About
Screaming Cat, also known as Yamato Cat, refers to a reaction image series of a photoshopped image of a cat crying. This is occasionally featured with the caption “yamero,” the Japanese language word for “stop it.”
Origin
On August 15th, 2015, Tumblr user busket posted several pictures of their black and white cat Inkky. They captioned the post “the struggle.” One of the photographs featured the original image of the “Screaming Cat” before being photoshopped. Within four years, the post received more than 10,000 notes (shown below, left).
Three days later, Tumblr user nicolas-px posted a photoshopped version of Inkky. The post received more than 1,200 notes in less than four years (shown below, right).
Spread
Two years later, on January 15th, 2017, an anonymous 4chan user posted the image on the /v/ message board (shown below).
On January 21st, 2017, the Twitter account for ShitpostBot 5000 posted the image of the cat in an image macro template, turning the image into the auto-correct answer for the expression “AAAA.” The post received more than 1,800 retweets and 2,800 likes in two years (shown below, left).
The following day, Twitter user @watery_day tweeted the original image of the cat. They wrote, “this is my cat. literally. her name is inkky and she’s 7 years old.” The post received more than 5 retweets and 35 likes (shown below, right).
On February 17th, 2017, Redditor tylercanda on the /r/dankmemes subreddit posted an image macro of the cat with the caption “When the school shooter gets shot before he can kill you.” The post received more than 1,700 points (97% upvoted) and 60 comments in two years (shown below).
Several weeks later, on April 3rd, 2017, FunnyJunk camzone used the image as a reaction to a comment. They wrote, “Y-YAMETE!! STOP YOUR FILTHY GAJIN LIES. A-ANATA BAKA *cries in japanese and runs away.*” The post received dmore tahn 30 upvotes in two years (shown below, left).
The following year, on February 14th, 2018, Redditor Funfoil_Hat posted a variation in the /r/me_irl subreddit, adding the caption “The FBI agent in my computer watching me drink my sixth bottle of ranch.” The post received more than 8,100 points (98% upvoted) and 80 comments in one year (shown below, right).
On January 21st, 2019, @watery_day tweeted the original picture with the caption “this cat here? this crying cat meme? this is my cat! her name is inkky and shes 8 years old!!! i want everyone who uses the meme to know who she is, just like cat no banana/anfisa! her twitter is @its_inkky!” Within one month, the post received more than 25,000 retweets and 55,000 likes (shown below).
Various Examples
