About
“What in Tarnation?” is a rhetorical question meaning “what in damnation?”, which is often associated with Americans living in the Southern United States expressing incredulous bewilderment.
Origin
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary,[5] the term “tarnation” originated in the late 1700s as a euphemism for “damnation.” On May 13th, 2003, Urban Dictionary user Ron Jackson submitted an entry for “what in tarnation?”, defining it as a phrase used by American inhabiting areas south of the Mason-Dixon line.
Spread
On September 23rd, 2015, Redditor holmoris submitted a post asking why the word “tarnation” was used an as an expletive in online games to /r/OutOfTheLoop.[3] On December 11th, 2016, Tumblr user TheOneOddGirl[4] submitted a photoshopped picture of a man with a stretched-out face peering at a tablet computer with the caption “When you find a city slicker on FarmersOnly.com / wot n ternation” (shown below). Within one month, the post gained over 59,300 notes. On December 30th, Redditor Nirocart64 reposted the image to /r/dankmemes,[1] where it received upwards of 19,600 points (90% upvoted) and 270 comments.
On January 8th, 2017, Tumblr[8] user banjirou posted a photograph of a Shiba Inu dog wearing a cowboy hat with the caption “what in tarnation” (shown below, left). Over the next eights days, the post gathered upwards of 12,000 notes. On January 10th, Twitter user @beetaylora[10] reposted the image with the caption “Everyone in Alabama,” accumulating over 16,500 likes and 7,300 retweets within one week (shown below, right)..
On January 11th, 2017, Twitter user @Vincent_Ha1[7] posted the Shibu Inu image macro along with the message “When your truck isn’t the loudest at Sonic” (shown below, left). Within five days, the tweet received more than 16,200 likes and 7,100 retweets. On January 12th, 2016, Twitter user @memeprovider[6] tweeted the dog photo in reaction to people saying “you all” instead of “y’all” (shown below, middle). Within four days, the tweet gained over 23,000 likes and 10,400 retweets. The following day, Twitter user @TweetLikeAGirl posted the Shibu Inu photo with the message “’I’m sorry we don’t have sweet tea’,” gaining over 30,800 likes and 15,000 retweets in 72 hours (shown below, right).
The Cowboy Hat
On February 22nd, 2017, dozens of “wot n tarnation” parody image macros with a a cowboy hat photoshopped over the subject’s head began to surface on Reddit’s /r/dankmemes[11] and /r/memeeconomy.[21] In addition to the exploitable image of a cowboy hat, many instances also featured alternate captions that rhyme with the snowclone“what in (x)-ation.”
Search Interest
External References
[2]Urban Dictionary – what in tarnation!
[3]Reddit – Whats with the sudden obsession with the word tarnation
[4]Tumblr – thatoneoddgirl
[5]Online Etymology Dictionary – tarnation
[6]Twitter – @memeprovider
[7]Twitter – @Vincent_Ha1
[8]Tumblr – godyatta’s reblog of banjirou
[9]Twitter – @TweetLikeAGirl
[10]Twitter – @beetaylora
[11]Reddit – Search Results for ‘Tarnation’
[13]Reddit – web md city slickers
[15]Reddit – Wat in Crustacean
[16]Reddit – I h8 when this happens
[17]Reddit – Wot ’n _____-ation memes popping up. INVEST wisely
[18]Reddit – What in tarnation memes have been around for a while, but appear to be on a rise. Buy while you can.
[19]Reddit – Wot n Ternation rhyming memes are rising! Invest now!!
[20]Reddit – Wot_n_tarnation