# Left Exit 12 Off-Ramp Left Exit 12 Off-Ramp is an exploitable image macro built from a 2013 drift video, showing a blue car swerving hard onto a highway exit instead of continuing straight. HiddenLOL user anon90 turned a frame from the clip into a photoshop template in late December 2017, and it detonated on Reddit as a preference-comparison format by early 2018. ## Origin Left Exit 12 Off-Ramp began with a YouTube upload titled 'How to exit freeway like a boss,' posted on July 4, 2013 by Fredrik Sørlie, showing a car drifting across the shoulder to catch an off-ramp with no highway signs anywhere in frame[1]. The signs came later, added in Photoshop. The earliest known meme edit was posted on December 29, 2017 by HiddenLOL user anon90, with a Swedish-flag car swerving away from 'Continue being a stable first world country' toward 'Mass uncontrolled migration from third world nations'[3]. - **Platform:** YouTube (source clip) / Reddit (viral spread) - **Creator:** anon90 (HiddenLOL); source video by Fredrik Sørlie - **Date:** 2017 ## Overview The Left Exit 12 Off-Ramp template shows a single frame from the source clip: a blue car cutting hard right toward an off-ramp instead of holding lane down the highway[1]. The joke rides on object labeling. The straight-ahead sign carries the sensible or virtuous choice, the exit sign carries the tempting or embarrassing one, and the car's committed swerve tells the reader which option the poster is actually taking[3]. Variations stick to the same beat but shuffle the pieces. Some versions stack three or four exits in a row, others label the car itself so the swerve reads in first person[2]. Because the drift cannot be read as neutral, the format works as visual shorthand for admitting a preference the poster would rather not defend out loud. ## How It Spread anon90's Left Exit 12 Off-Ramp template caught on fast. Through the last week of December 2017, users built suicide-joke, self-improvement, and political variants of the frame across Reddit, HUGELOL, and Imgur. The format's breakout came from a New Year's post on r/dankmemes by user Laughing_Fish that pulled over 18,600 upvotes and 120 comments in four days, followed on January 1, 2018 by an Imgur 'new year new me / same shit different year' edit from ArigatoKamisama[3]. From there the template settled in as a fixture of the late-2010s Reddit meme rotation, with YouTube compilations documenting its runs through political, gaming, and self-deprecation edits[2]. ## How to Use Grab a template of the drift frame with blank highway signs. Put the sensible or expected option on the straight-ahead sign and the tempting or embarrassing one on the off-ramp, so the car's committed swerve outs the poster's actual choice. Multi-exit versions work the same way, just with more options to swerve past. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Left Exit 12 Off-Ramp? Left Exit 12 Off-Ramp is an exploitable image macro built on a blue car drifting off a highway ramp, used to label two competing options with the car's swerve showing which one the poster is picking[1]. ### Where did Left Exit 12 Off-Ramp come from? The source footage is Fredrik Sørlie's YouTube video 'How to exit freeway like a boss,' uploaded on July 4, 2013[1]. ### What does Left Exit 12 Off-Ramp mean? It signals that the poster is choosing the tempting or embarrassing option over the sensible one, with the car's committed swerve making the choice visible in the image itself[1]. ### How do you use Left Exit 12 Off-Ramp? Take a template of the drift frame, label the straight-ahead sign with the sensible option and the off-ramp with the tempting one, and the car's swerve does the work of admitting which choice the poster is making[2]. ### Is Left Exit 12 Off-Ramp still popular? It broke out on Reddit and Imgur in December 2017 and January 2018 and stayed in rotation across Reddit and YouTube compilations through 2018[2]. ## References 1. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yel32-qnDE]() 2. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf3X4T1ZHgE]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/left-exit-12-off-ramp]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/left-exit-12-off-ramp Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library