Three side-by-side TikTok screenshots of women reacting to the Instagram Guess the Gibberish filter, each showing a blue overlay with gibberish phrases.

Guess The Gibberish

2020social media filter gameclassic

Published November 10, 2026

Guess The Gibberish is an Instagram filter where players sound out nonsense phrases like 'ditch chews haze hum thin' to decode hidden sayings such as 'did you say something.' Microsoft intern Christopher Lu launched the filter on April 14, 2020, and it hit one billion impressions within a week.

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Overview

Players see a string of nonsense words with a 10-second countdown and have to speak out the hidden English phrase before time runs out1. Answers mix everyday expressions like 'fist-bumping' and 'too much information' with pop-culture tags such as 'Dora the Explorer' and 'Despacito'1. Mechanically it copies the card game Mad Gab, where saying awkward syllables aloud reveals the real words1.

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Most viral clips capture either the moment of realization or the badly wrong guess. User @thybloodofkaren became known for a tip that reading the gibberish in a dramatic Italian or Borat accent made solving it much easier1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Instagram (filter) / TikTok (viral spread)
Creator
Christopher Lu
Date
2020

Christopher Lu, a Microsoft intern, launched the Instagram filter on April 14, 20203. Writing on LinkedIn later that month, Lu said the response had been 'amazing' and that his filter was making 'hundreds of millions of people smile and laugh' during the early pandemic2.

How It Spread

Within a week of launch, Guess The Gibberish surpassed one billion Instagram impressions3. TikTokers began duetting their own attempts, and videos filed under #gibberishchallenge numbered in the thousands1. User @iemtedy went viral for guessing 'Dis pussy doe' when the answer was Despacito, while @lgquinny broke into laughter at 'meat whom hoove mint' before realizing the answer was MeTooMovement, with the two clips earning over 2.5 million and 518,000 likes respectively3.

Journalists at Distractify and Junkee published compilations of the funniest fails in April 202015. A Twitter repost of an early filter clip spread off-platform in mid-April4.

Timeline

2020-04-14

Christopher Lu launches the Guess The Gibberish filter on Instagram.

2020-04-18

A Twitter clip of an early gibberish fail spreads off Instagram.

2020-04

The filter surpasses one billion Instagram impressions in its first week.

2020-04

Distractify and Junkee publish roundups of the funniest TikTok fails.

2020-04

@iemtedy's 'Dis pussy doe' Despacito fail reaches over 2.5 million TikTok likes.

How to Use This Meme

Open Instagram, search 'gibberish' in the Effects gallery, and apply Lu's filter1. A nonsense phrase appears with a 10-second countdown; say the words aloud, often in an exaggerated accent, to hear the real phrase1.

Frequently Asked Questions