About

These 4 Useless Things is a series of four-pane exploitable images that features three illogically designed objects and one thing that the meme's author dislikes.

Origin

On November 6th, 2016, Facebook ^[1] user Dalmatiaball posted a four-panel expoitable that features a watering can with the spout pointing back into itself, a pair of sunglasses with only one lens, a ping-pong paddle with a hole in the center and the Serbian flag. The picture was captioned "The most usless things of all time." Dalmatiaball commented on the post, "Here's an original meme from me can we make it trend the countryball pages ? :)" The post (shown below) received more than 30 reactions in 13 months.

Spread

Three months later, on February 7th, 2017, Instagram ^[2] user @1_riot_1_ranger posted a variation of the meme, adding a pair of toeless galoshes, a chain-linked fork and an image reading Bards College. The post (shown below, left) received more than 200 likes in less than one year.

Later that year, on June 6th, Redditor ^[3] sudden_potato psoted a variant that criticizes free-range farming in the /r/vegancirclejerk subreddit. The post (shown below, center) received more than 200 points (98% upvoted) in six months.

Less than a week later, on June 12th, Facebook^[4] user Labourball posted another variation with a picture of British Prime Minister Theresa May in the fourth panel. The post (shown below, right) received more than 150 reactions and 20 shares in six months.

On August 23rd, the Facebook^[5] account memeextremeofficial posted a variation with the word "Me" in the fourth panel. The post (shown below) received more than 4,600 reactions and 1,800 reactions.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References