# Ermahgerd > Ermahgerd is a 2012 image-macro meme featuring Maggie Goldenberger as a child with Goosebumps books, known for intentionally mangled retainer-affected speech and snowclone variations. Ermahgerd is an image macro meme featuring a childhood photo of Maggie Goldenberger holding three Goosebumps books with an exaggerated expression of excitement. First captioned on Reddit in March 2012 with intentionally mangled spelling meant to mimic retainer-affected speech, "Ermahgerd" quickly broke out as a standalone catchphrase and snowclone template ("Ermahgerd X") that spread far beyond the original image. The meme became one of 2012's defining internet jokes and spawned hundreds of variations, merchandise lines, and even a brief revival during Hurricane Irma in 2017. ## Origin On March 14, 2012, Reddit user xWavy, a 16-year-old named Jeff Davis from Alberta, Canada, posted the uncaptioned photo to r/funny under the title "Just a book owners smile"[1]. Davis later said he had been browsing a publicly visible Facebook gallery and stumbled on the image, not knowing the girl in it. He posted it to Reddit on impulse without much thought[1]. The photo caught the eye of u/plantlife, a 33-year-old former fraud investigator turned systems analyst in Seattle[1]. He saw the braces, the outfit, and the over-the-top excitement, and a voice "kind of popped into my head as the icing on the awkward cake," partly inspired by the lisping character Shelly from South Park[1]. He stamped the caption "GERSBERMS. MAH FRAVRIT BERKS" on the image and shared it as a comment in Davis's thread[4]. That same day, the captioned macro was submitted as a standalone post titled "BERKS!" which hit the Reddit front page and pulled in over 17,000 upvotes within two weeks[4]. The girl in the photo turned out to be Maggie Goldenberger, who was about 11 at the time the picture was taken. She had been goofing around and hamming it up for the camera with her Goosebumps books; the expression was deliberately exaggerated[2]. - **Platform:** Reddit - **Creator:** Jeff Davis / u/xWavy (original poster), u/plantlife (captioner), Maggie Goldenberger (subject) - **Date:** 2012 ## Overview The Ermahgerd meme centers on a photo of a young girl, roughly 11 years old, striking an over-the-top excited pose while holding up three R.L. Stine Goosebumps books. She's wearing pigtails, a patterned vest, and has a wide-eyed, mouth-agape expression with visible braces or a retainer[1]. Captions are written in a phonetically garbled version of English meant to sound like someone talking through orthodontic hardware, with vowels swapped and consonants shifted. The phrase "Ermahgerd" itself is a rhotacized take on "oh my god"[4]. The format follows a snowclone structure where users swap in different subjects after "Ermahgerd" while maintaining the same distorted spelling style, like "ERMAHGERD MERSHED PERDERDER" (mashed potatoes) or "ERMAHGERD LERNERD SKERNERD" (Lynyrd Skynyrd)[1]. ## How It Spread The meme tore across platforms within days. On March 15, 2012, user michellemc submitted the image to Funnyjunk, where it picked up over 18,000 views in under two weeks[4]. The same day it landed on Memebase's Derp section. By March 16, a YouTuber called "Berks Gerl" uploaded a voiceover narration of the caption[4]. Bodybuilding forums got in on it by March 19, with members riffing in the garbled speech style[4]. The meme was initially known as "Berks" after the original caption, but as users started applying the format to other images, the more versatile term "Ermahgerd" overtook it in search interest by May 2012[4]. By June 2012, the Quickmeme page for "Berks" had received over 4,200 submissions, and a dedicated Facebook page had accumulated nearly 1,000 likes[4]. People rapidly expanded beyond the original photo. Goldenberger's image was Photoshopped into movie posters (The Godfather became "The Gerdferther," Black Swan became "Blerk Swern"), famous landmarks, and wildlife photography[1]. A whole subcategory of animal reaction shots emerged, with pugs, cows, and other creatures captioned in the Ermahgerd voice[1]. Celebrities caught in awkward freeze-frames got the treatment too, with Game of Thrones' Daenerys Targaryen becoming a popular target, though nobody could agree on the correct Ermahgerd spelling of "dragons"[1]. Goldenberger herself didn't learn about the meme until weeks after it had already gone viral. She was 23 and in the middle of a six-month trip through India and the Philippines with her then-girlfriend, only checking the internet at cafes for 15 to 30 minutes at a time[1]. At an internet cafe in Hampi, Karnataka, a friend sent her a message pointing to the image on Facebook. "I had no idea at this point how widespread it was," she later told Vanity Fair[1]. ## How to Use The classic Ermahgerd format follows a simple template: 1. Find or create an image showing exaggerated excitement, surprise, or enthusiasm. The original Goldenberger photo is the standard choice, but any sufficiently expressive image works. 2. Add a caption in Impact font following the "Ermahgerd" speech pattern. Take a word or phrase, swap vowels toward "er" sounds, and shift consonants to mimic retainer-affected pronunciation. Examples: "Goosebumps" becomes "Gersberms," "mashed potatoes" becomes "Mershed Perderder"[1]. 3. The snowclone structure typically opens with "ERMAHGERD" followed by the mangled version of whatever the subject is excited about[4]. ## Cultural Impact Ermahgerd crossed over from internet joke to mainstream cultural reference unusually fast. Merchandise proliferated on platforms like Etsy, ranging from home decor to clothing to laptop stickers[1]. The meme inspired a Nerdist-produced music video and caught the attention of enough media outlets to warrant a full-length Vanity Fair profile in 2015[1]. The Hurricane Irma revival in 2017 showed the phrase's grip on popular consciousness. Rather than an obscure callback, "Irma gerd" was immediately legible to a broad audience, with major outlets including Newsweek and Miami New Times covering the mashup[2][3]. The phrase worked precisely because "Ermahgerd" had already soaked into everyday internet vocabulary. Goldenberger herself became a minor public figure through the meme, though she never sought the attention. Working as a nurse in Phoenix, she navigated the odd experience of being simultaneously anonymous and famous, recognized more by her 11-year-old face than her adult one[1]. ## Fun Facts - The three Goosebumps books in the original photo are Monster Blood III, It Came from Beneath the Sink!, and Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes, all in their original 1990s editions[1]. - Goldenberger first saw the meme at an internet cafe in Hampi, Karnataka, India, while on a six-month backpacking trip[1]. - The caption creator, u/plantlife, was directly inspired by Shelly from South Park, whose character speaks with a retainer lisp[1]. - Jeff Davis (xWavy), who posted the uncaptioned photo, was only 16 years old and living in Alberta, Canada at the time[1]. - The linguistic phenomenon behind the meme's speech pattern is called rhotacism, the substitution of other consonant sounds with an "r" sound[5]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Ermahgerd? Ermahgerd is an image macro meme featuring a childhood photo of Maggie Goldenberger holding Goosebumps books, captioned with intentionally garbled English meant to sound like someone speaking through a dental retainer[4]. ### Where did Ermahgerd come from? The photo was posted to Reddit's r/funny on March 14, 2012 by user xWavy (Jeff Davis), and fellow user plantlife added the iconic "GERSBERMS. MAH FRAVRIT BERKS" caption that same day[1]. ### What does Ermahgerd mean? "Ermahgerd" is a rhotacized pronunciation of "oh my god," written to mimic the speech of someone wearing an orthodontic retainer[4]. ### How do you use Ermahgerd? Take any subject and rewrite it with vowels shifted toward "er" sounds and consonants jumbled, then pair it with an excited image. The snowclone format is "ERMAHGERD [mangled word]"[4]. ### Is Ermahgerd still popular? The meme peaked in 2012 but proved its staying power during the Hurricane Irma "Irma gerd" revival in 2017, and the phrase is still widely recognized as internet slang[2]. ### Who is the Ermahgerd girl? Her name is Maggie Goldenberger. She was about 11 years old when the photo was taken, and she was deliberately goofing around with her Goosebumps books[1][2]. ### Was the Ermahgerd photo candid? No. Goldenberger told Newsweek she was intentionally hamming it up. "I'd always dress up and take photos with my friends," she said[2]. ### Who created the Ermahgerd caption? A Reddit user known as plantlife, a 33-year-old systems analyst in Seattle, who was inspired partly by the character Shelly from South Park[1]. ### What happened during Hurricane Irma and Ermahgerd? In September 2017, Floridians spray-painted "IRMA GERD" on boarded-up homes as the hurricane approached. One tweet of the graffiti earned over 60,000 retweets and 200,000 likes[2]. ### How many Ermahgerd variations exist? As of 2015, Know Your Meme had catalogued 340 distinct variations and recorded 5 million views on its Ermahgerd entry[1]. ### What Goosebumps books are in the original photo? Monster Blood III, It Came from Beneath the Sink!, and Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes, all original 1990s editions[1]. ## References 1. [Ermahgerddon: The Untold Story of the Ermahgerd Girl | Vanity Fair]() 2. [Sports]() 3. [Hurricane Irma Gerd: How a 5-Year-Old Meme Prompted a Very 2017 Response to Storm in Florida - Newsweek]() 4. [Ermahgerd - Know Your Meme]() 5. [The Birthday Party (song)]() 6. [Ermahgerd - Urban Dictionary]() 7. [Rhotacism]() 8. [Pleated Jeans — ermahgerd!]() 9. [Hurricane Irma: The Best Memes, From Irmahgherd to Irmageddon | Miami New Times]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/ermahgerd Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library