You're Pointless

Submission 34,182

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

About

You're Pointless, refers to an image of a triangle telling a circle "You're Pointless!" in a math textbook graphic. The image macro was created sometime in 2015 and spread to Facebook in 2017. It was then exploited and recaptioned, the most prominent remix being the circle responding, "That's how I roll." Going into the 2020s, the circle's responses became increasingly absurd alongside Zoomer Humor. The image has often been paired with the Murder Coordinates caption 39 Buried, 0 Found.

Origin

On January 15th, 2015, the graphic was created by the T-shirt website Feelin Good Tees^[1] (shown below, left). On May 3rd, 2017, the Facebook^[2] page Crippling Things posted an image of a mathematics textbook that had the graphic a part of the "Circle" unit, a.k.a. "Unit 11." The post received roughly 6,100 reactions and 2,800 shares over the course of five years (shown below, right). However, the post is not the image's origin and is only the first known repost. The image was likely shared by an unknown Facebook user sometime in early May 2017.

Spread

On May 5th, 2017, the image was shared to Reddit's /r/puns^[3] where over the course of five years it received over 365 upvotes. On May 13th, 2017, Instagram^[4] user brettsurewould exploited the image by making the circle smile and respond, "That's how I roll." The post only received 18 likes in five years (shown below), however, it was reposted to OnSizzle^[5] on May 14th where it received 80 likes in five years. On May 18th, the meme was reposted to Instagram^[6] by 9GAG where it earned roughly 742,000 likes in five years.

Going into 2019, the image received increasingly absurd re-edits regarding how the circle responded to the triangle. For instance, on December 9th, 2019, Redditor Rusellidon2554 made a post to /r/2meirl4meirl^[7] that replaced, "how I roll," with something more aggressive. It received over 680 upvotes in three years (shown below, left). On February 1st, 2020, Redditor Tejasva_Khanna posted a meme to /r/Memes ^[8] that earned roughly 23,500 upvotes in two years (shown below, right).

On February 7th, 2022, a since-deleted Redditor made a post to /r/OkBuddyRetard ^[9] that featured a new style of the triangle and circle format. It had the circle respond with, "STFU Pedophile." Over the course of two months, the meme received roughly 8,300 upvotes (shown below, left). Other Redditors used the new format. For instance, on February 9th, 2022, an unknown Redditor posted a version^[10] with the circle doxxing the triangle's IP address, earning roughly 2,200 upvotes in two months (shown below, center). On February 10th, 2022, iFunny user ZaynKhan2002 posted a Murder Coordinates meme in which the circle replied "39 Buried, 0 Found." The post received over 13,900 smiles in three months (shown below, right).

The "39 Buried, 0 Found" version of the meme received viral spread online in the following weeks.

"You're Pointless" Video Memes

On May 12th, 2017, YouTuber Ryan Craig posted the first known video meme that used the "You're Pointless" image macro. Over the course of five years, the video received roughly 25,400 views and 1,200 likes (shown below).

On July 31st, 2021, YouTuber MultiCoolmovies posted another "You're Pointless" video meme, earning roughly 4,600 views in nine months (shown below, left). On November 9th, 2021, YouTuber Vanegood posted the first known voiceover meme using the image macro, earning roughly 183,800 views in five months (shown below, right).

Going into early 2022, more video creators added to the voiceover trend. For instance, on March 19th, 2022, Twitter^[11] user LukeCorreiaVA posted a video based on the "39 buried, 0 found" version of the meme that earned roughly 18,700 views and 2,100 likes in one month, with a YouTube upload gaining over 1 million views and 70,000 likes (shown below, left).

Going into April 2022, many YouTubers posted their own videos using the format and Correia's audio. They became increasingly absurd through more iterations. For instance, on April 18th, 2022, YouTuber Bukachell posted a version that showed the triangle and circle made of human flesh, earning roughly 611,800 views and 41,000 likes in nine days (shown below, right).

39 Buried, 0 Found

Following the viral spread of Luke Correia's "39 Buried, 0 Found" voiceover, the phrase received viral spread online as a caption for Murder Coordinates memes. For example, on April 23rd, 2022, Fandom^[12] user GreenScoutIsOP2 posted a Friday Night Funkin' comic (shown below, left). On May 7th, 2022, Twitter^[13] user WonderWaffle93 used the caption in an artwork of their OC (shown below, right).