Corn Cobbed

2011catchphraseclassic

Corn Cobbed is Weird Twitter slang coined in a 2011 Dril tweet, describing someone who attracts an online pile-on and then loudly insists they don't care, proving the opposite. It broke into wider political discourse in mid-2017 after several centrist pundits publicly misread the term as a homophobic slur.

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Overview

Corn Cobbed is a piece of Weird Twitter slang for someone who attracts an online pile-on and then insists loudly they don't care, which only proves how much they do. The term traces to a single 2011 tweet by @dril about a person shrinking into a literal corn cob while shouting 'i'm not owned'1. It is used interchangeably with 'owned' or 'dunked on,' but with the specific implication that the target keeps digging by protesting too much4.

By 2017 the phrase also picked up a second life as a pejorative label for centrist political pundits. That shift happened after several high-profile centrists on Twitter mistook 'corn cobbed' for a homophobic slur and complained about it in public, which promptly got them corn cobbed themselves6.

How It Spread

For roughly six years the tweet stayed an in-joke among Weird Twitter fans, moving through the timeline the way Milkshake Duck did before jumping into news writing4. That changed at the end of June 2017. On June 26th, user @_Chilladelphia replied to a healthcare thread from centrist commentator Candice Aiston with a doctored photo of Aiston sporting corn cobs for eyebrows2. Aiston dismissed the reply as a Bernie bro, and user @ironghazi screencapped the exchange with the caption 'CORNCOBBED ONLINE'3.

The next day, journalist John Stoehr asked publicly what 'corn cobbed' even meant, then followed up by accusing socialists of using homophobic imagery. Both tweets were later deleted. The confusion likely came from Urban Dictionary, where every entry for 'corn cob' describes a sex act5.

The pattern repeated on August 2nd, 2017 when journalist Yashar Ali posted a 'Centrist Corncob' graphic of Kamala Harris and noted how Bernie Sanders supporters were mobilizing against her6. Pundit Al Giordano quote-tweeted Ali and claimed the phrase had homophobic and rape-culture roots7. Later that day, former Hillary Clinton chief strategist Neera Tanden made the same claim8. Both were mocked online, and the episodes locked in 'corn cobbed' as a jab at centrist commentators specifically.

How to Use This Meme

People typically call someone 'corn cobbed' after they refuse to admit they lost an online argument, often by quoting the 'i'm not owned' line back or replying with a corn cob image or emoji1. The joke lands hardest when the target keeps protesting, echoing the shrinking arc of the source tweet1.

Frequently Asked Questions

Corn Cobbed

2011catchphraseclassic

Corn Cobbed is Weird Twitter slang coined in a 2011 Dril tweet, describing someone who attracts an online pile-on and then loudly insists they don't care, proving the opposite. It broke into wider political discourse in mid-2017 after several centrist pundits publicly misread the term as a homophobic slur.

slang memes twitter memes backfire memes dril memes internet slang origin memes

Overview

Corn Cobbed is a piece of Weird Twitter slang for someone who attracts an online pile-on and then insists loudly they don't care, which only proves how much they do. The term traces to a single 2011 tweet by @dril about a person shrinking into a literal corn cob while shouting 'i'm not owned'1. It is used interchangeably with 'owned' or 'dunked on,' but with the specific implication that the target keeps digging by protesting too much4.

By 2017 the phrase also picked up a second life as a pejorative label for centrist political pundits. That shift happened after several high-profile centrists on Twitter mistook 'corn cobbed' for a homophobic slur and complained about it in public, which promptly got them corn cobbed themselves6.

How It Spread

For roughly six years the tweet stayed an in-joke among Weird Twitter fans, moving through the timeline the way Milkshake Duck did before jumping into news writing4. That changed at the end of June 2017. On June 26th, user @_Chilladelphia replied to a healthcare thread from centrist commentator Candice Aiston with a doctored photo of Aiston sporting corn cobs for eyebrows2. Aiston dismissed the reply as a Bernie bro, and user @ironghazi screencapped the exchange with the caption 'CORNCOBBED ONLINE'3.

The next day, journalist John Stoehr asked publicly what 'corn cobbed' even meant, then followed up by accusing socialists of using homophobic imagery. Both tweets were later deleted. The confusion likely came from Urban Dictionary, where every entry for 'corn cob' describes a sex act5.

The pattern repeated on August 2nd, 2017 when journalist Yashar Ali posted a 'Centrist Corncob' graphic of Kamala Harris and noted how Bernie Sanders supporters were mobilizing against her6. Pundit Al Giordano quote-tweeted Ali and claimed the phrase had homophobic and rape-culture roots7. Later that day, former Hillary Clinton chief strategist Neera Tanden made the same claim8. Both were mocked online, and the episodes locked in 'corn cobbed' as a jab at centrist commentators specifically.

How to Use This Meme

People typically call someone 'corn cobbed' after they refuse to admit they lost an online argument, often by quoting the 'i'm not owned' line back or replying with a corn cob image or emoji1. The joke lands hardest when the target keeps protesting, echoing the shrinking arc of the source tweet1.

Frequently Asked Questions