Arabic Strawberry Elephant

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About

Arabic Strawberry Elephant or Strawberry Morning Elephant refers to a photoshopped image of an elephant combined with a strawberry walking through a strawberry field, often paired with an Arabic phrase that roughly translates to "strawberry morning." The photoshopped image was originally posted to worth1000 in July 2007 as part of a Photoshop contest and became the subject of ironic shitposting memes throughout the early 2020s. The meme is often paired with the phrasal template "You must be Arabic strawberry elephant if you think X." In September 2023, the meme saw a resurgence on TikTok through video edits, including memes that pit the elephant against Smurf cat, among other food-animal hybrids like the Pineapple Owl, in speculative powerscaling edits.

Origin

On July 5th, 2007, the Photoshop contest website worth1000, now Design Crowd,^[1] held a contest where users were asked to photoshop "how to hide an elephant." The first-place winner, user mzic2403, photoshopped an elephant in a strawberry field, combining the elephant with a strawberry by adding the texture of the fruit to its skin and leaves on top of its head (shown below).

On an unknown date, an unknown person added Arabic text to the bottom of the image that translates to "strawberry morning" or "have a strawberry morning." The earliest known use of the image is a June 3rd, 2020, He Will Never Have A Girlfriend meme posted to tilde.zone,^[2] reading, "he will never have a strawberry morning" (shown below).

Spread

The image with the Arabic text became the increased subject of ironic memes in 2020. For example, on September 22nd, 2020, Redditor LowEffortMeat posted a meme to /r/okbuddyretard^[3] using the image in a Computer Reaction Faces meme, gaining over 16,700 upvotes in two years (shown below). On October 26th, an /r/arabfunny^[4] poster posted a video of the elephant as an Islamic terrorist, gaining over 70 upvotes in two years.

On March 26th, 2021, Redditor hoecaptions posted a screenshot of a text message asking someone for the translation of the Arabic to /r/196,^[5] to which they answer, "strawberry morning," gaining over 3,400 upvotes in 11 months (shown below, left). On July 25th, Redditor PuffyPlums posted a deep-fried version of the meme to /r/nukedmemes,^[6] gaining over 1,900 upvotes in seven months (shown below, right).

On November 1st, 2021, a Twitter^[7] user posted an image macro using the Arabic strawberry elephant image with top text reading, "her: im coming over rn u better not be arabic strawberry elephant when i get there / me:," gaining over 14,900 likes and 1,900 retweets in three months (shown below). The image was reposted to Instagram^[8] on November 5th by user douggiehouse, gaining over 16,000 likes in a similar span of time.

The meme inspired others to share the image of the elephant with new versions of the phrase. For example, on November 3rd, Twitter^[9] user @fa1ryrose posted the image with the caption, "you must be a strawberry elephant that speaks Arabic if u think we're f--kin." On November 4th, Instagram^[10] user yugo.slavoj posted a similar meme, gaining over 600 likes in three months (shown below).

On November 14th, Twitter^[11] user @nonbinarybooty posted the image with the caption, "him: arabic strawberry elephant got the best p--sy / me:" gaining over 1,700 likes in three months (shown below).

2023 TikTok Presence / Vs. Smurf Cat

In September 2023, the strawberry elephant became the subject of memes on TikTok, including memes where it was pitted against or shown alongside the viral Smurf Cat image, which went viral around the same time. On September 7th, 2023, TikToker^[12] @xoxo.dragonmaid.xx posted a photo slideshow that used the We Live. We Love. We Lie sound and transitioned from a picture of a strawberry to an elephant, and then finally, to the Arabic Strawberry Elephant. The slideshow gained roughly 100,000 likes in six days (recording shown below).

On September 9th, 2023 TikToker^[13]^[14] @diego_ftg posted two video edits featuring the elephant, the latter also featuring the Smurf Cat, garnering over 541,000 and 834,000 views respectively in three days (shown below, left and right). The videos are often set to the song "On & On" by Cartoon.^[15]

Some of the most popular examples of the meme are photo slideshows. For example, on September 9th, TikTokers^[16]^[17] @gilbertfrommm and @…george0 posted slideshows featuring the elephant that gained over 1.9 million and 1.4 million views respectively in three days (shown below).

On September 10th, TikToker^[18] @conquestor__ posted a stylized edit of the strawberry elephant image that gained over 1.6 million views in two days (shown below, left). On September 11th, TikToker^[19] @sergwurts posted an animation where the elephant squashes the Smurf cat, garnering over 25,000 views in a day and being reposted by TikToker^[20] @diego_ftg that day, garnering over 330,000 views in the same span of time.

Pineapple Owl

Pineapple Owl, also known as Pineappowl or Pineowl, refers to a Photoshop of a pineapple made to look like an owl. Originally created in 2013 by Redbubble^[21] artist Felfriast, the image gained virality years later on TikTok when it was compared to the Smurf Cat and Strawberry Elephant, among other food-animal hybrids, in powerscaling edits. It became associated with the song "Unity" by TheFatRat^[22] when it was used in edits by two TikTokers,^[23]^[24] @conquestor__ and @wuhazu, on September 11th, 2023.