Who Is 'Goots?' A Meme About A Fat Goose Captivates Twitter After An Algorithm Produces It

January 19th, 2022 - 12:07 PM EST by Owen Carry

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Original meme that named the fat goose Goots on Twitter, made by a Twitter algorithm that looked at 1,000 memes.

Who said robots can't meme? That might've been true 10 years ago, but now, Twitter users like @CroixAlmer have created meme-making algorithms, popping out bangers like … Goots?

That's right, on Monday around 3 p.m. EST, @CroixAlmer stated in a tweet that they made an algorithm look at 1,000 memes on Twitter only to task it with making its own. What came of it was "Goots," an image of a fat goose standing in grass with a simple bottom caption reading "Goots."


Either the name of the goose or just a botched version of the word "goose," Goots no doubt shook the original poster, who added to their caption, "I am shaking and crying. 2022 is just beginning, I can't do this. this can't be how 2022 begins."

However, it totally was, with Goots becoming a notable exploitable on Twitter within a couple of hours. Meme creators started inserting the chubby, loveable animal into other templates, including Gru's Plan, Stonks and Pondering My Orb.


It should be noted though that the captionless image of the goose had been used in memes prior to its 2022 rebranding. In fact, the photograph of the fat goose dates back to June 2014 when it was uploaded to Flickr by the user Leeger. It was appropriately titled "fat goose."


The first memes to use the image were made within Chinese-speaking meme circles on the website Fabiaoqing back in 2017. One, in particular, was posted in November 2017, roughly translating in English to "I'm normal, I'm normal, I'm normal, I'm normal, I'm normal I don't need you in general."


Of course, now the photogenic goose will forever be known as "Goots" within meme discourse. Overall, the new trend alludes to older, randomized memes that came before it. One well-known one is BODE, which holds a similar aesthetic concept, captioning a contextless image of a cat with the accompanying word. BODE started on Tumblr back in 2016, and soon spread to other platforms like Reddit.


Weed Eater is another example that dealt with randomized comedy. Taken from a 2003 Veggie Tales episode, the meme demonstrates a prediction of modern humor when Larry and Bob encounter a joke-making robot. The robot whips out a zinger, bluntly stating "Weed Eater" to his audience of two.

https://beefbronson.tumblr.com/post/117652819984/so-i-see-some-people-talk-about-veggietales


All in all, Goots further highlights stereotypes about the humor of Generation Z, commonly referred to as Zoomer Humor. This chaotic sense of deep-fried hilarity alludes to the greater appeal of shitposting culture in general and further emphasizes the impending future of artificial intelligence humor, foreshadowed by algorithms like the Shitpostbot 5000 and the dastardly algorithm that birthed the modern Goots.



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