SpongeBob SquarePants: Patrick’s “I Don’t Get It” Meme Explained

SpongeBob SquarePants is one of the most memeable shows out there, and here’s how Patrick Star’s “I Don’t Get It” catchphrase spawned its own meme.

SpongeBob SquarePants’ best friend Patrick Star is always blurting out quotable lines, and one of his most frequently uttered catchphrases has become a popular meme – here’s the “I Don’t Get It” meme explained. Stephen Hillenburg’s hilariously surreal cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants began airing on Nickelodeon way back in 1999 and was a massive part of many people’s childhoods. While its popularity may have waned somewhat in recent years, it has become fruitful fodder for the meme-making community that grew up watching and loving it.

It’s hard to deny just how popular SpongeBob SquarePants memes are. On meme documentation site Know Your Meme there are currently over 14,000 SpongeBob-related meme images while r/BikiniBottomTwitter – a subreddit dedicated to sharing memes about the cartoon and its many quirky characters – boasts over four million subscribers. To commemorate the show’s 20th anniversary back in 2019, Nickelodeon released a line of SpongeBob Squarepants figurines based on popular memes (including “Mocking SpongeBob” and “Handsome Squidward”) that almost immediately sold out when it dropped online.

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Bikini Bottom’s resident starfish Patrick Star is one of SpongeBob SquarePants’ funniest characters, so it’s no surprise he’s also one of its most meme-able. The dumb-but-lovable BFF of SpongeBob has spawned many hilarious internet in-jokes, from the “Surprised Patrick” meme to “Savage Patrick.”. While it’s not one of the most popular Patrick Star memes out there, the “I Don’t Get It” meme is just as funny and usable.

Patrick’s “I Don’t Get It” meme is made up of a screencap from SpongeBob SquarePants season 3 episode “Pranks A Lot” which follows SpongeBob and Patrick Star as they visit joke store Palace of Pranks to shop for the ultimate gag item to prank Bikini Bottom residents with. The scene the screencap comes from sees Palace of Pranks owner Frank prank Patrick with a stick of exploding chewing gum which causes his head to blow off, leaving just a singular bone in its wake. Being a little slowwitted, Patrick doesn’t get the gag and subsequently utters – “I don’t get it.”

The “I Don’t Get It” meme is sometimes accompanied by different SpongeBob SquarePants screenshots – including one from season 2 episode “Survival Of The Idiots” which features Patrick sporting a massive conehead – but its meaning remains the same. It’s basically a meme deployed during online interactions when a person is confused and doesn’t understand what is going on, or when their mind has been metaphorically blown by a new piece of information.

Next: SpongeBob SquarePants: The Real Reason Patrick Star Is So Dumb

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