Oh To Be

Submission 12,657

About

Oh To Be is a phrasal template used in conjunction with a photograph to express the desire to be someone or something else. The phrase as a caption to photographs went viral on Twitter in early 2020.

Origin

Because the phrase is a commonly used one in the English language, it is difficult to determine the origin of the meme. However, on July 3rd, 2011, Twitter^[1] user @domesticH shared the earliest known usage of the phrase with a photograph. As the caption to a photograph of a sneaker shoe with the words "I love zombies," they wrote, "Oh, to be 11" (shown below).

Spread

Throughout 2011, the phrase continued to be used. For example, on October 24th, Twitter^[2] user @kwmorris tweeted, "Forgot to share this photo earlier…note the tongue hanging out the side of her mouth. Oh to be a dog" (shown below).

The phrase went viral in earnest following a December 25th, 2019 tweet by @band_maiko. That day, they shared a video of someone making Christmas pastries. They wrote, "oh………….. to be a macaron on a chocolate ferris wheel." The post received more than 380,000 likes and 72,000 retweets in less than three months (shown below).

Weeks later, Twitter user @LeonInLaurent tweeted, "oh to be a tiny lizard licking an orange." They included a video of the lizard and received more than 13 million views, 1 million likes and 248,000 retweets in less than two months (shown below).

The trend continued throughout February. On February 3rd, Twitter ^[3] user @canterbunny tweeted, "Oh to be a fluffy Japanese pancake." The tweet received more than 174,000 likes and 31,000 retweets in about one month (shown below, left). Twitter^[4] user @valentinavml tweeted, "oh to be a tiny snail having a kiss on some cherries." Within one month, the tweet received more than 356,000 likes and 85,000 retweets (shown below, center). Later that month, Twitter^[5] user @greenanorak tweeted, "oh to be a yellow lab napping on a windowsill overlooking a canal in Bruges." The tweet received more than 810,000 likes and 174,000 retweets in less than one week (shown below, right).

On March 3rd, the website Junkee^[6] reported on the rise of the meme and included popular examples of its usage.