It’s barely the end of January and already 2017 has been a stellar year for memes. With the likes of #SaltBae sprinkling some much needed vigour into the internet’s various forums, it was only a matter of time until something else popped up. And that something else is “Cash Me Outside”.
Okay, this one is going to need some explaining.
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“Cash me outside, howbah dah”, to give it its full name, became this year’s latest phrase to utter to your friends on Facebook, and stems from the, uh, heartland of memes — the Dr. Phil Show.
A brief history
In September 2016, 13-year-old Danielle appeared on the show alongside her mother. She had a propensity to steal cars, get into physical fights with her caregivers, and utter English words with a very unique accent. Because Dr. Phil’s audience barely takes anything seriously, their giggling somewhat annoyed the girl.
She then uttered the accent-rich words “catch me outside, how about that” to the audience, effectively challenging them to a parking lot brawl.
A clip of the incident (above) was published to Dr. Phil Show’s YouTube channel soon after the episode aired, which has since garnered over 16-million views and 118 000 likes. According to SocialBlade, Dr. Phil Show’s channel has been gaining in average daily and monthly video views since the clip was published.
Note: her catchphrase can be heard around the 3:20 mark.
The line is now deliberately spelled incorrectly to emphasise her heavy accent, and thus, Cash Me Outside was born.
The evolution of the meme
Unlike #SaltBae which seemingly exploded overnight, Cash Me Outside took a few months to enter the internet’s heart.
In early January, the image macro (an image of Danielle, with her catchphrase in Impact font) appeared on Facebook thanks to Digital Memes.
‘Cash Me Outside’ although poking fun at unique accents, also accentuates how memes can evolve in a relatively short period
Know Your Meme reports that it’s this post that really kicked off the meme’s popularity. The post garnered over 14 000 likes, and since then, a number of different combinations of the image, her catchphrase and other clips GIFs of the girl began appearing on image boards and forums.
Entries for the meme now appear on the likes of Reddit, Urban Dictionary and macro generator Memecrunch. And if that isn’t enough, there’s even a trap track with Danielle’s vocals dubbed in for good measure.
The evolution of the meme’s tone is also interesting to note. Although it predominantly pokes fun at the girl’s thick accent, it’s also being used as a statement of triumph and defiance.
Roses are red
My president is black
And if you’re a Trump supporter
cash me outside howbow dah pic.twitter.com/Vb7yqjQF6s— J. (@farazziraz) January 20, 2017
In some cases, users aren’t using images of Danielle in posts at all, suggesting that the real cultural clout is behind the actual phrase, not Danielle’s actions like more recent catchphrase memes.
Howbah dah fake news?
While it is typical of the internet to see the light-hearted in the otherwise grim, news began circulating this week that Danielle committed suicide as the result of her newfound internet fame.
Fake news site NBC-News.net published the report suggesting that the girl was “found dead in her room on January 23.”
“Danielle was found unresponsive by her mother in her bedroom. She was then rushed to the hospital and later pronounced dead late Monday evening,” the article continued.
The likes of Snopes have since rubbished these reports, pointing out that NBC-News.net was also involved in spreading 2016’s Stevie Wonder death hoax.
Good memes, bad memes
As far as memes go, Cash Me Outside is reminiscent of other catchphrase memes like Antoine Dodson’s 2010 Bed Intruder, or Sweet Brown’s Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That, which rose to popularity two years later.
But will Cash Me ever be as over-posted as these two internet stalwarts? Only time will tell.
Be sure to let us know your thoughts on the meme in the comments section below.
Feature image: Dr. Phil Show via YouTube
