Meaning
What does Bing Chilling mean?
Bing Chilling is not a search browser alternative of Netflix and Chill, rather it refers to a popular internet meme, where John Cena is speaking Chinese, with an ice cream cone in his hand, saying the chinese phrase “Bing Qi Lin” (meaning ice cream) multiple times.
John Cena shared the video online, to express his love for ice cream and Fast and Furious 9, stating that his love for the latter exceeded his appreciation for the refreshing dessert.
The video was quickly adopted by online communities, creating false captions, often saying that the wrestling star is in a dire situation, while other meme edits were also shared, distorting and emphasizing the phrase “Bing Chilling”, captioning it phonetically.
Origin
What's the origin of Bing Chilling?
The “Bing Chilling” sensation reached the internet shortly after John Cena’s apology for referring to Taiwan as a proper country.
The ice cream video, where the wrestling star, and meme sensation is speaking Mandarin Chinese and is holding the dessert as a microphone was shared on May 10th, 2021 on his Weibo account, promoting the upcoming release of Fast and Furious 9.
It was first reposted by YouTube user ProximateSineYT on June 2nd, 2021, making it available to a more prominent audience online.
Spread & Usage
How did Bing Chilling spread?
The “Bing Chilling” video was first translated by YouTube user adrian, who shared his work privately on June 19th, 2021, rating the celebrity’s pronunciation poorly.
In the following weeks, several other attempts at translating the video were shared online, mostly on YouTube, while meme edits and parodies also began appearing.
These parodies ranged between fake captions, and distortions and remixes, with several remixed editions of the original song, sung by Cena having been shared on sites like SoundCloud as well as Spotify.
“Bing Chilling” quickly turned into a contender for the most memed Chinese expression, even defying Cao Ni Ma. It also turned into a viral TikTok trend in November 2022, where both Mandarin native speakers, as well as Americans are complaining about the detrimental effects that the meme has caused on the concept of eating ice cream.
The sensation also caused the creation of other internet memes, incuding the Sponge Man Ice Cone image macro series, which depicts a heavily edited Patrick Star from the SpongeBob SquarePants series, holding an ice cream cone.
Overall, “Bing Chilling” became an unexpectedly successful and viral meme, conquering all the random parts of the internet, ranging from Weibo to YouTube, from TikTok to Reddit. Over the years, it became an inalienable addition to the John Cena meme lore, as well as the concept of eating ice cream during hot summer days.
External resources
- KnowYourMeme – Bing Chilling
- Urban Dictionary – Bing Chilling