My Prof: IDK

About

My Prof: IDK refers to a series of jokes using a phrasal template in which college professors are confronted with arguments, which often reference prominent conspiracy theories, to which they reply "idk." Spawned by a viral tweet about World War II, the format achieved popularity on Twitter in mid-January 2023.

Origin

On January 9th, 2023, Twitter^[1] user @CallaWalsh posted a Tweet in which they recounted a college class argument with their professor. During the argument, the professor, who had decades in academia, responded to @CallaWalsh's argument simply by saying "idk." The tweet gained over 1,600 retweets and 18,900 likes in four days (shown below).

Spread

Starting on January 11th, 2023, the tweet was parodied on Twitter, with users submitting versions in which they argued in favor of various conspiracy theories, with the professor replying "idk." For example, on January 11th, Twitter^[2] user @erallover posted a Yakub meme that gained over 950 retweets and 10,300 likes in two days (shown below, left). On January 12th, Twitter^[3] user @castawaymariner posted a version of the meme about elves that received over 1,000 retweets and 12,700 likes (shown below, right).

More versions of the meme were posted on Twitter in mid-January 2023, with several examples going viral.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References