About

"Polyamorous" "Not What I'm Called" is a series of exploitable memes in which a character is shown pointing and yelling "polyamorous" at a subject with a name that sounds similar to the word "polyamorous," often because it starts with the prefix "poly," the subject responding, "Now what I'm called." The original meme was posted by Tumblr user possessable in June 2024 and is a joke about the name of the cyclops in Homer's Odyssey, Polyphemus. The meme garnered viral spread over the following months on sites including Reddit and X / Twitter.

Origin

On June 7th, 2024, Tumblr^[1] user possessable posted a drawing of two characters standing before Polyphemus the cyclops from Homer's Odyssey. The cyclops says, "Hey guys." One character points at it and says, "Polyamorous." The cyclops responds, "Not what I'm called." The post gained over 85,000 notes in 10 months.

Spread

The meme garnered viral spread over the following months, inspiring new variations that replace the cyclops with other subjects that might be mistakenly named "polyamorous."

On October 9th, 2024, Redditor u/Pocomics reposted the comic to the /r/tumblr^[2] subreddit, garnering over 6,900 upvotes in six months. On October 20th, X^[3] user @scrungeonmaster posted an edit replacing the cyclops with a Polybius arcade cabinet, garnering over 92,000 likes in six months.

On December 27th, the original version of the meme was reposted by X^[4] user @girlbossmoder in reference to the Odyssey translation discourse at the time, garnering over 127,000 likes in four months.

Several new versions of the meme were shared as quotes to the post that month. For example, on December 28th, X^[5] user @AquaPani posted a version featuring the Pokemon Politoed, garnering over 39,000 likes in four months.

On December 31st, Redditor u/Moon_official890 posted a version of the meme about the "polychrome" Joker cards in the game Balatro to the /r/Balatro^[6] subreddit, garnering over 1,600 upvotes in four months.

On April 16th, 2025, X^[7] user @puterpawed reposted the Polybius version of the meme, garnering over 144,000 likes in two days. On April 17th, X^[8] user @TearShapedHeart posted a version of the meme referencing the character Perturabo from Warhammer 40,000, garnering over 2,600 likes in a day.

On May 11th, X^[9] user @gregthesorcerer posted a version of the meme in which the person points at a phoenix and calls it a "penis," garnering over 234,000 likes and 21,000 reposts in two days.

Various Examples

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Search Interest

External References