What Is 'Quirk Chungus,' The New Insult Being Bandied About Online?

The great pantheon of highly specific internet insults has recently seen a new addition: Quirk Chungus. The term caught fire over the past two weeks thanks to a viral video and the revival of an old webcomic, bringing a hitherto unidentified person archetype into stark clarity. Here's what it means.

What Is A "Quirk Chungus"?

The term "Quirk Chungus" comes from iFunny user Big_Ed. In November of 2020, the user posted a panel mocking a recent trend of webcomics that center around a white heterosexual couple. Big_Ed joked that these comics feature a mildly kooky Millennial woman whose defining characteristics include liking pizza and calling dogs "doggos and puppers." Her partner is a "man child" who likes Star Wars and otherwise has no personality.

There are several popular webcomics, particularly on Instagram, that appear to align with the strawmen portrayed in Big_Ed's meme, including Our Super Adventure, Sarah's Scribbles and Catana Comics to name a few. The genre has met with critics in the past. For example, in 2021, a Redditor in /r/redscarepod poked fun at it with a Starter Pack meme.

How Did "Quirk Chungus" Become Popular?

Once the archetype hit the internet, it remained mostly niche before people started using it to comment on real-life people. In early March of 2024, Twitter user @AlphaFox78 reposted a video from TikTok that showed a woman introducing her husband with a barrage of cringe terms and slang. These include calling him "shnookums," taking a "sippy sippy" of iced coffee, and saying she was a barista and "he was le customer."

To be clear, the original poster made the video in parody of Millennials. Still, it's a brutally tough watch, and users quickly identified that the couple matched the original "Quirk Chungus" archetype to a T.

From there, several previous examples of "cringe" white women began being retrofitted into the Quirk Chungus archetype, such as the AddictedToAna IHOP Dance.

For the full history of Quirk Chungus, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.