Cover Yourself in Oil

Confirmed 250,356

Part of a series on Troll Science / Troll Physics. [View Related Entries]

About

Cover Yourself in Oil refers to a Troll Science meme in which a person covers themselves in oil and manages to fly in the rain due to oil being less dense than water. Originating from a 2020 9GAG post, it was interpreted by many as a repost of an older meme and was later reimagined in ironic memes.

Origin

On February 12th, 2020, 9GAG^[1]^[2]^[12] user bebelik (formerly gegirik) posted an original four-panel Troll Science meme in which a person covers itself in oil and manages to fly in rain by exploiting the fact that oil is less dense than water. The post received over 10,700 points in eight months (shown below).

Spread

On February 13th, an unknown Redditor^[3] reposted a lower-quality version of the image to /r/4PanelCringe subreddit. The post received over 8,100 upvotes prior to being deleted. On February 14th, the image was shared in /r/trollscience,^[4] /r/ComedyArchaelogy^[5] and /r/fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu^[6] subreddits, with many commenters^[7]^[8] assuming that the image originated in early 2010s during the peak popularity of Troll Physics memes.

On February 15th, 2020, Redditor^[9] IMainRicochet made the earliest known derivative meme based on the comic, replacing the last panel with the "ball crush" panel. The edit received over 10,500 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard in six months (shown below).

Starting in mid-February 2020, edits based on the comic started gaining popularity in ironic meme communities on Reddit. For example, a February 21st, 2020, post by Redditor^[10] happiness_generator received over 6,000 upvotes in /r/ShitPostCrusaders subreddit in six months (shown below, left). A March 2nd, 2020, post by Redditor^[11] r_pote gained over 9,200 upvotes in /r/ComedyNecrophilia in the same period (shown below, right).

In the following months, the format maintained moderate popularity on Reddit, with /r/ComedyNecrophilia becoming the largest driver behind the meme's growth. Starting in mid-November 2020, the meme gained larger spread online, with multiple viral examples posted on Twitter and Instagram.