SpongeBob Reading Two Pages at Once

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Part of a series on SpongeBob SquarePants. [View Related Entries]

About

SpongeBob Reading Two Pages at Once, also known as Cross-Eyed SpongeBob, refers to an object labeling meme format based on a still image of SpongeBob attempting to read two book pages at once, with each of his eyes looking at a different page. Starting in August 2018, the format gained notable popularity online, used to express a desire to do accomplish two things at once without choosing between them.

Origin

On July 30th, 2007, episode 82 "Night Light" of season five of the animated series SpongeBob Squarepants premiered.^[1] In the opening scene of the episode, the main character SpongeBob is reading a scary book in a red cover, with his eyes sometimes each focusing on its own page.

On April 22nd, 2018, Redditor^[2] scottbeckman posted the earliest known meme based on the scene, with one half of the book recolored blue. The post received over 340 upvotes in six years.

Spread

The format did not see further spread until on August 2nd, 2018, Redditor^[3] Tsaguk posted another meme based on the format, gaining over 4,600 upvotes in six months (shown below). On August 5th, 2018, Redditor^[4] Darkhanius reposted Tsaguk's meme, also sharing^[5] a template for the format. On the same day, Redditor^[6] dankbob_memepants_ posted an edit that received over 18,500 upvotes in six months (shown below, right).

On August 8th, 2018, Memepedia^[5] reported on the spread of the format.

Starting in August 2018, the object labeling format received a significant spread online, primarily on Reddit and Facebook. For example, on September 12th, 2019, Redditor^[6] MelonsOfGod007 posted a meme that received over 8,300 upvotes in /r/HistoryMemes six months. On October 5th, 2020, Redditor^[7] TehDerppyOne posted an Obama's Last Name meme that received over 83,800 upvotes in /r/dankmemes in six months.