I Thought This Was America

Meaning

What does I Thought This Was America mean?

I thought this was America is a reaction meme that also has several snowclone interpretations.

The format’s essence is to express reluctance of accepting someone’s point in an argument.

Randy I thought this was America!

Origin

What's the origin of I Thought This Was America?

The original line was said by the character Randy from the satirical American TV show South Park, in season 9 episode 5 that aired in 2005.

During the episode, the Park Country PD makes several arrests on Randy. Each occasion he complains and says the line “I thought this was America!

Spread & Usage

How did I Thought This Was America spread?

The first community that started using the format was YTMND in 2005.

In 2007 there was a Yahoo Answers thread created to discuss both the episode and the meme.

From 2010, I thought this was America got featured on Urban Dictionary, afterwards Tumblr blogs and Reddit threads were born, dedicated to the format.

External resources

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