Contents
- 1 Definition
- 2 The Original Navy Seal Copy Pasta
- 3 Meme History
- 4 A Viral YouTube Comment
- 5 Urban Dictionary & Richi Phelps
- 6 The 23 Best Navy Seal Copypasta Memes
- 7 Gothic Illustrated
- 8 Animated Gif
- 9 Trump VS Iran
- 10 An r/copypasta Introduction
- 11 Minecraft Copy Pasta
- 12 Retrowave
- 13 Angry YouTuber
- 14 r/AskOuija Predictions
- 15 Foxhole Game Version
- 16 Ocasio-Cortez Navy Seal
- 17 r/GoCommitDie Roblox Navy Seal Copy Pasta
- 18 Military Cringe
- 19 Award-Winning Examples
- 20 r/Spyro
- 21 r/TitanFolk
- 22 Decreasingly Verbose
- 23 Funny Anime Memes
- 24 Titan Fall Frontier Militia Meme
- 25 Jordan Peterson
- 26 More Background
- 27 Sarcastic And Not Real?
- 28 Navy Seal Copypasta Variations
In this post, we examine the origin of the notorious Navy Seal Copy Pasta and provide over 23 of its best memes on the internet.
Definition
In a nutshell, this tough-guy rant is a facetious message containing a bunch of absurd claims and megalomaniacal threats that portray the sender as the dreaded Internet tough guy stereotype.
Let’s take a look brilliant original:
Meme History
This tough guy meme originally emerged on a military and weapons enthusiast image board called Operator Chan, apparently, in 2010. A user came forward in 2012 to claim he had come up with it (Source):
A Viral YouTube Comment
Later on in 2012, a Redditor called fahottie submitted a screenshot of a YouTube comment that employed the copypasta to the /r/funny subreddit where it went viral. A YouTuber capitalized on this trending meme and produced a song about it:
Urban Dictionary & Richi Phelps
Urban Dictionary got in on the act with an entry but it really exploded further with Richi Phelps’ Facebook Post. You can see a screengrab of the post from Twitter below- basically, the Richi Phelps account used the infamous copypasta, translated into Mexican gangster slang, and it went even more viral on Facebook, where people had never encountered the Navy Seal copypasta before and thought he was serious:
Tiene el Síndrome de Richi Phelps. pic.twitter.com/8QSl8DRrkR
— Angry Neurotic Catholic 🦉 (@nandicidio) January 27, 2019
Since then it’s skittered around the popular imagination, cropping up in various areas of the internet.
You can get a sense of its popularity over time using Google Trends:
Now that we’ve examined its origin story, we collected 23 of the best Navy Seal/internet tough guy memes below. A lot of them are text-heavy reinterpretations of the meme.
For example, new rewrites for angry YouTubers, for Minecraft players, in different languages, etc. But there are also some cool images- like the first on our list, which is an illustrated manuscript. As if the copypasta was some type of ancient wisdom:
Gothic Illustrated
TheShitPostCalligrapher had the unmitigated gall to reformat the content into Gothic lettering like it was from the Middle Ages. The gold and green are kind of Gaelic with a serpent on the side crawling up seeming to embellish the copypasta outrage.
Animated Gif
A little ditty I made. #navysealcopypasta pic.twitter.com/5lPjnfaQc1
— Wade and/or Reena (@Red_Bakeneko) October 25, 2018
Someone created a funny GIF with the copypasta on their mind. It sounds like a cartoonish early 20th-century Italian pizza owner singing the copypasta.
Trump VS Iran
NavySEALcopypasta.jpg https://t.co/bYQWEzCauy
— Daniel McMurtry ✝ (@djmcmurtry516) July 23, 2018
Another person had some fun at Donald Trump’s expense, mocking him in his dispute versus Iran. The Twitter user Retweeted Trump’s tweet directed towards president Rouhani, “To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!” He added the caption “NavySEALcopypasta.jpg” To imply that trumps capitalized threats on Twitter resemble the infamous Navy SEAL copypasta.
An r/copypasta Introduction
January 28th, 2019 – /r/copypasta: What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? from subredditoftheday
Over on Reddit, there is a handy explainer, helping new chefs cook fresh pasta. basically it’s a primer on the origins of the Navy SEAL copypasta Meme and some examples of different variations that have gone viral over the years.
Minecraft Copy Pasta
Predictably there’s a Minecraft copypasta. I’ve never played Minecraft with so I don’t get any of the jokes or references, but if you are a fan, give it a read through and you’ll probably understand a lot more about inside jokes than I can.
Retrowave
There’s even an incredibly long retrowave text version of the meme (Source). If you’re not familiar with retrowave, is defined as “an all-encompassing term that also applies to artwork, clothing, videos, and other media that embody ’80s nostalgia and ’80s retrofuturism.” (Source) This graphic representation employed the characteristic neon purple colors that you have probably seen on Stranger Things. However, there are whole subreddits dedicated to Retro wave culture I’ve been spotting it in the wild or just creating cool gifts and images that recall the 1980s.
Angry YouTuber
Here’s one we can all understand. This is the angry YouTuber version. If you spent any time on YouTube, you’re probably aware of just how mean and vicious YouTube comments can get. A lot of channels don’t react too well to criticism and in this mock-up, somebody employs the copypasta meme as an angry YouTuber. Be YouTuber brags about having over 300 videos with over a thousand views and their proficiency with Adobe After Effects.
r/AskOuija Predictions
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I’ll have you know I ________ from AskOuija
Your guess is as good as mine with this one is – hard to tell what this subreddit is about, but it looks to be a place where people fill out the end of a sentence and they called it Ask Ouija.
Foxhole Game Version
r/foxholegame had a fun spinoff- that starts “What the f*ck did you just fucking say about me, you little Pte? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Grunt course, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on enemy FOBs, and I have over 300 confirmed walls. I am trained in long range pistol warfare and I’m the top sniper in the entire Warden forces.”
— Kenneth Kenstar (@KennethKenstar) December 8, 2018
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez even got a tribute here. The young socialist from New York City brags about being elected in her twenties, having been involved in a ton of different protests, as well as her academic degree in international relations.
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I’m the top sniper in the entire from GoCommitDie
The r/GoCommitDie subreddit which is focused on cursed roblox screenshots and Engrish Posted this weird image. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to us, but if you squint and read the difficult to decipher text on the image, you might get a laugh if you are in on the joke.
Military Cringe
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I’ll have you know… from JustBootThings
Over on r/JustBootThings, a subreddit dedicated to “to cringe-worthy pictures, stories, and videos of people acting boot. Remember, Boots aren’t restricted to junior ranks. Boot is a state of mind. Any rank can be posted here, including veterans and civilians (thank me for my future service!!) Any branch of the military from any nation can be posted”. This appears to be a military-themed subreddit- the screengrab here displays a young enlistee bragging about their accomplishments. In particular, he seems to be making fun of people in college when the program he is in is a 5 month school that provides two years worth of college credits.
Award-Winning Examples
The [What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills.] Weekly Animemes Awards #29 from Animemes
This one is a little obscure, but one of the Reddit posters suggested that the following copypasta be used because it is an anime meme subreddit “Nani the f*ck did you just f*cking iimasu about watashi, you chiisai bitch desuka? Watashi’ll have anata know that watashi graduated top of my class in Nihongo 3, and watashi’ve been involved in iroirona Nihongo tutoring sessions, and watashi have over sanbyaku perfect testscores.”
r/Spyro
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? from Spyro
This next one comes from r/Spyro: Spyro is a series of platform video games which feature the protagonist Spyro, a dragon. This is another indecipherable one, but there was a funny Reddit comment that included a custom copypasta meme for this video game, starting “I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class at Skylanders Academy, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on The Forgotten Realms, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I’m the top sniper in the entire Dragon Realms. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the f*ck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Realm, mark my f*cking words.”
r/TitanFolk
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? from titanfolk
The r/titanfolk subreddit linked to an Imgur image. Again, we have to plead ignorance about the titanfolk subreddit – we have no idea what it is, but they explain themselves this way: “MANGA SPOILERS SUBREDDIT! Shingeki no Kyojin / Attack on Titan healthy fan community with memes, shitposts, arts, news, discussions for true titans. I mean humans. Definitely humans!” In this cartoon image, one of the characters is giving in the comedic Lee large speech bubble to contain a Navy SEAL copypasta meme text.
Decreasingly Verbose
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? from DecreasinglyVerbose
Over on r/decreasinglyverbose there was another weird variation. The subreddit is described like this “why say lot word when few word do trick? here we take long thing and we make short while short thing still has about same meaning as long thing.” One of the Redditors came up with this more concise version, which starts like this: “What say you, b*tch? I’m Navy SEAL. I kill a lot. I fight like gorilla. I snipe. You nothing, but target. Mark words, I wipe you out. Talk tough on internet? Nuh uh, f*ck. Prepare for storm of spies, bug. Storm wipe out life. You die. I everywhere.”
Funny Anime Memes
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? from Animemes
This trembling anime meme hits the spot- fully capturing the riotous rage of the speaker.
Titan Fall Frontier Militia Meme
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I’ll have you know I shitposted to the top of my class in the Frontier Militia, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on the IMC, and I have over 30,000 confirmed pilot kills. I am trained in using every single weapon….. from titanfall
Jordan Peterson
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in PragerU, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on the Snowflake Traphouse, and I have over 300 confirmed leftist kills. I am trained in metaphysical warfare and I’m … from enoughpetersonspam
There’s even a Jordan Peterson version of the meme where he’s emblazoned with the caption “the anti social justice industry critiquing the left”. The copypasta brags about having graduated from PragerU, a conservative educational Institute and having done raids on snowflake trap houses.
More Background
When it comes to memes, we have seen all sorts of them. Some humorous, silly, or controversial. Others emotional, arrogant, sarcastic or threatening. While most memes come, take the internet by storm and then disappear over time, some memes never go away regardless of time.
A very controversial meme that came along in 2010 and has refused to vanish is the Navy Seal Copypasta (it’s also known as the “Marine Copypasta,” “Internet Tough Guy Copypasta” and “Gorilla Warfare Copypasta). They call it copypasta because it has been copied and pasted on several social platforms by numerous users. For many, this is one of the most sarcastic pieces of text ever created by a human being, taking into account how life-threatening it sounds when in reality, the person behind it is obviously as harmless as a dove.
In this meme, a guy threatens an unknown antagonist due to something that was said to him on a social media platform. The man claims to be one of the most elite combat men in the US Navy Seal team.
He purports to be the most decorated sniper and sharpshooter in the entire US marine corps with over 300 combat skills. If that were not enough, the guy claims to have access to the entire US arsenal and would dedicate all the weaponry and resources at his disposal to bring down the “bitch”.
Sarcastic And Not Real?
Any reader can make out the amount of sarcasm that has been pumped into this hyperbolic meme.
- The first instance where sarcasm is detected is when he claims to have graduated top of his class in the Navy Seals, been involved in several secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. A person who really has a profile of this nature goes after real men and not a mere internet opponent whom he calls a ”bitch”.
- Secondly, when he threatens his internet opponent that he can kill them in over seven hundred different ways just with his bare hands, one is left wondering. Is he some sort of a killing machine or something? Because we know that no human being has such a tremendous lethal capability. Then you realize it is just an empty threat. That is when you find it hyperbolic, sarcastic, humorous and unhelpful.
- Finally, the guy purports to have connections and access to the resources of the entire US Marine Corps. He claims to have his enemy’s IP address being traced now so she better get ready for the storm. Honestly, I don’t think this is threatening. I think it is crazy and not sensible in any way. Honestly, the US Department of Defence would not waste their time and resources on tiny fights that involve a guy who has a personal vendetta with some other keyboard warrior somewhere who offended him? They deal with matters national security and not some social media flame war.
This guy that claims to be a decorated Navy Seal probably does not even have an idea what the US military is all about.
The controversial Navy Seal copypasta today has several variations in different English slangs. Many keyboard warriors who want to sound utterly lethal and “badass” have turned it into a tool that they use to achieve that purpose. They simply copy and paste it, hoping to scare and intimidate readers, usually in an ironic way. But not only that, an anonymous user submitted a song version of the meme on Image Board.
The Ninja YouTuber also gets in on the act, perhaps unintentionally, with a viral clip in which during a multiplayer game he screams at his preteen competitor.
There is actually a Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Google Translate, and many other weird versions, as well. If you head over to the r/NavySealCopyPasta subredddit you can see various examples. A particularly funny version we’ve seen is the pirate one- it’s a swashbuckling reinterpretation of the popular name, with all of the familiar languages swapped out for the hilarious parlance of a pirate. Some enterprising gif creators also created some fun moving images to capitalize on this hilarious meme. One of them rapidly cycles through the words of the copypasta, while another scrolls through Star Wars style with yellow text receding slowly back into a black background.
When you’re still willing to look down, I’m sure you must be a military fan too. Many navy military fans will be very keen on the navy challenge coins, which are usually a good gift for military friends as well as worth collecting. If you want to put the name of the military, the flag of the country, the logos, or even some kind of short meme you love, that’s pretty easy to do too. Whether you’re savoring a certain army meme or remembering a certain army man, these can be recorded with these challenge coins.
Any way you cut it, this meme has a rich, storied history. Even though it looks like the original poster created it ironically, it’s taken on a life of its own with song parodies, funny image memes, anime reinterpretations, and more!
