops say their tasers don't work on him :(

On September 20th, Tumblr^[2] user partybarackisinthehousetonight (now raggedadler-skullandreskull) posted a variation on the phrase, writing, "please. stop praying for my grandpa!!!! you are making him too strong. he broke out of the hospital and the cops cant get him. he’s too powerful," garnering over 353,000 notes in 10 years (shown below).

Please. Stop praying for my grandpa!!!! You are making him too strong. He broke out of the hospital and the cops can't get him. He’s too powerful.

Spread

The phrase and screenshots of the Tumblr text post gained viral spread over the following years. On February 5th, 2017, the Facebook^[3] page Ｒｏｂｕｓｔ Ｇｏｕｒｍｅｔ Ｍｅｍｅｓposted the text post, garnering over 25,000 shares and 9,200 reactions in six years. On April 16th, 2017, the Facebook^[4] page DankMemeology posted the same text post screenshot with an attached image of an old man doing a wheelie on a scooter, originally from a 2013 Taco Bell Super Bowl commercial,^[7] garnering over 9,600 shares and 6,600 reactions in six years (shown below).

The phrase is often used in memes alongside images of powerful old men, while the meme with the old man on the scooter has become the subject of various Photoshop edits. On February 11th, 2020, Twitter^[5] user @StripedAlpaca posted the phrase in a retweet of an image of Pokemon Home's Grand Oak, garnering over 29,000 likes in three years (shown below, left). On April 18th, 2021, Tumblr^[6] user b1urrycryptid posted a photoshop of the scooter meme referencing Genshin Impact, garnering over 7,000 notes in two years (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References