Buff Guys Typing on Laptops / Why Yes, How Could You Tell?

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About

Buff Guys Typing on Laptops refer to a series of memes based on the images of muscular men typing on laptops, usually imagining them expressing thoughts and ideas which are either wholesome or/and can be attributed to anime fans, gamers, avid readers, furries or members of other communities rarely associated with bodybuilding. Most recognized examples of the meme utilize photographs of GigaChad, Flex Lewis, Mike O'Hearn and other bodybuilders. In many examples, Why Yes, How Could You Tell caption is included.

Origin

Why Yes, How Could You Tell

Starting in September 2018, images of muscular meme confirming guesses of their nationality, hobbies and other personal traits began gaining popularity on 4chan as a development of Why Yes, How Could You Tell meme. While multiple examples the meme could be discovered on /int/ and other boards before,^[1]^[2] the first known post in which a photograph of a bodybuilder was used was made by an anonymous /v/ user on September 30th, 2018 (shown below).^[3]

In November 2018, the meme became associated with GigaChad, with multiple posts combining the snowclone with GigaChad photographs posted in /int/ during November and December 2018.^[4] In December 2018, the trend spread to other 4chan board, namely /lit/, /v/, /his/ and /tv/ (examples shown below).^[5]^[6]

Buff Guys Typing on Laptops

On February 21st, 2019, Twitter user @BitchAssBowie made the first viral meme based on an image of an unidentified bodybuilder using a laptop, with the meme imagining him as a person who would set an image of an anime girl as a profile picture (shown below).^[7] The tweet gained over 2,300 retweets and 7,300 likes in seven months.

In the following days, the trend received notable spread on Twitter, with the photograph used for similar tweets by other users (examples shown below).^[8]^[9]

Spread

Through 2019, GigaChad and bodybuilder variations of Why Yes, How Could You Tell and memes with muscular men typing on computers were used by users on 4chan, Twitter, Instagram and other online platforms (examples shown below), including multiple humorous GigaChad photoshops. The most recognized images associated with the meme include photographs of Russian model Ernest Khalimov (GigaChad), Welsh bodybuilder Flex Lewis and American bodybuilder and actor Mike O'Hearn.

On June 20th, YouTuber Cyranek tweeted the image with the caption "me editing new meme mashup videos." The tweet received more than 900 likes as of July 2019 (shown below, left).^[10] On August 15th, 2019, Twitter user @BoomerDestroyer posted a meme based on a photograph of Flex Lewis which gained over 5,300 retweets and 18,800 likes in three weeks (shown below), promoting a surge in the popularity of the meme.^[11]

Buff Guys Help Out Nerdy Kid

Buff Guys Help Out Nerdy Kid refers to a three- and four-panel meme formats in which several bodybuilders, usually Flex Lewis, Mike O'Hearn and another unidentified muscular man, advise a male teenager sitting in front of a laptop on various subjects. A variation of Buff Guys Typing on Laptops, the spin-off format gained spread on Twitter and other social media in the second half of October 2019.^[12] The earliest meme featuring the addition of an additional panel to the format was made by Twitter user @MiyaTheQueen on October 16th, 2019 (shown below, left), with the earliest wholesome meme based on this subformat posted by Twitter user @JasTheLass on October 18th (shown below, rigth).^[13]