Things to Do in X: Leave

Submission 3,746

Part of a series on Catchphrases. [View Related Entries]

About

Things to Do in X: Leave is a phrasal template and catchphrase used in a series of memes that disparage various cities, countries and fictional locations by stating that the one and only thing to do there is leave as soon as possible. Spawned by a tweet about Jacksonville, North Carolina, the meme format saw continuous presence online starting in March 2021.

Origin

Prior to June 19th, 2018, Twitter user @baileyF1957 made a humorous tweet in which he listed things to do in Jacksonville NC, ending the list with the instruction to leave the city (tweet no longer available). On June 19th, 2018, Facebook^[1] page Carteret County Meme Machine shared a screenshot of the tweet, with the post gaining over 730 reactions and 5,400 shares in four years (shown below).

On November 9th, 2019, Facebook^[2] page New York Outrage posted an image macro reading, "Things to do in NY. 1. Leave." The post gained over 1,900 reactions and 63,000 shares in three years (shown below).

Spread

On December 22nd, 2019, Instagram^[3] page naquseim made the earliest found derivative meme based on the format, with the post gaining just four likes in roughly two and a half years (shown below, left). On September 15th, 2020, Instagram^[4] page muzzlefree made a meme about California that garnered over 320 likes in two years (shown below, center).

The format did not achieve virality until February 2021, when Twitter^[5] user @TheJordanRachel joked in this way about New York, with the tweet gaining over 420 retweets and 3,800 likes in one year (shown below, right).

In early March 2021, an unknown user posted an image macro about New York that was widely circulated online through reposts, primarily on Instagram (shown below, left).^[6]^[7]

Starting in mid-March 2021, more macros based on the format were created and shared on Reddit and Instagram. For example, on March 20th, 2021, Redditor^[8] GIrto_ posted a version about the United Kingdom that gained over 1,300 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard (shown below, center). On March 20th, 2021, Instagram^[9] user daddy_chungles posted a meme about Ohio that gained over 39,000 likes in one year (shown below, right).

Throughout 2021, the meme format mutated to include video game locations. For example, on March 27th, Redditor^[10] Lucky-Squirrel-3551 reposted a Genshin Impact meme about Dragonspine, originally posted in the Facebook group Genshin Impact Paimonposting. The post gained over 2,600 upvotes in six months (shown below, left). On September 6th, 2021, Instagram^[11] user destiny_thememe posted a meme about the Destiny location The Corrupted which gained over 29,000 likes in nine months (shown below, right). The format also achieved significant popularity in Balkan Memes communities such as /r/2balkan4you.

The format maintained popularity online in late 2021 and early 2022.