I have paws – where did it come from, what does it mean, the history of the appearance of the meme

History of the paw meme

Despite the fact that for the first time a picture with a cat and the inscription “I have paws” appeared less than a year ago, it is no longer possible to say for sure when, where and for what reason this happened for the first time. Just like the name of the author, so the joke can be considered folk.

All that has so far been able to prove to network investigators is that the story of the “pawed” cat began in January 2017 in one of the public. The first picture to be embellished with the words “I have paws” was a photo of a doctor cat trying in vain to open a first aid kit.

The meme was immediately liked by netizens, it was willingly liked. But full-fledged glory fell on a helpless animal only in the summer. The picture was seen, appreciated and posted in the mega-popular public “Eaglet”. It seems that after that publication of the unfortunate cat, everyone who is not lazy reposted to their page. Well, except for those with paws, of course.

Know your heroes

Unlike the author of the paw meme, its main character is very well known. According to some resources, he was a cat who previously lived in one of the communal apartments in the city of Kurgan. It is not clear why this sweetest creature did not please the neighbor of his owners, but he began to seek the eviction of the animal in all possible and impossible ways. And in the end, even filed a lawsuit against him.

Then the story of the confrontation between an adult man and an animal attracted the attention of journalists, and photographs of the “defendant” cat filled the Internet space along with a story about his hard life. By the way, the court ended up not on his side and ordered the cat to leave the occupied territory. It is not known for certain what the famous beast is doing now, whether the glory that suddenly fell upon him adorned a hard life. We hope that he is doing well, otherwise it is difficult for him, he has paws.

What does all of this mean?

If initially the meme was just another joke about cats, today this excuse for doing nothing is also used by their big brothers, that is, people. It is enough to say “I have paws” – and everyone around understands that you can not expect results.

The meaning that this expression has acquired by spreading among the users of the Web can be described as “I can’t do it.” It is used in an ironic way and very often implies that it is simply too lazy to take on this or that business. Such is the excuse for those who prefer to sit in social networks, instead of working or in any other way to benefit society.

And the bearded meme!

Surely many social media users who were born in the last century, seeing this meme for the first time, could not help feeling that somewhere they had already heard it. The most meticulous managed to find the original source: not the most famous cartoon about the tari bird. He was sometimes shown in the program “Good night, kids!”. In addition to the informative component, the cartoon carried the right message that brushing your teeth is a necessity.

The main character of the story was a crocodile who neglected this procedure. As a result, his teeth, of course, hurt. And only a small nimble bird Tari could help the reptile, which cleaned its fangs. In justification for his inaction, the crocodile then said that he himself could not do all this, because … right, he had paws. I wonder why none of the Soviet children came up with this quote to dissuade from lessons, school shifts and other unpleasant things?

Cartoon “Bird Tari”

Unexpected turn

The story about the “pawed” cat was continued. As soon as they beat a well-aimed phrase. For this, police cats were invented (“you put drugs on yourself, I have paws”), and scientists (“I would do your homework for you, but I have paws”), and conquering warriors (“you already rob and burn yourselves, we have paws”), and a whole detachment of other lazy mustachios.

By the way, the creators of memes were not limited to cats, as many of them rightly noted, other animals also have paws and a lack of motivation: squirrels, bunnies, cubs and other cuteness.

But one day, fluffy heroes came to replace lazy animals. It all started with a photo of a cat who “helped” the owner to screw in the light bulbs. “The cat that spits on the fact that he has paws, but just takes it and does it,” read the caption. And users agreed: it’s really cool. The new trend was immediately picked up, and on this wave there appeared both a pig, whose paws are also not a hindrance, and a pig, who didn’t care that he had paws, and went to drive on the board.

This is admission!

The fame of the paw meme has reached the advertising departments of large companies. The Eldorado company decided to use the product of folk creativity. Based on the famous meme, they filmed a video for Ukrainian television. It is difficult to judge how their paws coped with this task, but it can be argued that this is a transition to a new level for a folk meme.

Advertising “Eldorado” on the theme “I have paws”

The popularity of the meme “I have paws” is quite simple to explain: everyone’s favorite animal plus a slogan that is suitable for all occasions. And, voila, the Russian language has become even richer, and the speech of Internet users has become more figurative.