Derivatives of the phrase began appearing as captions for screencaps of movies and television shows in May 2006 on the Capper Wiki.[2] On January 12th, 2007, the phrase was used in the Editorial section of the Neopets newsletter The Neopian Times[6] in response to the existence of Jelly World, a hidden map that is not officially acknowledged by the administrators. Additional instances of the phrase have since appeared on internet humor sites like I Can Has Cheezburger[8] and Uproxx[11] , as well as miscellaneous mentions on the personal blog Canadian Trends[7] and customer experience blog CMSWire.[4]
On January 28th, 2007, the phrase was quoted in an episode of the animated TV series Family Guy titled “Road to Rupert,” in a scene where Lois opens the fridge to find Peter inside and when asked to get out, he replies “There is no Peter, only Zuul.”
On November 5th, 2010, an Urban Dictionary definition for the phrase "There is no Dana, Only Zuul"[14] was submitted by user SteveSax, which describes its usage in the context of dating and relationship discussions:
A statement said in reference to a female that was previously hot but currently is not, possibly due to intoxication or simply by letting herself go. Your friend introduces you to a girl at the club and says, "Yo bro, this is Stacy, the chick from high school." After politely saying "hello," you turn to your homeboy and say, "There is no Dana, only Zuul."
On I Can Has Cheezburger[15], the phrase is often paired with images of evil-looking animals or celebrities photographed at unflattering angles. When paired with animals, their real name is often swapped out with "Fluffy."
[1] IMDb – Ghostbusters
[4] CMSWire – There is No Mobile. There is Only Zuul
[5] PerlMonks – Re: This best sums up my view on xmas lights
[6] The Neopian Times – There is no jelly, only Zuul. | January 12th, 2007
[7] Canadian Trends – There is no Canada, only Zuul
[8] I Can Has Cheezburger via Wayback Machine – There is no Cheezburgers only ZUUL | November 8th, 2007
[8] TV.com – Family Guy | Road to Rupert
[10] Tumblr – Posts tagged "only zuul"
[11] Uproxx – Intriguingly Repurposed Household Items And Links » pun-printer-ghostbusters-there-is-no-paper-only-zuul
[13] Wikipedia – XUL – The Name
[14] Urban Dictionary – "There is no Dana, Only Zuul"
[15] I Can Has Cheezburger via Wayback Machine – Der is no Fluffy,