# I Kiss You > I Kiss You is a 1999 personal homepage meme from Turkish enthusiast Mahir Cagri, defined by its broken English and the iconic repeated catchphrase "I KISS YOU!!!!" that became one of the internet's earliest viral phenomena. "I Kiss You!" is one of the oldest internet memes, originating from the personal homepage of Turkish man Mahir Cagri in 1999. The site, hosted on the now-defunct xoom.com, featured enthusiastic broken English, personal photos, and the iconic catchphrase "I KISS YOU!!!!!!" Alongside Hamster Dance and Dancing Baby, it ranks among the first pieces of web content to go truly viral[2]. ## Origin Mahir Cagri created his personal homepage on xoom.com, a free website hosting service that no longer exists[1]. The page first appeared in 1999, during the wild west era of personal homepages when anyone with a GeoCities or xoom account could publish whatever they wanted to the world. Cagri's page stood out for its warmth and unbridled enthusiasm. The original text included personal details and his signature greeting style[1]. A variant of the page was also hosted at istanbul.tc/mahir/mahir/, which added additional content[1]. Know Your Meme notes that Cagri unknowingly pioneered what would later become the standard format for online dating profiles, complete with personal photos, interests, and a desire to connect with strangers[1]. - **Platform:** xoom.com (personal homepage) - **Creator:** Mahir Cagri (homepage creator) - **Date:** 1999 ## Overview "I Kiss You!" refers to the personal homepage of Mahir Cagri, a man from Izmir, Turkey, whose earnest and enthusiastic self-promotion accidentally became an internet sensation[1]. The page featured photos of Cagri in various poses alongside text written in broken but deeply charming English. His greeting "WELCOME TO MY HOMEPAGE!!!!!! I KISS YOU!!!!!!" became the meme's defining catchphrase[3]. The site read like a proto-dating profile, with Cagri describing his interests, hobbies, and desire to meet people from around the world. The sheer sincerity of the page, combined with its unconventional English and generous use of exclamation marks, made it irresistibly shareable in the early web era. ## How It Spread The page spread primarily through email forwarding, which was the dominant method of sharing funny content before social media existed. In 1999, if someone found something funny online, they copied the URL into an email and sent it to everyone in their address book. Cagri's homepage was perfectly suited for this kind of chain-sharing: it was instantly funny, entirely wholesome, and easy to explain in a subject line. The meme became one of the first widely circulated pieces of internet content, placing it in the same tier as the Hamster Dance and the Dancing Baby[1]. Cagri himself became one of the earliest internet celebrities, recognized as a person who achieved fame entirely through an unsuspecting personal webpage[3]. The catchphrase "I kiss you" entered early internet vernacular as an expression roughly translating to "I love you" or "I would like to kiss you"[3]. ## How to Use "I Kiss You!" isn't a template meme in the modern sense. Its legacy is more about quoting and referencing. The catchphrase "I KISS YOU!!!!!!" (always with excessive exclamation marks) is used to invoke the spirit of early internet enthusiasm and sincerity. People reference it when discussing internet history, the golden age of personal homepages, or the charming awkwardness of early web self-expression. The phrase typically appears in contexts about pre-social-media internet culture or as a throwback to a more innocent era of online life. ## Cultural Impact Mahir Cagri's homepage holds a unique position in internet history as one of the very first viral memes. At a time when the concept of "going viral" didn't even have a name yet, Cagri's page demonstrated that ordinary people could reach a global audience simply by being themselves online. His unintentional contribution to what would become online dating culture is notable: the format of sharing personal photos, listing hobbies, and expressing openness to meeting new people is now standard on every dating app[1]. The meme also established early patterns for how the internet would treat non-English speakers. Cagri's broken English was part of the appeal, and while the humor was largely good-natured, it set a template that the internet would revisit with varying degrees of sensitivity in memes to come. ## Fun Facts - Cagri's homepage was hosted on xoom.com, a free hosting service that predated the more famous GeoCities in terms of viral meme content[1]. - The "I Kiss You!" page is considered a prototype for modern online dating profiles, years before Match.com or Tinder popularized the format[1]. - The page existed in at least two versions: the original xoom.com version and a variant hosted on istanbul.tc[1]. - "I Kiss You!" sits in the holy trinity of late-1990s internet memes alongside Hamster Dance and Dancing Baby[1]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is I Kiss You? "I Kiss You!" is a viral internet meme from 1999 based on the personal homepage of Mahir Cagri from Izmir, Turkey, which featured enthusiastic broken English and the catchphrase "I KISS YOU!!!!!!"[1]. ### Where did I Kiss You come from? The meme originated from Mahir Cagri's personal homepage on the free hosting service xoom.com in 1999[1]. ### What does I Kiss You mean? The phrase "I kiss you" was Cagri's way of expressing warmth and affection toward visitors to his page, roughly translating to "I love you" or "I would like to kiss you"[3]. ### How do you use I Kiss You? The catchphrase is typically quoted or referenced as a callback to early internet culture, often with excessive exclamation marks to match the original style[3]. ### Is I Kiss You still popular? As one of the foundational internet memes, "I Kiss You!" is widely recognized among internet historians and anyone familiar with 1990s web culture, though it is no longer actively remixed or shared as new content[1]. ### Who is Mahir Cagri? Mahir Cagri is a man from Izmir, Turkey who created a personal homepage in 1999 that accidentally became one of the first internet memes[1]. ### Was I Kiss You the first internet meme? It was one of the first widely circulated internet memes, alongside the Hamster Dance and Dancing Baby, though pinpointing a single "first" meme is difficult[1]. ### What happened to the original I Kiss You website? The original site was hosted on xoom.com, a free hosting service that is now defunct. A variant also existed at istanbul.tc[1]. ## References 1. [Kiss of death (mafia)]() 2. [I Kiss You! - Urban Dictionary]() 3. [I Kiss You! - Know Your Meme]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/i-kiss-you Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library