What The Fuck Is A Kilometer

About

What The Fuck Is A Kilometer refers to an American catchphrase that is satirically patriotic by being aggressively ignorant of the metric system. This is because the United States doesn't use the metric system (kilometers) and instead uses the imperial system (miles). The phrase's first usage was in a moldy meme featuring George Washington with a bald eagle and a giant firearm. Then, a voiceover of the meme went viral on YouTube in 2021, eventually leading to a Team Fortress 2 iteration. The meme later trended on TikTok and Twitter going into 2023, often resurfacing around the 4th of July.

Origin

On May 29th, 2021, Twitter^[1] user @RetroFirearms tweeted a moldy image of George Washington with a bald eagle and a large firearm, paired with Impact text reading, "WHAT THE FUCK IS A KILOMETER." The tweet (since deleted) is currently the first discovered posting of the image (shown below).

Spread

On the following day, May 30th, 2021, the meme was reposted on Reddit across multiple subreddits, going viral. For instance, on May 30th, Redditor smallppowner posted the meme to /r/shitposting,^[2] gaining roughly 13,600 upvotes in two years. A similar repost was uploaded to /r/okbuddyretard ^[3] on May 31st, gaining roughly 8,800 upvotes in two years. The image was also reposted to Instagram^[4] leading up to July 4th, 2021.

On July 4th, 2021, YouTuber^[5] ShanePatSmith posted a voiceover of the meme, additionally adding gun noises and a bald eagle squawking (which is actually the call of a red-tailed hawk). The video received roughly 453,700 views and 41,000 likes in two years (shown below, left). A few months later, on October 2nd, 2021, YouTuber^[6] AltraNade uploaded a TF2 version of the voiceover, gaining roughly 766,200 views and 45,000 likes in two years (shown below, right).

On October 4th, 2021, TikToker^[7] @v3rm4cts4n reposted YouTuber^[6] AltraNade's video, gaining roughly 1.7 million plays and 194,300 likes in two years. The TikTok video gained usage as a TikTok sound starting in late 2022, amid the U.S. men's soccer team's appearance in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. For instance, on November 25th, 2022, TikToker^[8] @eltoonz used the sound, gaining roughly 118,900 likes in seven months (shown below, left). Going into 2023, the sound continued to gain viral usage. For instance, on March 8th, 2023, TikToker^[9] @du_qu used the sound, gaining roughly 556,400 likes in three months (shown below, right).

More memes using the catchphrase surfaced on TikTok^[10] in 2023, additionally spreading via viral tweets.^[11]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References