The Ocky Way

About

The Ocky Way refers to a style of sandwich-making that Arabic New York City bodega and deli chefs are known for. The style features large portions of meat and fried food like burgers, chicken cutlets, mozzarella sticks, french fries, chicken tenders, pancakes and more, stuffed into one sandwich. The most common sandwiches that are served the ocky way are the chopped cheese and bacon, egg and cheese, among other sandwiches famous in New York. The term was coined on TikTok in late 2020, however, the slang "ock" predates it. It's also used in conjunction with the phrase, "Don't forget the bev." The catchphrase started to spread out of TikTok going into 2022. Overall, the meme relates to POV Fast-Food TikTok and shares similarities to Epic Meal Time.

Origin

The slang term "ock" was added to Urban Dictionary ^[1] on April 12th, 2018, by the user RealAssNewYorker, who over the course of four years received roughly 1,300 likes (shown below). The word refers to a Middle Eastern or Arabic guy that runs a corner store, also known as a bodega or deli in New York City. It's a stereotype of New York residents to walk into their corner store and yell, "Yo Ock!" followed by their order.

Although "the ocky way" likely predates this, the person to popularize it was TikTok's Rahim Mohamed, known by his handle @Rah_money1, who started posting content from his deli in Red Hook, Brooklyn in mid-2020. His first TikTok^[2] was posted on June 30th, 2020, which received roughly 227,200 plays and 9,700 likes over the course of two years (shown below, left). However, it wasn't until December 31st, 2021, that Mohamed uttered the phrase "the ocky way" in a TikTok,^[3] earning roughly 676,400 plays and 41,600 likes over the course of a year and a half (shown below, right). This aforementioned TikTok was also the first of his to reach over half a million plays.

Spread

Rah_money1's first TikTok to receive over a million plays was posted on January 4th, 2021,^[4] earning roughly 1.7 million plays and 207,700 likes over the course of one year (shown below, left). On January 13th, Rah_money1 earned roughly 7.2 million plays in one year for a TikTok^[5] featuring him making a sausage, egg and cheese the ocky way on a Honey Bun (shown below, right).

As Rah_money1 started to accumulate more followers going into 2021, people started to travel long distances to visit his store. Fans like Instagram^[6] user justinllai was one of the first to tag Rah_money1 in a photograph on March 7th, earning over 200 likes in one year (shown below, left).

Rah_money1 built a large enough following by the summer of 2021 that a group of college kids hired him to cater their pool party. The video was posted to TikTok by a since-deleted user but was reuploaded to YouTube on July 7th, 2021, where it received roughly 41,200 likes over the course of seven months (shown below, right). Many people in the comment section gave attention to the majority of white people in the crowd, comparing it to the 2017 horror movie Get Out, with some criticizing the group who hired him while others expressed their happiness for Rah_money1's success.

On August 6th, 2021, Instagram^[6] user lawsgaydad posted a meme that used the catchphrase, earning over 40 likes in six months (shown below, left). On October 10th, 2021, Twitter^[7] user killmefam, also known as Debo, used the catchphrase ironically in a tweet, writing, "Yo Ahk Let me get that honey bun cumshotted the ocky way! Dont forget the bev," earning roughly 1,200 likes over the course of five months (shown below, right). These two examples demonstrated how the catchphrase started to be used ironically, being paired with food and flavor combinations that were obviously nonsensical.

On March 6th, 2022, comedian Andy Milonakis posted a TikTok^[8] where he mocked the phrase by going into his local deli in Yonkers, New York, asking the chef behind the counter to make it the ocky way. The TikTok (shown below) received roughly 546,700 plays and 52,000 likes over the course of four days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References