About

Wagie, also known as Wagecuck, is a slang term popularized by 4chan which is used to describe both all people in employment in general as opposed to NEET, and, more narrowly, those employed at low-level, undesirable positions such as fast food industry jobs.

Origin

On January 16th, 2015, an anonymous 4chan user made the first post containing the word "wagecuck" in a post to /tv/ board (shown below, top left).^[1] Starting in March, 2019, the term has seen limited use in /r9k/ board^[2][3] but did not catch up until early April 2015 when it gained significant popularity in /r9k/ (early posts containing the phrase shown below, top right, bottom left and right).^[4][5] The word "wagie" was first used by an anonymous 4chan user in /r9k/ post on April 9th, 2015.^[6]

Spread

In the following weeks, the words gained significant popularity in /r9k/ board, also appearing in other boards. In that period, multiple posts mocking employed users were posted in a number of threads, with Wojak art of "wagecucks" also being posted in the following years (shown below, left).^[7] On November 15th, 2016, YouTube user Black Pill Presentations posted a video titled "The Wage Cuck Meme Is Actually True", gaining over 23,300 views in three years (removed).^[8]

Multiple threads poking fun of the "wagies" and comparing them to NEETs were posted to /r/4chan and /r/greentext subreddits in the following years. For example, an image reposted by Redditor TriHard_EleGiggle on November 20th, 2015,^[9] gained over 1,400 upvotes in six months (shown below, left).

On June 12th, 2019, YouTube user Prince of Zimbambe posted a video which gained over 167,000 views in three days.^[10]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References