The Horrors Persist But So Do I is a viral catchphrase that is a variation on the popular phrase “the horrors are endless, but I stay silly.” It is often pasted over a photo of a guinea pig driving a pink toy car with pink sunglasses on its head. Both phrases are used as a triumphant declaration of survival in the face of overwhelming dread.
Meme basics:
- Meme Creator: Unknown, began on tumblr
- Meme Type: Image Macro/text
- First Appearance: 2023
- Origin Source: Tumblr
- Peak Popularity: Spring 2023
- Notable Variations
- The Horrors Are Endless, But I Stay Silly
Origin and spread
According to KnowYourMeme.com, Tumblr user junoinfernal shared the phrase “The Horrors Are Endless, But I Stay Silly” on Jan. 25, 2023, in a now-deleted post. The phrase evolved and was seen in March of that year on X, shared by user @MajorasMouse, who wrote, “The horrors persist but so do I.” They included a selfie and hashtagged the post for Trans Day of Visibility.
In April, Tumblr user secretsfromwholecloth shared a cross stitch of the phrase surrounded by adorable flowers.
Popularity
The meme picked up with the addition of a little guinea pig in a pink car. Facebook user Aria shared the image in April 2023 with the phrase over the exuberant rodent driving into the unknown.
The guinea pig in a car took off, and soon people were replacing the furry figure with their favorite characters from other media. Whatever they found inspiring:
Cultural context
The popularity of the phrase seems directly related to how awful the news is these days. Especially with attacks on trans people and the use of the phrase on Trans Day of Visibility, the jokey phrase has a serious connotation: even when things are very very bad, just being here is a huge deal.
Meme variations
The phrase has since spread from Instagram, X, and Reddit, to TikTok, where people tend to post it over random video images.
And there are other variations on the figure representing persistence:
But the guinea pig remains very persistent, even if the challenges facing them gets more specific.
More catchphrase memes:
- Jemima Kirke’s ‘What The Hell, Sure’ becomes a meme
- Where did the Womp Womp meme come from?
- Explaining the ‘Sir, This Is A Wendy’s’ catchphrase and meme
- ‘No This Is Patrick’ meme history
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