About

Where Do the Years Go, sometimes written as Where Did the Years Go, refers to a catchphrase from SpongeBob SquarePants said by SpongeBob after showing a grocery store clerk a picture of the clerk looking young and happy. The scene has been used in numerous parodies and redraw memes.

Origin

On May 17th, 2002, season 3 episode 51 of SpongeBob SquarePants, titled "Party Pooper Pants," been premiered in the U.S. In the episode, SpongeBob goes shopping and shows the clerk a photo SpongeBob took of him looking young and happy, which is humorously compared with the clerk's current, aged and tired face. On August 14th, 2018, YouTube^[1] user The Sponge Fanatic uploaded the scene to YouTube, where it received more than 112,000 views in four years (shown below).

Oh look, it's a picture I took of you the first time I ever came here! Hahahahaha Look at you, so young and happy! Where do the years go?

Spread

Years later, the scene saw use in parodies and redraws, as memers edited it in YouTube videos. For example, on October 2nd, 2020, YouTube^[2] user daily fluff uploaded an animation based on the scene, receiving more than 444,000 views in two years (shown below, left). On April 25th, 2021, YouTube^[3] user Ghosted Jazz uploaded a video titled "Where did the years go? I DREAM SMP Animatic." The video received more than 166,000 views in one year (shown below, right).

On October 29th, 2021, YouTube^[4] user How Do U Art uploaded an animated video titled "Where Did The Years Go? [DreamSMP]." The video received more than 521,000 views (shown below, left). On December 5th, 2021, YouTube^[5] user Cruxia uploaded a Deltarune edit of the scene. The video received more than 581,000 views in one year (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References