eeby deeby

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Eeby Deeby Archeology

There’s a meme on Tumblr right now that is literally EVERYWHERE. I’m going to try and explain where it came from and how it’s gone viral. The entire thing is pointless gibberish and, best as I can tell, has no larger meaning whatsoever. Also, it involves people being horny for robots. Let’s dive in, shall we?

On February 1, Tumblr user theweirdwideweb posted this meme:

The post has over 1000,000 notes and has kicked off an explosion of “eeby deeby” content on the site. Interestingly, this image is both not new and also not the original version of this meme.

The image and the “Where the fuck is this thing taking me” text actually come from a 2018 tweet. In the original version, however, the elevator doesn’t say “eeby deeby”. It says something quite different actually!

That’s right. The original version of the eeby deeby elevator was an UwU elevator. Congrats to anyone who understands what that sentence means. For those of you who do not get it, “UwU” is very cringey internet slang used by anime fans and furries. It’s meant to resemble a blushing catgirl (or catboy) face.

So, the question is — where did the phrase “eeby deeby” come from? Well, it’s actually been kicking around the internet for a long time. In fact, Know Your Meme doesn’t even mention the surge of Tumblr attention around the meme on their “eeby deeby” page. The nonsensical phrase comes from a 2012 YouTube clip of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

The phrase then ended up as popular copypasta on Imgur back in 2019. User MetaPathos mocked up a Buck Rogers photoshop that featured the phrase.

So, first, why “eeby deeby”? Well, the “eeby deeby” image seems like a pretty undeniable reference to the 2012 YouTube clip. I’ve seen Imgur users refer to the image as the “MetaPathos robot” and it spawned a ton of memes with the same text. I did a Google search between 1/1/2012, when the video was first uploaded, and 1/1/2020, a few months after MetaPathos uploaded the photoshop and I couldn’t find any other written references to “eeby deeby”.

But why was it paired with “your dick cold”? Well, I tried googling that, but I mostly just got Web MD articles about what to do if your penis is not a normal temperature. I also stumbled across an utterly horrifying message board thread about “traction wrapping” — which is where men try to, uh, DIY their length. Sometimes the process is referred to as “jelqing”. The thread had a bunch of users asking if it’s normal for your dick to be really cold if you do it for too long. ANYWAYS.

The original comment from MetaPathos reads, “EEBY DEEBY 2020: YOUR DICK COLD”. So maybe it was an election thing? I’m not sure. MetaPathos is a really active user on Imgur. At the time, he was posting these big image dumps called “ICM,” or “Interweb Chex Mix,” posts every morning. The eeby deeby post was just a comment tacked on to one of them. I suppose the biggest revelation here is that there is an extremely active community of people using Imgur as an independent website.

All of this brings up to the 2021 eeby deeby explosion of Tumblr. The specific eeby deeby elevator image comes from this ICM image dump from earlier this month.

Tumblr user thiefnessman did their own investigation into eeby deeby’s origins. They discovered a super viral Twitter version of the eeby deeby elevator that was posted just before the image ended up on Tumblr. Which is likely why it was shared to Tumblr. They also suspect this eeby deeby Supernatural GIF was the real catalyst for Tumblr jumping on the meme.

MetaPathos has been posting “eeby deeby”updates on Imgur this month, tracking the meme’s spread across the internet. There’s a very small subeddit for the meme now too.

A Garbage Day reader named Will sent me a few good eeby deeby posts this week. This one is pretty great.

So there you go! From Buck Rogers to YouTube to Imgur to Imgur to Twitter to Tumblr. Completely pointless, but interesting nonetheless!

New TikTok Guy Dropped

This guy’s name is Justin. You can check out his TikTok account here. According to his bio, he’s “just a guy doing dumb stuff till I have to stop.” Love it. He’s also apparently 6’5”. Wow that’s tall! He’s got lots of good hammer videos on his channel, including a dish washer, a glass shower door, and a sink. What I like about his videos is that they deliver on exactly what they promise — stuff getting hit with a hammer. Forget Clubhouse, this is the future of media.

An Extremely Good Jon Lovitz Cameo

Nothing can prepare you for the directions this video goes in.

Two Kinds Of CryptoKitties

CryptoKitties is a site that lets you buy, collect, and breed cartoon cats. It uses blockchain technology which means the virtual cats operate like a cryptocurrency. The cartoon cats are non-fungible tokens or NFTs, which are basically just unique digital assets. Think of it like Neopets but with a built-in scarcity.

The reaction from crypto Twitter has been wildly dismissive of the site since it started making the rounds this week. It’s been around for a while though. This is also how most dudes in the crypto community react to anything vaguely feminine entering the space — like the violent reaction to the TikTok crypto witch last month.

So… I was actually prepared to say that this is a cool idea. I think crypto could be a great way to tie value to digital products and I could also totally see something like this being a neat way to teach kids about how this technology works. Then I checked out the prices. This cat is for sale for 250ETH. That would be $413,000. Please don’t buy that.

Speaking of digital cat art selling for unethically high prices, this week, Nyan Cat creator Chris Torres auctioned off a remastered GIF of his famous poptart cat to celebrate the meme’s 10-year anniversary. It ultimately sold for 300ETH, which would be $560,097.

As the crypto market gets larger there are going to be weirder and weirder ways that people try and use it. So expect much dumber things to sell for much higher amounts of money.

If you’re interested in the specific intersection of art and blockchain technology, my buddy Bijan dropped this explainer into the Garbage Day Discord this morning. It’s really good! The simplest way to think about all of this is that blockchain technology can give people ownership over unique digital items, whether that’s a cartoon cat or shoes. I understand the knee-jerk reaction to laugh at this stuff, but we’re already living in a world of Fortnite skins, loot boxes, and endless digital monthly subscription services. What if instead of renting those things from massive companies, we were able to truly own them.

Another Random Internet User Is Given The Gift Of Prophecy

This was tweeted two weeks ago! Whoops!

The “Greta Thunberg Toolkit” Activist Was Freed On Bail

A hopeful update amid the Indian farmers protest infopocalypse:

Disha Ravi, the 22-year-old climate activist that was arrested earlier this month for editing a line of a Google Doc shared by Greta Thunberg, was released on bail yesterday. Ravi was accused of sedition after she was swept up in a conspiracy theory promoted by Hindu nationalists. A judge found that there was little to hold Ravi on.

Indian farmers are still protesting agricultural reforms that they say would open up smaller farmers to exploitation. Activists from around the world like Thunberg — and also Rihanna — have expressed support for the farmers. The global attention spun into a disjointed and confusing conspiracy theory that is still spreading across Twitter and YouTube.

A Good Daft Punk Tribute

The song being mashed up with Daft Punk here is Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love”. It’s one of my favorite bits of weird YouTube music history. A few years ago the song seemed to get stuck in everyone’s recommendations. Something about the song was just endlessly compelling and it was listened to millions of times in the span of a few months. It ushered in a huge interest in 80s Japanese pop (sometimes referred to as city pop) and is now just one of those songs that lives forever on the internet. If you want to hear a full version you can check that out here.

One Last Eeby Deeby Thing

P.S. here’s a Twitter thread about birds.

***Any typos in this email are on purpose actually***