Sir, This Is a Wendy's

2018

Date: March 2018 · Place: 4chan greentext · Twitter · Wendy's drive-thru as conceit · Figures: Anonymous 4chan greentext author · Wendy's Corporation (unwitting beneficiary) · Tags: Greentext, Format, DiscourseShutdown 01. The Greentext In March 2018 a 4chan post recounts, in greentext, ordering at a Wendy's drive-thru while in the middle of an emotional monologue. The cashier responds: 'sir, this is a Wendy's.' The post screenshot reaches Twitter within days. The phrase detaches from the greentext immediately. By summer 2018 it is the default Twitter reply to any post where the author has launched into an unprompted philosophical, political, or sexual confession in an inappropriate venue. 02. Discourse Brake The format is precise. It accepts that the speaker's words exist; it refuses the premise that the current location is the right place for them. The line works against op-ed columnists in the comments of weather updates, against earnest replies to brand tweets, against any monologue that has wandered. Wendy's Corporation does not coin the phrase and does not officially adopt it. It does not need to. The chain becomes shorthand for any place where intense personal disclosure is socially inappropriate, which is to say almost everywhere on the internet. Sources • Know Your Meme, 'Sir, This Is a Wendy's' • Brian Feldman, 'Why "Sir, This Is a Wendy's" Is the Perfect Response,' New York magazine Intelligencer, 18 July 2018 • Reddit r/4chan archives, March 2018 thread captures