Sittin' Around, Waitin', Doin' Nish

About

Sittin' Around, Waitin', Doin' Nish refers to an exploitable TikTok sound and lip-dub trend that uses a sound-bite from the 2012 British soap opera EastEnders. TikTokers who use the sound often show a comparison between them and another person or group of people who are arguably "doing nish" (nothing) in comparison to them. The sound was first used on TikTok in July 2021 as a joke about GTA cheat codes.

Origin

During an episode of the British soap opera EastEnders, which aired on January 17th, 2012, one of the characters, Michael Moon, has an altercation with another character named Syed Masood over a bad business deal. In the scene, Moon rips up a check and proceeds to say the line, "That's the difference between me and you. 'Cause while you were sitting around, waiting, doing nish, I was out, making moves."

A full clip of the scene was uploaded to YouTube by YouTube^[1] channel EE Scenes 85 on January 29th, 2017. The clip (shown below) received roughly 70,100 views and 1,400 likes over the course of four years. Additionally, YouTuber^[2] zeKe uploaded a nine-second clip of only the sound-bite on January 18th, 2018, which received roughly 52,500 views and 1,400 likes over the course of three years.

Before TikTok, Instagram user^[3] @josephgarratt used the sound bite as a quote in one of his Instagram captions, posted on December 3rd, 2019. This caption is the first known use of the sound bite on social media outside of the original EastEnders clip on YouTube.

Origin On TikTok

On July 22nd, 2021, TikToker^[4] @lp24s or Loosepete uploaded a video with text overlay reading, "When your broke gta friend never did the dupe glitch 💰💸" In the video, Loosepete half-mouths the audio from the EastEnders clip while flexing fake dollar bills. The TikTok (shown below) received roughly 600,400 plays and 96,100 likes over the course of three months.

Spread

On July 23rd, 2021, TikToker^[5] @starshxtdevy essentially made the same TikTok as Loosepete, using his sound and a similar text overlay, "Me to my broke gta friend who missed the dupe glitch." In the video, he flexes multiple hundred-dollar bills. His TikTok (shown below) received roughly 1.5 million plays and 247,700 likes over the course of three months.

The sound received more usage in September 2021 after TikToker^[6] @theyscreamike uploaded his version of the lip dub on September 19th, 2021. In the video, he uses a POV Roleplay format with text overlay reading, "POV: Your friend invested 5 bucks into stock." Additionally in the video, he does certain body movements synced to keywords in the audio, like making an X with his arms and running in place. His TikTok (shown below) received roughly 430,700 plays and 58,800 likes over the course of one month.

Inspired by @theyscreammike's TikTok, multiple other TikTokers began to use the sound and do the same audio-synced body movements. For instance, on September 29th, 2021, TikToker^[7] @2tg replicated @theyscreammike's style in his own video. His TikTok (shown below) received roughly 5.9 million plays and 1.1 million likes over the course of three weeks.

@2tg's video popularized the trend going into October 2021, as the audio-synced body movements became more and more exaggerated and flamboyant going forward. As of October 15th, 2021, the sound^[8] has roughly 10,100 videos.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References