About

You Better Watch Your Mouth refers to a series of reaction image macros using a screenshot from the American animated televisions series SpongeBob SquarePants. The image has been used to express intense disagreement.

Origin

On August 21st, 1999, the episode "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy" of SpongeBob SquarePants aired in the United States.^[1] In the episode, SpongeBob meets two television superheroes in the Shady Shoals Rest Home, a retirement community (clip below). After events intensify, the Shady Shoals caretaker enters the scene and yells "What is going on here?"^[2]

Spread

On February 11th, 2017, Twitter^[3] user @narbiesworld tweeted a distorted image of the scene with the caption "Me: white ppl r annoying *white person barges into the room*: BUT IF I CALLED U A FILTHY OSAMA LOVING TERRORIST TOWEL HEAD RAT I'D BE RACIST." The tweet received more than 2,500 retweets and 5,000 likes in two years (shown below, left).

Several months later, Twitter^[4] user @cavemanreacts tweeted the image with the caption "When you've gathered all ya facts and now ya ready to argue." Within two years, the tweet received more than 1,600 retweets and 3,800 likes (shown below, center).

On August 25th, 2018, Redditor ^[5] Fantamuse96 posted a two-panel version of the image referencing Stefan Karl. The post received more than 56,000 (92% upvoted) in less than one year (shown below, right).

On February 13th, 2019, Redditor^[6] Mustard-on-the-road posted a three-panel version, adding the caption "You Better Watch Your Mouth" to the image of the caretaker. The post received more than 26,000 points (96% upvoted) and 85 comments in six days (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References