The Elbow Thing

Submission 28,110

Part of a series on Internet Slang. [View Related Entries]

About

The Elbow Thing or Elbow Method is a slang term that refers to an unspecific sexual technique that involves the elbow. TikTokers started posting videos alluding to the "elbow method" or "elbow thing" around April 2022. In September 2022, the trend then saw a resurgence, inspiring women to make videos where they joke that the elbow method means elbow slamming a guy in bed. While some people claim the elbow method means squeezing the breasts together with the elbows to make them look larger, it's unclear if this is what's being referred to in all the videos. The term is similar to the Belly Press Thing and the Knee Thing, both of which have sexual connotations.

Origin

TikTokers began uploading videos referring to a nonspecific "elbow thing" or "elbow method" around April 2022. For example, on April 30th, 2022, TikToker^[1] @mackdadey posted a video captioned, "For the love of god can someone tell me what the elbow thing is," garnering over 178,000 views in seven months (shown below, left). On May 21st, TikToker^[2] @notlaylaroo posted a video referring to it, garnering over 50,000 views in six months (shown below, right).

On July 11th, TikToker^[3] @imafairybjtch posted a video where she attempts to explain it, claiming that the elbow thing is when girls push their breasts together with their elbows to make them look bigger, garnering over 300,000 views in four months (shown below). It is unclear if this is what everyone is talking about though in their videos.

Spread

The term saw a resurgence on TikTok later in 2022. On September 5th, 2022, TikToker^[4] @breckiehill posted a video captioned, "Boy that know the elbow thing" where she makes a "call me" motion with her hand, garnering over 8 million views in two months (shown below). The video does not give any context on what the elbow thing is.

On September 23rd, 2022, TikToker^[5] @josephgarratt posted a similar video set to Armaan Malik's song "How Many" where he lip dubs to the lyrics "how many, how many," under the caption, "when she knows how to do the elbow thing…" garnering over 2.2 million views in just over a month (shown below, left). On September 25th, TikToker^[6] @afroismassive posted a duet to the video where she shows people how to do the supposed elbow method by elbow slamming a pillow, garnering over 3.5 million views in just over a month (shown below, right).

On September 28th, TikToker^[7] @thatbishdeanna posted a video claiming that the elbow thing does not exist, garnering over 100,000 views in just over a month.

Videos about the elbow thing spread over the course of October, largely in videos joking about it meaning an elbow slam and wondering what it means. On October 3rd, 2022, TikToker^[8] @caelyncashews posted a duet video over @josephgarratt's video where she claims the elbow thing means beating a guy with your elbows, garnering over 12.7 million views in a month (shown below). On October 11th, Dexerto^[9] published an article on the term.

On October 22nd, a Redditor shared @caelyncashews' elbow-slamming video to /r/Unexpected,^[10] garnering over 16,700 upvotes in 10 days. On October 26th, TikToker^[11] @itsshhayaaa posted a similar video, garnering over 500,000 views in six days.