Meaning
What does Absolute Unit mean?
Absolute unit refers to a popular expression, originating from Twitter, calling out the sheer size of someone or something in a humorous manner.
While it is ignoring the fact that Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, it uses the word absolute in a praising manner, like Absolute Territory.
Origin
What's the origin of Absolute Unit?
The first tweet to posit the “absolute unit” expression was shared by @mrreptoid on December 13th, 2017, commenting on the sheer size of hotel manager David Morgan-Hewitt shared with two photos where the Madlad is posing with the Queen.
Following this tweet, “absolute unit” became more and more frequent on Twitter, as users would use it in reference to the size of objects and people.
“Absolute unit” was first defined on Urban Dictionary in January 2018.
Spread & Usage
How did Absolute Unit spread?
The beginning of 2018 saw the rise of the expression on Twitter, as in April, even The Museum of English Rural Life tweeted a picture of a large ram, referring to the animal as an “absolute unit”.
On April 17th, the MIT Technology Review Twitter account also used the expression, in relation to the world’s biggest aircraft.
Elon Musk also took to the Hype Train of “absolute unit” as he responded to the tweet with the aforementioned photo of the ram.
Upon the request of a user, he also changed his profile picture on Twitter to display the animal.
In response to this, The Museum of English Rural Life changed their profile picture to Musk, and their name to The Muskeum of Elongish Rural Life, with tweets related to Tesla Motors following.
The result of this meme collaboration was the announcement of Adam Koszary, the person who was behind @TheMERL tweets, that he was going to be Tesla’s social media manager, starting in July 2018, proving the CEO of the EV company had a bigger heart than an Elongated Muskrat.