Meaning
What does Inquiring Minds Want to Know mean?
Inquiring Minds Want to Know is a reference to- and a common misspelling of an old slogan of “The National Enquirer,” originally written as “Enquiring Minds Want to Know.”
The phrase is expressing that the nature of a curious mind requires it to learn and know as much as possible. And it bears similarity to The More You Know, as both expressions result in an increased Desire to Know More.
“Inquiring Minds Want to Know” turned into a popular pop culture phenomenon, being adopted as an idiomatic expression, appearing on memes, as well as in movies and magazines.
Origin
What's the origin of Inquiring Minds Want to Know?
The slogan appeared as the catchphrase associated with the conservative tabloid newspaper, “The National Enquirer” in the late 1970’s, with its original form being “Enquiring Minds Want to Know.”
Overtime, the alternative spelling of the word “enquiring” became more widely associated with the slogan, appearing as “Inquiring Minds Want to Know”.
Over time many people adopted the expression in a number of situations, turning the slogan into a colloquial phrase.
Spread & Usage
How did Inquiring Minds Want to Know spread?
“Inquiring Minds Want to Know” in its current form outgrew the popularity of the original expression; “Enquiring Minds Want to Know,” appearing in a wide range of contexts, including movies, books and journals, not to mention conversations.
It was trademarked by “The National Enquirer” as “Inquiring Minds Want to Know” in 1987.
The phrase would also appear in a number of popular culture media, such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” as well as the song of “Weird Al” Yankovic titled “Midnight Star.”
Memes, featuring the expression also began surfacing in the early 2010s, appearing on meme sites like and message boards, like Reddit and 9GAG, while it also became a popular hashtag on Twitter, Tumblr as well as Imgur.
