AboutWhat does the meme depict?
The 'Facepalm' meme visually depicts someone placing their hand on their face, indicating a reaction of frustration, embarrassment, or disbelief. This nonverbal gesture is used globally to signal dismay, often in response to another's error or a personal oversight. The template varies, but typically features an image or a sequence of images showing this expressive action. 'Facepalm' memes are commonly shared online as static images, GIFs, or videos, embodying a reaction to embarrassing or frustrating scenarios.
OriginWho did it first?
The gesture of facepalming has been a part of human expression long before the advent of the internet, reflected in art and media across cultures. A notable early depiction is the 1896 statue 'Caïn' by Henri Vidal in Tuileries Garden, Paris, which portrays a figure with a hand over the face, illustrating extreme despair. The term 'facepalm' and its cultural significance saw an uptick with widespread recognition through a 1990 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, where the character Captain Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart, famously facepalms in response to a stressful situation. The earliest documented online use of the term 'facepalm' appeared in an Urban Dictionary entry on February 10th, 2004, where a user named Moondog described it as a physical response often expressed in text as '*facepalm*'.[1]
Origin: 2007