I Regret Nothing

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About

"I Regret Nothing" is an expression used unapologetically to convey remorselessness for one's own actions and its consequences. Usually accompanied by GIF images of characters spinning around, the phrase conveys complete disregard for others similar to the usage of Look At All The Fuck I Give and Fuck the Police.

Origin

The colloquial use of the phrase "I regret nothing" has been noted in modern historical documents and records, quoted by the former Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann in a 1960 interview with LIFE magazine while awaiting his trial in Israel. Als that year, French actress and singer Édith Piaf recorded a song titled "Non, je ne regrette rien," which translates to "No, I have no regrets" in English. More recently, the phrase was also quoted by a nameless character in a 1992 episode of The Simpsons, in which a guy falls through an opening drawbridge while waiting in line for the Itchy and Scratchy movie and yells "I regret nothing!" before hitting the water.

In Online Videos

On the web, the phrase was iterated in a 2004 episode of the Machinima web series Red vs. Blue titled "The Best Laid Plans" in which Red Zealot yells "I regret nothing! I lived as few men dared to dream!" after getting mobbed by several Blue grunts.

Spread

In 2005, Metafilter^[6] user Fourmyle started a thread asking about the origin of the phrase "I regret nothing," to which most users pointed to_The Simpsons_ episode from 1992 and Adolf Eichmann's unrepentant quote from the 1960 interview with LIFE magazine. In 2007, another thread asking the origin of the phrase showed up in a thread titled "Meme-check on aisle three please" on RPG forum.^[4]

On August 2nd, 2009, one of the earliest image macros featuring a picture of a turtle and the caption "I regret nothing" was posted on the Wordpress blog CatMacros.^[9] In January 2010, I Can Has Cheezburger^[12] user Elrond_Hubberd posted another image macro of a raccoon with the caption "I regret nothing. Your garbage was delicious."

Spinning Disco Chicken

Beginning in 2011, "I regret nothing" became heavily associated with a GIF animation known as "Spinning Disco Chicken" taken from Domino's Pizza's mascot for the 2008 advertisement campaign. The GIF animation was first uploaded online as early as in February 2011 and spread to Tumblr where it accumulated over 10,600 likes and reblogs.^[13] The GIF file was converted into a YouTube in April that year.

Usage

On Tumblr, the "spinning disco chicken" GIF has become a popular reaction image usually attached below another image or a link to indicate that the poster has no shame or regret in sharing the said content. Similar images can be found under the Tumblr hashtag #I Regret Nothing. In other discussion forums and comments sections, the image and its variants may be used by the original poster (OP) in counter-reacting to another reader's reply in the same post, similar to the usage of U MAD? and Haters Gonna Hate.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

Search queries for "I regret nothing" saw an initial peak in October 2005. Online interest stayed pretty stable since March 2006, before experiencing another resurgence in April 2011.