Meaning
What does Why Is The Rum Gone mean?
“Why is the rum gone?” – a line uttered by the character Jack Sparrow in 2003 blockbuster movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.
The quote got famous on the internet as a remix meme, with various video clips featuring it as their central element.
Origin
What's the origin of Why Is The Rum Gone?
In the movie, Captain Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swan both end up stranded together stranded on a deserted island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea.
Jack, who is already familiar with the location, reveals to Elizabeth that there is a hidden storeroom filled with rum under the island.
After Jack drunkenly falls asleep, Elizabeth uses the rum to torch the whole island with the aim to give out signals to nearby ships.
Once Jack wakes up, he realizes that there is nothing left on the island and confusedly asks: “But why is the rum gone?”
Spread & Usage
How did Why Is The Rum Gone spread?
Fans of the movie franchise enjoyed the catchphrase greatly and it was really big among the community after the movie’s release. However, the popularity started to decay soon after 2003, the year of the movie’s release.
In 2006, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest premiered, and in the movie the catchphrase was featured again with jack saying “Why is the rum always gone?”
This ignited the hype yet again and Why is the rum gone? Was starting to become a meme.
In 2007 a YouTube video was uploaded by DaJugglingFool that remixed the original scene into a music video clip.
In the following years, YouTube was flooded with various remixes of the phrase, implemented to different movies scenes and other things.

External resources
- Fandom – PotC Wiki
- Urban Dictionary – Why is the rum gone?