What Does 'Brother May I Have Some Oats' Mean? The Meme Of Two Hungry Pigs Explained

One pig's simple request, given at some point around 1850 and immortalized decades later in meme form, has echoed across the known world.

Bröther, May I Have Some Öats? stands in the record as one of the best surreal memes of all time, but it's not bizarre or absurd in an aggressive way. Rather, the freak of this meme is gentle and certainly matchable.

Let's explain the who, what, how and why of the "Bröther May I Have Some Öats" meme.

Where Does 'Bröther May I Have Some Öats' Come From?

The painting on which the meme is based is titled A Pair Of Pigs and was made in 1850 by an unknown but likely British artist. It is displayed in Warwickshire, England, at the Compton Verney Museum.

In the 1800s, agricultural products and animals were highly prized, leading to artists depicting these creatures with fine detail and care.

The first proper meme of the pigs was posted on October 10th, 2016, to Twitter / X by user @dorianscary. The post did well, but the concept of the two pigs really picked up steam on other platforms, notably 4chan and Tumblr.

What Does 'Bröther May I Have Some Öats' Mean?

The meme is a friendly request, and a call to share blessings and wealth with others. Firstly, the pig requesting oats addresses the other pig as a "brother," a term of intimate endearment. He has good manners, using the word "may" and asking for only "some" of the oats, in order to leave the rest for his comrade.

Long before John Pork, these pigs were among the most polite mammals online.

The addition of the umlauts adds a lot. The two dots over the "Os" make it look freaky to a native English reader's eye, and also indicate a different pronunciation on both "brother" and "oats." These words are meant to sound the way Hulk Hogan would sound while saying them. These words are fresh, new and different.

How And Why Do People Post 'Bröther May I Have Some Öats'?

The meme is one of those pieces of content that lives forever because it is instantly understandable on the surface, but upon further inspection reveals unusual, exquisitely surreal depths. Why are the pigs so long? Why are the umlauts there? What is the context in which they live? Will the öats be given?

Some have added lore to the tale of the pig brothers, involving concepts like "dark oats" and the pigs' awareness of unawareness of human slaughtering practices.

The meme spawned a web series including several movies by since-retired YouTuber Joe Capo, who added dialogue and voiceover to the conversation of the two pigs, elaborating the universe even further.

For more of this Oat and Hog Lore, check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry on this meme.