Meaning
What does Can of Whoopass mean?
Can of Whoopass refers to a common phrase threatening to open one of them and beat someone up.
The expression is used either as an intimidation or a straight up warning before you Mollywhop someone else.
Origin
What's the origin of Can of Whoopass?
Although the exact origin of “Can of Whoopass” is not known, according to Google Ngrams, the phrase itself started emerging online in the 1990’s, so its real-life usage can probably be traced back to the 1980’s or even the ‘70’s.
The expression was first defined on Urban Dictionary on November 15th, 2003, with countless other entries following in the subsequent years.
Spread & Usage
How did Can of Whoopass spread?
“Can of Whoopass” was popularized among the masses in 2014, when on September 7th, the Season 12 Episode 11 of Family Guy was first aired, featuring a short sketch of Peter opening up a “Can of Whoopass”.
In the following years, the expression spawned countless image macro memes of people opening or threatening to open a “Can of Whoopass”, as well as a copypasta, originating from the r/ShowerThoughts subreddit, where it was first posted in a thread by u/mainstreetmark on June 18th, 2015.
External resources
- Urbandictionary.com – A can of whoopass