# American Football Joke The American Football Joke, more commonly known as "Well At Least Our Schools Are Not A Shooting Range," is a recurring internet retort used by British and European users to deflect American criticism of their countries. Originating from a deleted tweet in 2015, the joke gained widespread traction through TikTok skits in early 2022, where British people delivering the punchline were represented by animals and creatures with grotesque teeth. The format became so overused that it spawned its own layer of mockery, with memes making fun of how predictable the comeback had gotten. ## Origin The earliest known version of this retort traces back to a now-deleted tweet from August 29, 2015[3]. The original post listed several American English preferences over British English: "It's mom not mum, it's chips not crisps, it's fries not chips, it's color not colour, it's soccer not football, it's football not rugby." A reply underneath simply read: "It's school not shooting range"[3]. The joke drew on real statistical disparities. A CNN analysis found that between January 2009 and May 2018, the United States experienced at least 288 school shootings, roughly 57 times more than the other six G7 nations combined[1]. That gap gave the retort its sting and made it a go-to talking point in US-UK internet arguments. On February 25, 2017, the screenshot of the tweet was posted to the Facebook page BritishMemes, where it picked up over 16,000 reactions and 27,000 shares over the following five years[3]. It also appeared on Reddit's r/shitAmericansSay in 2018, collecting more than 6,000 upvotes[3]. - **Platform:** Twitter (original tweet), Facebook / TikTok (viral spread) - **Creator:** Unknown (original deleted tweet), @vonviddy (popularized TikTok format), @owen2 (fish variant TikToker) - **Date:** 2015 ## Overview The American Football Joke follows a simple structure: an American user lists differences between American and British English or culture (mom vs. mum, chips vs. crisps, soccer vs. football), and a British person responds with some variation of "well at least our schools are not a shooting range"[3]. The retort references the disproportionately high rate of school shootings in the United States compared to other developed nations[1]. By 2022, the joke had been repeated so many times that it became a meme in its own right, not for the punchline itself but for how reflexively British internet users deployed it. TikTok creators began making skits where the British person delivering the line was represented by an ugly or disfigured character, often a fish with human-like teeth or a Bloodborne boss, mocking the predictability of the response[3]. ## How It Spread The joke circulated steadily on Reddit and Facebook for years, but its biggest viral moment came on TikTok in early 2022. On March 2, 2022, TikToker @vonviddy posted a skit playing both roles: as an American, he rattled off differences between British and American speech, while the British counterpart, portrayed as a disfigured creature, robotically repeated the school shooting line. The video pulled in over 5.2 million views within a month[3]. That format caught fire. On March 12, Twitter user @SAWARESEVEN posted an image of a capybara delivering the retort, earning over 700 likes[3]. Then on March 31, TikToker @owen2 uploaded a similar skit but used a photo of a sheepshead fish with eerily human-looking teeth as the British person. That video hit 4.9 million views in just six days[3]. The sheepshead fish, which had previously gone viral on its own in 2021 after a nine-pound specimen was caught at Jennette's Pier in North Carolina's Outer Banks, became a perfect visual stand-in for the "bad British teeth" stereotype[2]. The fish's rows of flat, human-like molars made it look absurdly like someone wearing dentures, and the image spread quickly across meme communities[2]. Earlier, on October 6, 2021, Instagram user vaxxey had used an image of Ludwig the Accursed from Bloodborne to represent British users reaching for the retort, gaining over 16,000 likes[3]. This established the visual language that @vonviddy and @owen2 later refined: the British responder should look monstrous, ugly, or inhuman, reinforcing that the comeback was so worn out it had become a joke about itself. ## How to Use The format typically works in two parts: 1. **The setup:** List American English or cultural norms as corrections to British ones ("It's fries, not chips," "It's soccer, not football"). The tone is smug or condescending. 2. **The punchline:** A British character, usually depicted with exaggerated bad teeth or as a grotesque creature, responds with "well at least our schools are not a shooting range" (or a variation). ## Cultural Impact The meme sits at the intersection of two well-worn internet traditions: Americans and British people roasting each other online, and dark humor about gun violence in the United States. The retort gained its power from real-world statistics. CNN's analysis showed that between 2009 and 2018, the US averaged roughly one school shooting per week, a rate that dwarfed every other G7 nation[1]. That factual basis made the joke hard to dismiss, even as people grew tired of hearing it. The 2022 TikTok wave shifted the meme's function. Instead of being a genuine comeback, it became a commentary on internet argument patterns themselves. The ugly fish and monster imagery wasn't mocking Americans or British people specifically. It was mocking the person who brings up school shootings in any online disagreement regardless of context. The "bad teeth" visual also played on the long-running American stereotype about British dental hygiene, adding another layer of mutual trolling[3]. ## Fun Facts - The sheepshead fish used in the most viral version of the meme is a real species known for its rows of human-like molars used for crushing shellfish. The particular specimen that went viral was caught in the Outer Banks of North Carolina[2]. - The US experienced 57 times as many school shootings as the other six G7 nations combined between 2009 and 2018, according to CNN's analysis[1]. - The original 2015 tweet that started the format was deleted, and the poster's identity is unknown. The joke only survived because screenshots were shared to Facebook and Reddit years later[3]. - Russia has its own "British people" meme that predates this one by over a decade. The phrase "British scientists" became a running joke in Russian internet culture for absurd research findings, entirely unrelated to the school shooting retort[4]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the American Football Joke? It's a meme format where British or European internet users respond to American cultural criticism with "well at least our schools are not a shooting range," referencing the high rate of school shootings in the US[3]. ### Where did the American Football Joke come from? The earliest known version appeared in a now-deleted tweet from August 29, 2015, which was later screenshot and shared to the Facebook page BritishMemes in February 2017[3]. ### What does the American Football Joke mean? The joke uses the disparity between US and European school shooting rates as a rhetorical trump card in online arguments about cultural differences between Americans and British people[1][3]. ### How do you use the American Football Joke? The typical format involves listing American vs. British cultural or language differences, followed by a British character (often depicted as a fish or ugly creature) responding with the school shooting retort[3]. ### Is the American Football Joke still popular? The format peaked on TikTok in early 2022 with videos reaching millions of views, but its usage has slowed as the meta-joke about its overuse became the dominant version[3]. ### Why is a fish used in the meme? TikToker @owen2 used a photo of a sheepshead fish with human-like teeth caught in North Carolina's Outer Banks, playing on the American stereotype about British people having bad teeth[2][3]. ### What is the Bloodborne connection? Instagram user vaxxey used an image of Ludwig the Accursed, a boss from the video game Bloodborne, to represent British people reflexively using the retort. The post gained over 16,000 likes in October 2021[3]. ### How many school shootings has the US had? CNN found at least 288 school shootings in the United States between January 2009 and May 2018, 57 times more than the other six G7 countries combined[1]. ### Who made the most viral TikTok version? TikToker @vonviddy posted a skit on March 2, 2022, that reached 5.2 million views. TikToker @owen2 followed on March 31 with the fish variant, hitting 4.9 million views in six days[3]. ### Why do people mock this joke? By the early 2020s, the retort had been used so frequently in online arguments that it became seen as a cliché, prompting memes that made fun of British users for always defaulting to the same line[3]. ## References 1. [School shootings in the US compared with the rest of the world | CNN]() 2. [Fish with human-looking teeth terrifies beachgoers in US | The Independent]() 3. [American Football Joke - Know Your Meme]() 4. [British scientists (meme)]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/american-football-joke Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library