Getting Your Teacher On A Tangent

About

Getting Your Teacher On A Tangent is a TikTok trend that originally started out as a trend about getting distracted while doing something else because of a question being asked. The background audio, a clip from the show Euphoria, is used as the question that immediately derails the current action and creates the tangent. The trend, originally starting in early 2024, resurfaced in late 2024 when it was used to specifically be about distracting a teacher or instructor.

Origin

On February 27th, 2022, the eighth episode of the second season of Euphoria came out, which included a scene during which the main character Rue walks away from their love interest, Jules. On that day, the YouTuber dontfckwme^[1] uploaded the scene from the show in which Rue says the like 'Jules was my first love, I'd like to remember it that way' which became the background audio for the TikTok trend, earning over 270,000 views in two years (shown below).

The audio made it's way to TikTok on April 7th, 2023, when it was used as part of a fan edit of Rue and Jules. It would remain unused for over a year, however, until the TikToker PetuniaTwins^[2] used it in their March 7th, 2024 TikTok of them being at a Tattoo shop and having the audio be used as the distracting question that turns it from a tattoo session into a therapy session, and the entire atmosphere changes (shown below).

Spread

Over the next few months, the audio received little usage, with a sudden spike taking place in late September 2024 as it continued to be used to show people getting distracted. On September 19th, 2024, the TikToker kimberlyyvv^[3] uploaded a TikTok in which it shows her and a friend studying together, before the audio causes them to get distracted and they start gossiping instead of doing their studying, which earned over 92,000 likes in two months (shown below).

In October of 2024, the trend shifted to be focused on using the audio as a way to distract teachers or instructors who are in the middle of their lesson, wasting class time. This new usage immediately went viral, with several different TikTokers using it for that in a short period of time. On October 3rd, 2024, the TikToker christinapapavv^[4] uploaded a TikTok in which her ballet class all get involved in the TikTok by swarming their instructor who sits down and acts as though she is speaking the audio lines, earning over 185,000 likes in three weeks (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References