9+10

Meaning

What does 9+10 mean?

9+10 refers to a popular math problem that was turned into a viral meme on Vine.

The Vine was created as a joke, depicting a young kid being filmed by someone older, presumably his brother, who tells the Youngin “You stupid.”

When the kid denies this claim, he is asked “What’s 9+10” to which he replies “21”, which leads to his brother confirm his statement: “You stupid”.

It is also referenced as “What’s nine plus ten?” or “What’s 9 plus 10?” as well, spawning parodies and memes online.

via MEME

Origin

What's the origin of 9+10?

The original Vine was uploaded by users @DREHUPEMSU and @WESTROSECRAN on June 22n, 2013.

It depicts a kid being accused of being stupid, then being presented with the titular math problem, answering twenty-one, to which the man calling him stupid repeats his claim.

The Vine achieved great success in a short spawn of time, spreading both in the Vine app, as well as on YouTube Vine compilations.

Spread & Usage

How did 9+10 spread?

The Vine would gain a lot of popularity online, with remixes appearing on Vine and reposts appearing on YouTube, as early as July 2014.

The same year, the website Huzzlers published a hoax article about the “The 21 Kid” missing.

It achieved a lot of attention on the web, as many users were talking about it on message boards and forums.

The original poster of the Vine then reacted with a video, showing an image of the kid, assuring everyone he was fine.

During the summer of 2019, the “9+10” meme experienced a resurgence in its popularity as it would appear in YouTube videos, as well as Instagram, Twitter and iFunny posts.

On October 3rd, 2020, YouTube user wavywebsurf uploaded a video, diving into the story of the hoax about the “21 kid” missing.

In January 2021, a Twitter account, with the name of @twentyonecount, aiming at counting down the days until September 10th, 2021, or 09/10/21.

This initiative would spawn more memes on sites like Instagram and Twitter, while also boosting the popularity of the meme.

External resources

More interesting stuff