# Cowboy, Samurai, or Pirate Cowboy, Samurai, or Pirate is a hypothetical dating question TikToker @megitchell popularized in July 2023, suggesting women ask men which of the three they would rather be to spark conversation. The prompt went viral on TikTok before spiking again in December 2023, when a caption-only video by @notcarurosu drew millions of views and sparked X alignment charts asking men to pin their answer on a triangle. ## Origin On July 23rd, 2023, TikTok user @megitchell posted a short clip offering "girly dating advice": if you don't know how to open a conversation with a guy, ask him whether he would rather be a cowboy, samurai, or pirate, because he will have strong views on all three[1]. The video climbed past 8 million views over the next five months[5]. EBaum's World wrote it up on July 30th, 2023, noting the clip had already pulled in 2.7 million views in two days and that male commenters agreed the opener was high percentage[2]. Mitchell never explained the methodology behind the pick, leaving readers to run their own theories on what each archetype signals. - **Platform:** TikTok (viral spread on TikTok and X) - **Creator:** Megan Mitchell (@megitchell) - **Date:** 2023 ## Overview Cowboy, Samurai, or Pirate works as a pocket-sized personality test that women float at men to see how they respond. The pitch from comedian @megitchell is simple: men will have strong, unprompted opinions on all three, so the question doubles as an icebreaker and a window into taste[1]. Answers tend to split along stereotypes, with samurai read as disciplined and honor-bound, cowboy as rugged and independent, and pirate as freewheeling or chaotic[2]. Typical posts pair the question with a man's reaction, either filmed live or quoted in a caption, and sometimes with a running commentary on what the pick says about him. Boyfriends negotiate caveats, insist on being the captain if they pick pirate, or rank the three by weapons and lifestyle[3]. By late 2023 the format bled into visual formats like alignment charts, where men self-place among the three archetypes on X[4]. ## How It Spread Response stitches arrived within days. On July 25th, 2023, TikToker @synthwhoa weighed the three options in a Stitch that passed 300,000 views[6]. A /r/WouldYouRather poll on July 28th, 2023 put samurai first with more than 900 votes and cowboy second with over 700, suggesting the hypothetical traveled well beyond Mitchell's audience[5]. On August 22nd, @freshout_the_oven picked up the question for a discussion video that reached 1.1 million views[7]. The question spiked again at the end of the year. On December 25th, 2023, TikToker @notcarurosu posted a caption-only version that pulled past 8.3 million views in three days[8]. X user MingAutocrat screenshotted the clip the same day and racked up more than 36,000 likes while declaring samurai the right answer[5]. On December 26th, @harrison_fjord turned it into an alignment chart on X asking men to place a dot between the three archetypes, picking up over 6,000 likes in two days[4]. On December 27th, the notcarurosu screenshot was reposted to /r/PeterExplainsTheJoke, where it drew more than 7,800 upvotes in a day[5]. The same day, @dontbebias69 filmed her boyfriend fielding the question, with him landing on samurai only after insisting he would be a pirate captain, for over 600,000 views[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Cowboy, Samurai, or Pirate? A hypothetical dating question popularized by TikToker @megitchell in July 2023 that asks a man which of the three figures he would rather be, treated as a quick read on his personality[1]. ### Where did Cowboy, Samurai, or Pirate come from? Comedian @megitchell posted the opener on TikTok on July 23rd, 2023, framing it as girly dating advice because men reliably have opinions on all three[1]. ### What does Cowboy, Samurai, or Pirate mean? The pick is read as a shorthand for personality type, with samurai associated with discipline, cowboy with ruggedness, and pirate with freewheeling chaos[2]. ### How do you use Cowboy, Samurai, or Pirate? Users ask a man the question in person or on camera, then share his reasoning, or place him on an alignment chart like @harrison_fjord's December 2023 version[4]. ### Is Cowboy, Samurai, or Pirate still popular? After the initial July 2023 burst, the question spiked again in late December 2023 when @notcarurosu's caption video drew 8.3 million views in three days[8]. ## References 1. [https://www.tiktok.com/@megitchell/video/7259178012002848046]() 2. [https://www.ebaumsworld.com/articles/pirate-cowboy-or-samurai-the-fool-proof-opener-for-women-who-lack-rizz/87426159/]() 3. [https://www.tiktok.com/@dontbebias69/video/7317354983257656622]() 4. [https://twitter.com/harrison_fjord/status/1739843241527197761]() 5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cowboy-samurai-or-pirate]() 6. [https://www.tiktok.com/@synthwhoa/video/7259859416554507526]() 7. [https://www.tiktok.com/@freshout_the_oven/video/7270176027106610474]() 8. [https://www.tiktok.com/@notcarurosu/video/7316292158707879174]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/cowboy-samurai-or-pirate Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library