My whole career.
That's it. That's the best example of something that started as a joke and got serious.
You know that whole Michael Cera theory that he was lost one day and wandered onto a film set and has just been too awkward to tell anyone he's not a real actor, and now he's famous?
Yeah. That's pretty much how I got here.
Reddit user oreoboom12 asked:
"What started as a joke but became a legitimate thing?"
So there's me, there's Michael Cera, and there's ... this stuff.
Julius Pringles
angry episode 2 GIFGiphy"Someone on Wikipedia wrote on the Pringles Wikipedia page that the name of the Pringles mascot was named Julius (full name Julius Pringles, I believe he named it in honor of Julius Peppers the football player)."
"Eventually this joke became Common Knowledge so Kellogg's legally changed the mascot's name to Julius Pringles."
- turkeyinthestrawman
"It even made it into a Jeopardy clue before he revealed the joke."
- CosmicCommando
"But the Mascot was supposed to be a caricature of Dennis Gage. Their inventor."
- OutWithTheNew
Thag Simmons
"Thagomizer."
"There was a cartoon (The Far Side) that had a caveman showing a picture of a dinosaur with a spiked tail. He is pointing at the spikes and the caption says "this is called the thagomizer, after the late Thag Simmons.""
"Spiked and clubbed tails are now called thagomizers in published papers."
"Edit; Apparently Thagomizers are the configuration of 4 spikes on a Stegosaurus tail, not all clubbed or spiked tails."
- CountDown60
"I just loved that no one In years of paleontology, ever thought about naming the stegosaurus’s rather unique tail spikes"
- Mrwright96
"WHAT"
"I am a huge Far Side fan and remember this comic, I did not know this lol that's amazing"
- IAmSpike24
"They have a thagomizer fossil at a museum in Portland and it brings me joy every time I see the name on the formal placard."
- redmoskeeto
The Catalina Wine Mixer
step brothers GIFGiphy"The Catalina Wine Mixer from Stepbrothers."
"It was made up and in the movie it was actually shot on the mainland and you can see the island of Catalina in some scenes. It wasn't until several years later that they actually started holding a Catalina Wine Mixer on the island, which was inspired by the movie."
- Ms_KnowItSome
" 'It’s the f*ckin’ Catalina wine mixer!' ”
- DangersVengeance
"I've been to the wine mixer and tbh it kinda just feels like a huge cash grab. Acts are just a meme and they nickel and dime you for everything. I went in 2018 so idk if anything a changed since then. Main st Avalon is more entertaining"
- sleurlee
"Ha, I went there a few years ago and there was seriously a whole store dedicated to "Catalina Wine Mixer" merchandise. I had no idea why, but I did go to a nice beer festival that weekend :')"
- darkenedgy
Bee Movie
Peace Out Respect GIFGiphy" 'Bee Movie.' "
"Jerry Seinfeld supposedly pitched the idea of a B-movie about bees as a joke, but Steven Spielberg liked it so much that it got greenlit."
- vivalahomestar
"That movie is just so funny for the wrong reasons. A kids movie where a human and a bee have a very questionable relationship that even Jerry Seinfeld admitted later on he didn’t know wtf he was doing."
- sleepy--ash
"If you watch the movie without suspending disbelief, it is the most hilariously ridiculous movie ever. A woman leaves her boyfriend for a bee."
- rich1051414
"one time when I was in a chemistry lecture I had the bee movie playing on my laptop and I got a note from a guy 2 rows back asking me to move my laptop slightly to the left so he could also watch"
- mithoolee
"I mean that movie is a joke so... yeah lol"
- Dunkinmydonuts1
Sup Doc
Wake Up Reaction GIF by Looney TunesGiphy"Bugs Bunny’s carrot started as a joke about a scene in a 1934 movie called 'It Happened One Night'.""
"Now, almost a century later, the joke has been lost and the carrot has just become part of the character."
- Parhel
"Bugs also changed the meaning of 'nimrod' which originally meant a skillful hunter. He called Elmer Fudd a nimrod (sarcastically I guess?). I’m not sure if people knew it was sarcastic or if they assumed it meant an inept person or idiot. But that’s what people think it means now. Idiot ."
- TheDirtyFuture
"Carrots aren't even a good food to feed a rabbit! Well, the 'carrot' part isn't, anyway.
"They're too high in sugar content and if you feed it to your pet rabbit too often, can lead to serious health problems."
"Carrot tops (the leafy greens, not the actor), on the other hand, are great for rabbits and packed with nutrients!"
"In conclusion:"
"Bugs Bunny: What's up, doc?"
"Doctor: Your blood sugar again, Mr. Bunny."
- coffee-and-insomnia
"Mel Blanc, who voiced Bugs Bunny, was allergic to carrots. Unfortunately, they couldn't find anything else that sounded like biting a carrot. So every take, he'd bite off a carrot, then immediately spit it into a bucket."
- Awdayshus
Cool Way To Sleep
"Tauntaun sleeping bags - started off as a ThinkGeek April Fools product, and then they started selling them"
- rebuildmylifenow
"RIP thinkgeek"
- Rimbosity
"Holy sh*t, ThinkGeek is gone?"
"When did that happen?! /s"
- 1337b337
"I lobbied for and bought one of these!! We gifted it to our nephew (and wished they came in big kid size too). It was so plush and soft and cozy. I saw one recently in a thrift store. They had a crazy price on it but it gave me a nice smile to see one in the wild."
- WhatMyWifeIsThinking
Mr. Worldwide
Wink Celebrity GIF by MLBGiphy"Pitbull’s concert at a tiny town in Alaska"
- tornadobravo
"I actually gained a lot of respect for Pitbull from that."
"He could have backed out of it, or gone somewhere else due to the votes being obviously manipulated, but instead he went to a remote location and gave the people there something really special."
- HutSutRawlson
One Josh To Rule Them All
"The Josh fight"
- Western_Insect_2610
"Didn't Josh win that?"
- DC4MVP
"Aww, thanks for reminding me that that happened. Good memories."
- miss_kimba
"Please explain this, I've always heard about it"
- Bandito21Dema
"Last year some guy named Josh Swain on Facebook added a bunch of people with the same first and last name as him to a gc and then challenged them to a fight in a random field in Nebraska to see who would keep the name."
"It got ssed and spread across the internet. There were a lot of memes about it on Reddit and stuff. On the day the fight was scheduled, over 1000 people showed up (only around 50 were named Josh) and there was a Rock Paper Scissors match between the only 2 Josh Swains in attendance."
"There was also a fight with pool noodles between the fifty Joshes (a little boy named Josh Vinson won)"
"Finally, everyone who showed up got a pool noodle and started to fight"
- dpcmufc
Petty Revenge
"Several months ago, I was pulled over by a county sheriff (of course) for an expired sticker on my license plate. Didn't even know my registration was expired."
"He happened to catch a peek at my wallet which had numerous of my friend's old/expired/school ID's. He claimed it was the 'beginning stage of identity theft' and took my ID's from me."
"All of my friends personally gave them to me (inside joke) and I keep them in my wallet cause it's funny/for memories? Idk."
"Anyways, he was just phishing for anything he could possibly have against me, started asking about an old license plate from a car I don't even own anymore (never got rid of the plate) and just overall being a d*ck."
"He said if I wanted them back I would need a court order or to have all of my friends ask for them back since it was 'their property'."
"I jokingly said to my girlfriend, who was there with me the whole time, that I should be petty and make a legal case against him, but then I started thinking that I could just ask my friends to come to the station with me and demand the ID's back."
"Couple months later we head to the sheriff's office and ask for them back, turns out he shredded them not thinking anything would come of it."
"We're now in the beginning stages of filing a destruction of property suit against the station all because this guy was being an a$hole during a regular traffic stop."
- SquidlordOG
"Dude you’re a hero, a champion of the people. Cops do these petty power trips all the f*cking time, good for you for giving a little pushback."
- IrrelevantPuppy
"This is the kind of joke turned real we need.
" 'Hey, let's go demand our expired IDs back from the cop who took them'."
"Cop: 'So I shredded them thinking nothing would come of this'."
"Enjoy destruction of property suit dill weed."
"Honestly, see about destruction of evidence as well. If you had made a case out of it he destroyed the evidence. Real boneheaded move right there."
- RolyPoly1320
"This is the exact meeting point of pettiness, standing up for yourself, and sticking it to the man that I live for....godspeed."
- majinspy
"The malicious compliance here is amazing"
- optimushime
B.I.R.D. Avian Boogaloo
Bird Hello GIFGiphy"The 'birds don't exist' fake conspiracy theory that was made specifically to make fun of conspiracy theories. Apparently, it was convincing enough that idiots genuinely believe it now."
- angel_and_devil_va
"Flat Earth 2: Avian Boogaloo"
- OJezu
"I've seen pictures of people taking the joke to the extreme like customizing their 20-year-old van with all sorts of birds aren't real decals, but is there any real proof that these people are like, anti-vaxxers, or flat earthers?"
"I'm not doubting you I just haven't seen anything that doesn't look like an extremely high effort sh*tpost"
- Zenketski_2
"I'm in the Facebook group and always assumed everyone knows it's satire. You get the occasional numbnuts who posts something along the lines of "Do you guys actually believe birds aren't real". I'm sure there are some who do but I think it's only a small percentage. (I hope anyway)'
"I think this is how flat earth society got started though."
- evil-kaweasel
"If it flies it spies."
- CraziestPenguin
"You mean Bio Integrated Recovery Drones?"
- Salay54
Africa Cover
"Weezer covering "Africa" by Toto happened because a 14-year-old girl made an account whose sole purpose was making this request. And the account gained enough popularity that they caught on and thought it was funny, so they did it. For her."
- AllFuzzedOut
"Their version sounds so much like Toto’s that I question why they did it"
- smileusgood
"They played it this year at Rock am Ring and holy fuck was it worth seeing it. That girl knew whats good."
- TPC_DE
"Yeah saw them about a week ago and the crowd definitely were into Africa more than any of their other songs. Crazy really"
- notliam
So Many Blades
season 16 episode 20 GIFGiphy"People making fun of razors with multiple blades and Gillette actually making it. This happened twice."
"SNL predicted a three blade razor in one of their fake ads in 1975 (it was called the triple-tac). At that time one blade was the standard and three blades just seemed unnecessary and ludicrous. Well, Gillette followed suit and released the MACH3 in 1998."
"Then The Onion ran a story called 'f*ck it, we're doing five blades' by the CEO of Gillette and 18 months later the Gillette Fusion with five blades was released."
- Goat_In_The_Shell3
"MAD Magazine had a twenty blade razor plus a lot of other shaving inventions in an Al Jaffee article back in the late 70s."
- imapassenger1
"A straight razor is a better shave if you know how to do it. It’s a lot of work, and you’re guaranteed to cut yourself plenty of times using a straight, that’s the appeal of multi blades. Multi blades are for close shaves that are much safer and easier to do, they’re disposable and don’t require as much upkeep or prep."
- WaltSneezy
Goose Video Game
"Untitled Goose Game"
- SovereignGFC
"This is my 4-year-old daughter's favorite game. She calls it 'naughty goose' and it cracks her up."
- funky_grandma
"A guy put the song from Righteous Gemstones to the trailer for untitled goose game when it came out and it’s one of my fav things I’ve ever seen"
- santichrist
"I'm using this game to introduce my kids to video games. Some of the later puzzles are still a little above them, but they like to run around and annoy the farmer"
- Enginerdad
Minor League Major Names
"The Minor League Baseball team name for Huntsville, AL — the trash pandas"
- gingerwoozle
"Macon Georgia has a Minor League baseball team called the Macon Bacon. Their hockey team Is the Macon Whoopee."
- HBCDresdenEsquire
"A lot of minor league team names are awesome like that."
- washyourhands--
"Ah yes. I remember when this happened. Everyone thought it would be hilarious to vote for the name 'trash pandas' without realizing that voting would have an effect on the situation."
- cognitiveSmack
Down With The Flatness
Flat Earth Comedy GIF by Bob's BurgersGiphy"My dad was a member of the Flat Earth Society in the 80s. He thought it was the funniest thing ever to pretend that anyone would actually believe that shit. I wonder what he would think if he were alive today."
- Nymaz
"This was my thought as well. While there has always been a sincere 'Flat Earth' movement among hardcore Evangelicals and Bible literalists, the modern Flat Earth movement was a combination philosophy/trolling experiment to observe the ways Internet conversation would debate comically long-debunked concepts.\"
"Apparently, the experiment was too successful, as the Flat Earth 'troll philosophers' developed argument points effective enough to persuade others (particularly those unaware of the actual movement's sociological roots) into actually believing it."
"So much so, these newly 'enlightened' fools outnumbered the trolls, ultimately hijacking the thought experiment into a living breathing monster of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories."
"It's now impossible to tell if a Flat Earther is actually sincere, or if it's just some next-level evolution of Internet troll taking it way too far. Certainly a mix of both, for sure."
- QuarantineTitans
"He would think the joke reached peak saturation, to the point where idiots thought they were serious about the earth being flat."
- EpicGuard
Naming Things
"Boaty McBoatface"
- Locked_door
"Never forget. The internet won big that day. Boaty McBoatface, however, did not."
- DeathB4decafe
"Yep. If you're going to do a poll like this, then you need to give the internet a list of pre-selected names to choose from."
- MarkNutt25
"YES! This was funny as fuck. Then every small town copies it and now half the small towns in the Midwest have a snow plow called 'plowy McPlowface' it got overdone real fucking quick"
- JessesaurusRex
perrie GIFGiphy"Chris Crocker 'leave Britney alone'."
- Ambitious-Edge-4698
"I honestly feel bad about how much I made fun of him and that video. He was right and I feel bad for Britney too."
- kurinevair666
"It makes you wonder if the conservatorship would still be going if not for that video."
- will_holmes
"She was right but the video was still hilarious. So melodramatic."
- Quirky-Swordfish-218
"That is her Dead Name. She goes by Cara Cunningham now."
- Witness_me_Karsa
If we've learned anything today it's that truly there is no such thing as driving a joke into the ground or proverbially beating a dead horse. Eventually, if you press hard enough, a joke becomes reality.
... I feel like this explains so much...
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.