Twitter users flooded the president's mentions with creepy passages and haunting images after he announced that he tested positive for COVID-19. No, it's not some otherworldly hex on Trump — this is just another meme.
President announced his and first lady Melania Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis via Twitter (of course) on Thursday night, and social media exploded. Amid well wishes for a speedy recovery, glee at the diagnosis, and discourse over each response, Twitter users also started responding with messages paired with creepy images. When translated from Amharic to English, the messages warned of a "sinful soul" beyond salvation.
The practice is similar to K-pop stans flooding mentions with fancams to derail a conversation as a form of trolling.
CARD ID: 515002
Don't be alarmed — you might not be familiar with the language, but it's not an "evil" one just because you don't recognize it.
Amharic is actually one of the official languages of Ethiopia, with roughly 22 million speakers worldwide according to a 2007 census report. It's related to Ge'ez, also known as Ethiopic, which is used in the Ethiopian Orthodox church's liturgical texts. Ethiopian gospel music is often sung in Amharic.
But because the Amharic alphabet is so different from the ones the Western world is used to, the language became a copypasta. People would reply to otherwise innocuous messages in Amharic, and add an unsettling image. Earlier this year, a Reddit user asked for a translation of a screenshot of a text conversation, in which one person admitted they were on acid and the other replied in Amharic.
"Your family will spill the blood because of the actions you took. They feel eternal pain for your actions," the translated reply says. "Tears that flow from me will also change, and the pain they feel will be unbearable. You will soon be alone."
Over the course of the night, the trend evolved from pairing Amharic with demonic or Satanic images in Trump's replies to using surreal and humorous ones.
Tweet may have been deleted
CARD ID: 515004
Tweet may have been deleted
CARD ID: 515003
Tweet may have been deleted
Tweet may have been deleted
CARD ID: 515005
Tweet may have been deleted
While it may be funny to pair an unfamiliar language with an absurd image, Amharic speakers have asked Twitter users to stop pushing the meme. In July, Twitter user tsukkiskys, who speaks the language, wrote that their language "ain't some demonic copypasta."
"Stop viewing the world from your little 'western bubble," they tweeted. "Other writing systems exist. Other languages exist. Show some respect please."
Tweet may have been deleted
Some replied to replies using the copypasta asking to refrain from using Amharic as a meme.
Tweet may have been deleted
Bottom line, this isn't part of some greater conspiracy to curse the president. At the same time, though, responding with a culturally insensitive meme probably isn't the way to reply to Trump's COVID diagnosis.
TopicsDonald TrumpMemesCOVID-19
(责任编辑：知識)
This 'sh*tpost' bot makes terrible memes so you don't have to
Ted Cruz has a unsettling new 'beard' and people can't look away
Idris Elba's Golden Globes selfie with Daniel Craig is 007 perfection
This person's 45'The Flying Bum' aircraft crashes during second test flightU.S. government issues warning on McDonald's recalled wearable devices
Last week's McDonald's debacle, which saw the fast food giant forced to recall its first wearable tr
...[详细]Huawei CFO arrested, faces extradition to U.S.
Huawei's relationship with the U.S. just took a turn for the worse. Several months after Donald Trum
...[详细]PepsiCo robots deliver snacks to college students
You're hungry, you're parched, you're terrified of the outside world, and the prospect of moving off
...[详细]'Meditations' delivers a daily dose of play to keep you chill in 2019
Video games wear all the hats.They're an escape. An outlet. A distraction. A muse. We play them to r
...[详细]Balloon fanatic Tim Kaine is also, of course, very good at harmonica
You know the old saying: the people want a president they can drink a beer with and they also want a
...[详细]Xiaomi's next phone might have a 48
The smartphone megapixel wars aren't over yet. Chinese electronics company Xiaomi teased a new smart
...[详细]Tumblr will ban all adult content on Dec. 17
Tumblr will ban all adult content from its platform beginning Dec. 17.The new policy was announced j
...[详细]These countries' mobile internet speeds are way faster than WiFi
Switched off your WiFi on your phone because of bad download speeds? You're not alone.According to a
...[详细]Carlos Beltran made a very interesting hair choice
Apparently the Texas Rangers' Carlos Beltran is taking hair advice from another Carlos in sports --
...[详细]These people aren't real. Can you tell?
The image above looks like a collage of photographs, but in fact, it's been generated by an artifici
...[详细]Mom discovers security cameras hacked, kids' bedroom livestreamed
Amazon's Jeff Bezos announces he and wife MacKenzie are getting a divorce
