Meaning
What does Thank You for Coming to My TED Talk mean?
Thank You for Coming to My TED Talk, or Thanks For Comking to My TED Talk is a popular phrasal meme, said after someone makes an obscure point, reflecting on their own communication with irony.
It is a playful way of acknowledging that the speaker is aware they may have come across as overly confident or presented their ideas as being more profound than they actually are. Also, the phrase reflects on the popular TED Talk series, where in some cases the statements made by the performers are very obscure and meaningless.
It may be used similarly to the phrases I Digress or Two Cents.
Example: “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I’m going to revolutionize the world with my invention of the self-peeling banana. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.”
Origin
What's the origin of Thank You for Coming to My TED Talk?
According to Meme Documentation, the origin of the meme can be traced back to the BBC Sherlock fandom on Tumblr.
On May 28th, 2015, Tumblr user beysuspng reblogged one of their earlier posts that read “LISTEN UP: john and sherlock” with the following phrase “Thanks for Coming to My TED Talk.”
Despite its success, however, the expression didn’t spread beyond the Sherlock fandom on Tumblr for over two years after its inception. Instead, it remained an inside joke within the community.
Spread & Usage
How did Thank You for Coming to My TED Talk spread?
It was in 2017, that the phrase “Thank You for Coming to My TED Talk” received lots of recognition and a somewhat global presence, especially online. The meme began to expand outside of the Sherlock fandom in mid-2017, although at the time, it was still circulating on Tumblr.
It needed yet another year to make it to various other social media sites, like Twitter, however, by the end of the 2010’s, it was already recognized in several online communities, and began seeing usage in real life scenarios, worldwide.
Thanks for Coming to My TED Talk was first defined on Urban Dictionary in May 2018, when the meme began taking over the internet.
Since then, the expression may be encountered in several ways, both with image macro memes, as well as reaction GIFs, or as a text.
In 2020, the “Thank You for Coming to My TED Talk” began appearing on TikTok as well, following the extensive opinions and brainstorms of users.
External resources
- Meme Documentation — Explained: thanks for coming to my TED talk
- Know Your Meme – Thanks For Coming To My TED Talk