Cowboy, Samurai, or Pirate

Submission 14,013

Part of a series on TikTok. [View Related Entries]

About

Cowboy, Samurai, or Pirate is a trend where men are asked if, hypothetically, they'd rather be a cowboy, samurai, or pirate. The question, which is often framed as dating advice to get to know a man, is purported to reveal the man's "true personality." The trend and hypothetical were first popularized on TikTok in July 2023 by Megan Bitchell and became increasingly popular throughout the year, seeing a boost in interest that December.

Origin

On July 23rd, 2023, TikToker^[1] @megitchell posted a video offering a piece of "girly dating advice" where she suggests that, as a conversation opener with a guy, ask him if he'd rather be a cowboy, samurai or a pirate, claiming that men will have "a lot of opinions" on the topic. The video gained over 8 million views in five months (shown below).

Spread

The video gained viral spread, inspiring media coverage and responses online, including through Stitches on TikTok. On July 25th, TikToker^[2] @synthwhoa posted a Stitch to the video weighing each option, garnering over 300,000 views in five months (shown below, left). On July 28th, 2023, a poll was posted to /r/WouldYouRather^[3] asking the question, with "samurai" winning over 900 votes and "cowboy" taking second with over 700. On July 30th, eBaum's World^[4] shared the video. On August 22nd, TiKToker^[5] @freshout_the_oven posted a video discussing the question, garnering over 1.1 million views in four months (shown below, right).

On December 25th, TikToker^[6] notcarurosu posted a video in which he asks the same question via a caption, garnering over 8.3 million views in three days (shown below). The video was screenshotted and posted by X^[7] user MingAutocrat that day, garnering over 36,000 likes in the same span of time, with the user claiming they would pick "samurai."

On December 26th, X^[11] user @harrison_fjord posted a "cowboy, samurai or pirate" alignment chart, asking men to place a dot on where they align between the three categories, garnering over 6,000 likes in two days (shown below).

On December 27th, the @notcarurosu screenshot was posted to /r/PeterExplainsTheJoke on Reddit,^[8] garnering over 7,800 upvotes in a day. That day, TikToker^[9] @dontbebias69 posted a video filming her boyfriend's response to the question, garnering over 600,000 views in a day (shown below). In the video, the boyfriend claims he'd only be a pirate if he was the captain, eventually picking samurai.

On December 28th, X^[10] user @wildtiktokss posted the screenshot, garnering over 2,800 likes in under 24 hours.