>tfw too intelligent / 2smart

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About

">TFW Too Intelligent", sometimes written tfw to intelligent, is an abbreviation for “that feeling [I get] when [I am] too intelligent,” which is used on 4chan to mock those who express feelings of superiority for subscribing to various ideologies and beliefs. The phrase is often associated with edited pictures of various characters, including Wojak and Pepe the Frog, who are depicted as having large, bloated heads with bulging veins.

Origin

On November 21st, 2015, a 4chan user submitted a picture of Wojack along with the green text message ">tfw too intelligent to buy into pol's rhetoric" to the /pol/ board (shown below).^[1]

Spread

On November 22nd, 2015, a picture of Wojack wearing a pair of Rayban Wayfarers accompanied by the message ">tfw too intelligent to think Syrians will cause trouble and blacks are bad" was posted to /pol/.^[2] On September 20th, 2016, a 4chan user posted an illustration of Wojak with a large head and bulging veins, along with the caption ">tfw to intelligent for movies" to /tv/ (shown below, left).^[3] On November 23rd, Redditor PM-Me-Your-Armpits submitted a "TFW Too Smart" illustration of an Apu Apustaja Pepe to /r/The_Donald,^[7] where it gathered upwards of 5,000 votes (95% upvoted) and 60 comments (shown below, right).

In 2017, the caption found its visual mate in the Big Brain Wojak meme. For example, in December 4th, 2017, an illustration of a Wojak driving a car made out of his giant head was submitted to 4chan with the message "tf2 2intelligent2furious" (shown below, left). On December 18th, a thread titled ">tf2 too intelligent to enjoy films" was submitted to /tv/,^[9] where various big-brained Wojack illustrations cavorted (shown below, right).

On January 9th, 2017, a 4chan user submitted a "Big Brain Wojak ":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/big-brain-wojak meme, showing Wojak seated on his own giant head while using a laptop on a desert island with the caption "tfw to intelligent to swim" to /pol/ (shown below).^[8]

Big Brain Wojak

Big Brain Wojak is a character variant of the Wojak meme depicted with an exaggerated brain and head that surpasses the limits of his skull. Often, his brain turns into various objects and other entities ranging from a chair or a hot air balloon to an elephant and other animals. The memes featuring the character are typically used to illustrate posts and moments that showcase massive intelligence, often in an ironically overblown way. The humorously massive-brained Wojak is the opposite of the Brainlet variant of the character.

Big Brain Wojak is often paired with the "TFW too intelligent" catchphrase.