# Cheeky Nandos Cheeky Nandos is a British slang phrase for a casual trip to the Nando's restaurant chain that went viral in late 2014 alongside selfies of young men throwing the A-OK hand gesture. The phrase confused Americans so badly in 2015 that it kicked off a wave of explainer articles from UK media. ## Overview Cheeky Nandos is a British slang phrase describing a casual, spontaneous trip to the Nando's restaurant chain[1]. Starting in late 2014, the phrase started trending online alongside selfies of young men throwing the A-OK hand gesture, usually paired with heavy lad-culture captions[3]. The word "cheeky" in British English describes irreverent or mischievous behavior, and slapping it in front of Nando's turned an ordinary chicken meal into shorthand for a specific flavor of UK lad energy[2]. The phrase is inseparable from a very particular aesthetic of skinny jeans, gym vests, and hair gel that Urban Dictionary contributors documented in painful detail[2]. ## How It Spread The phrase picked up Twitter traction on January 19th, 2014, when user Marcus Butler tweeted about "cheeky Nandos" and pulled in over 3,400 favorites and 820 retweets across the next two years[3]. On October 26th, 2014, Twitter user @LukeLiddle posted a photograph of singer Morrissey throwing the A-OK hand sign on stage with the caption "When your Nandos is extra cheeky"[3]. Urban Dictionary caught on in late 2014, when user CheekiPeriPeri submitted an entry on December 21st tying the phrase to men wearing "skin-tight pants" and an "orgy of gel"[2]. A follow-up entry from user Rekt92 on March 27th, 2015 defined it as slang used by "fuckboys" on social media[2]. On May 9th, 2015, Tumblr user ahrned reblogged an explainer post that pulled over 58,300 notes in 72 hours[3]. The confusion turned international on May 12th, 2015, when BuzzFeed published a listicle of cheeky Nando's tweets alongside a separate article about baffled Americans[3]. Cosmopolitan UK followed with a piece describing how Tumblr had "descended into a pit of mass confusion and laughing at Americans" trying to work out what a cheeky Nando's even was[1]. ## How to Use The format typically pairs a selfie or group photo with a caption invoking "cheeky Nandos," often with the A-OK hand gesture[3]. Common conventions include heavy use of British lad vocabulary like "the lads," "top banter," and "smash it," plus references to skinny jeans, hype vests, and trips to the gym[2]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Cheeky Nandos? Cheeky Nandos is a British slang phrase for a spontaneous, casual trip to the Nando's restaurant chain that went viral online in late 2014[1]. ### Where did Cheeky Nandos come from? The earliest known use is a SoundCloud track uploaded by user Buzy Ray on November 25th, 2011, though the phrase only started trending on Twitter and Tumblr in 2014[3]. ### What does Cheeky Nandos mean? "Cheeky" is British slang for irreverent or mischievous behavior, so a cheeky Nandos is an impulsive lads' meal at the chicken chain, often tied to a specific lad-culture aesthetic[2]. ### How do you use Cheeky Nandos? People pair the phrase with selfies making the A-OK hand gesture and captions loaded with British lad slang like "top banter" and "the lads"[2]. ### Is Cheeky Nandos still popular? It is a classic UK meme that peaked in 2014 and 2015 when BuzzFeed and Cosmopolitan wrote about Americans being baffled by it, and it is still referenced as shorthand for lad culture[1]. ## References 1. [https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/news/a35663/americans-confused-cheeky-nandos/]() 2. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Cheeky%20Nandos]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cheeky-nandos]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/cheeky-nandos Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library