About
Expanding Brain is a meme in which a series of images compare the brain size of a person relative to a certain factor. Though the expanding brain is usually implied to showcase intellectual superiority over various objects, it is more often used in an ironic sense to imply the opposite, where objects of derision are implied to be of higher standard than objects that are usually highly regarded. For example, when used with Whomst, a person who uses “who” will be shown with the smallest brain, while a person who uses the most ridiculous variation, i.e. “whomst’d’ve”, will be shown with the largest brain.
Origin
This meme originated as part of the “Whomst” meme where the left column was derivations of the word “Who” were paired with increasingly elaborate pictures of brains depending on how intense the “who” variation was. One of the most popular early examples was posted to /r/dankmemes on January 31st, 2017 by janskishimanski[1] in a post that gained nearly 1,200 upvotes.
Spread
As “whomst” variations on the Expanding Brain template grew more elaborate, other subjects were applied to Expanding Brain, such as video games and politics. Expanding Brain variations continued appearing on /r/dankmemes and /r/MemeEconomy throughout the month of February.
Various Examples
