Papyrus Irony

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About

Papyrus Irony refers to a series of Hood Irony memes from Instagram that use the font Papyrus and multiple filters like the Rio De Janeiro filter to make the meme appear moldy and chaotic. Papyrus Irony memes are often tilted and skewed at exaggerated angles to give the perception of an abstractly bad screenshot. The trend started on Instagram and TikTok in 2023, widely popularized by user @bug2sick who created the Wait I'm Goated T-shirt. @bug2sick was inspired by rapper Tek lintowe's usage of the font that started in 2021. Papyrus is also Instagram's "Easter egg" font that's accessed when "Papyrus" is typed in Comic Sans when in the Story feature's Create mode. This "Easter egg" status also led to its popularity. Going into 2024, the Papyrus genre of ironic memes became increasingly saturated as the trend spread to Twitter / X, TikTok and elsewhere.

Origin

As early as April 3rd, 2021, underground rapper Tek lintowe (associated with the rap group Shed Theory that includes Joeyy) started posting images to Twitter / X^[1] that included the Papyrus font (earliest example shown below, left). Tek lintowe continued to post images and screenshots with Papyrus to X^[2]^[3] in 2022 and 2023 (examples shown below, center and right).

As evident in Tek lintowe's screenshots (example shown below, right) and as per direct correspondence with Instagram user @bug2sick (who's often credited with popularizing Papyrus Irony), Tek lintowe had allegedly hacked or jailbroke his Android phone, making all of the text on it Papyrus.

Spread

Tek lintowe's usage of Papyrus continued into 2023, as evident in his posts on X.^[4] In turn, internet users and meme creators started to adopt the usage of Papyrus. For instance, an early example is a post shared by Instagram^[5] user @schassisirony on June 21st, 2023, that used the Squidward's Suidice image, gaining roughly 5,000 likes in eight months (shown below, left).

On August 2nd, 2023, Instagram^[6] user @freezing.wav made a video that used the font, receiving over 460 likes in six months (shown below, right). The post also tagged Tek lintowe.

Wait I'm Goated

On July 19th, 2023, the Instagram^[7] account @wtmgtd (an outlet of Instagram^[8] user @bug2sick) started posting images of a T-shirt with the phrase "wait I'm goated" written in Papyrus. The shirt (shown below, left) became well-known online, evident in collabs with influencers like Henry Kava and Diddybop (shown below, right).

Additional Spread

Going into 2023, @bug2sick started posting more memes with Papyrus font to his new Instagram account @machine_computer_cellphone following the deletion of his original Instagram (as addressed in direct correspondence with Know Your Meme). For instance, on November 15th, 2023, a @bug2sick Instagram^[9] post with Papyrus text reading, "Shit is not Dat funny," gained over 7,300 likes in three months (shown below, left).

Others on Instagram started to join the trend, such as Instagram^[10] user @yocrizp on December 3rd, 2023, whose meme reading, "I'm at my wits end vro," earned over 15,200 likes in two months (shown below, right).

During the same timeframe, the trend spread across social media, evident in a meme shared by X^[11] user @sugarsmorecake on November 7th, 2023, that read, "Bum ass group," earning over 41,000 likes in three months (shown below, left).

Interest in Papyrus Irony spread to Reddit, as evident in a post shared by Redditor CoolNicegamer11111 to /r/identifythisfont^[12] on January 11th, 2024. The post was screenshotted and shared by Instagram^[13] user @tearfanta on January 17th, gaining over 3,500 likes in 15 days (shown below, right).

As Papyrus Irony became increasingly common online, evident in viral threads on X,^[14] the trend gained light-hearted criticism from observers. For instance, on January 26th, 2024, TikToker^[15] @lessshatemorelove posted a video with text reading, "Instagram meme pages when the npc factory tells them to use Rio de Janeiro filter and papyrus font for their posts," gaining over 384,800 plays and 77,200 likes in six days (shown below).

Tek lintowe's Response

On January 16th, 2024, Tek lintowe tweeted,^[17] "Everyone can stop using papyrus now," gaining over 580 likes in 16 days (shown below).

Rio De Janeiro Instagram Filter

The Rio De Janeiro Instagram Filter refers to a purple and pink filter available on Instagram stories named after the Brazilian city. The Rio De Janeiro filter was often crudely added by Instagram meme creators to screenshots to make them appear low-brow akin to Papyrus Irony. Other Instagram "city" filters were also a part of the trend like ones named after Melbourne, Buenos Aires, Tokyo and New York, among others.

Freaky 👅

Freaky 👅 refers to a series of Papyrus Irony memes that use the words "freak" and "freaky," originally based on a Papyrus font meme that read, "Im fr a freak Just lmk.." showing Paul the alien. The meme was posted by Instagram^[16] user @yocrizp on September 21st, 2023 (shown below, left). Freaky memes often use the tongue emoji or show a character with a long tongue sticking out of its mouth.