You Wouldn't Last an Hour in The Asylum Where They Raised Me

Submission 17,101

Part of a series on Taylor Swift's "The Tortured Poets Department". [View Related Entries]

About

You Wouldn't Last An Hour In The Asylum Where They Raised Me is a catchphrase based on lyrics from Taylor Swift's song "Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me" from her 2024 album, The Tortured Poets Department. In April 2024, the lyric came to be used as a caption in numerous memes for people to share their digital and real-life haunts growing up.

Origin

Initial reactions to the lyric "You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me" came from listeners who engaged with the TTPD Leaks that appeared online days ahead of the album's official release date. This includes X^[1] / Twitter user @0bviousagb who made a post on April 17th, 2024, showing Taylor Swift's childhood home (seen below).

On April 19th, X^[2] user @leylanocontext posted the earliest known notable post using the catchphrase and lyric, showing a still from the show Glee and gathering over 48,000 likes in three days (seen below).

Spread

On April 20th, 2024, X / Twitter users @Tomlinbucks and @xcowboygeniusx made viral posts using the catchphrase, "you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me," paired with a memorable event or space from their upbringing. @Tomlinbucks^[3] made a reference to 1 Direction's "1D Day" television event, gathering over 30,000 likes in two days (seen below, left) while X^[4] user @xcowboygeniusx reference Archive of our Own, a fanfiction hosting site, gathering over 41,000 likes in two days (seen below, right).

On April 20th, X^[5] user @whyrev posted an image from a Zack and Cody video game, gathering over 100,000 likes in two days (seen below, left). Also on April 20th, X^[6] user @trumanpotb posted the Tumblr log-in page, gathering over 80,000 likes in two days (seen below, right).