# Mean Girls
Mean Girls is a 2004 teen comedy written by Tina Fey that spawned a second internet life through its catchphrases. Lines like 'On Wednesdays we wear pink,' 'Boo you whore,' and 'Get in loser, we're going shopping' fill Tumblr, Twitter, and TikTok every year, alongside the fan-invented October 3rd holiday known as National Mean Girls Day.
## Origin
Tina Fey wrote the Mean Girls screenplay after reading Rosalind Wiseman's non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes, then pitched a film adaptation to her Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels, who took it to Paramount[3]. Directed by Mark Waters and produced by Michaels, the film was released on April 30, 2004, starring Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron, Rachel McAdams as Regina George, Lacey Chabert as Gretchen Wieners, Amanda Seyfried as Karen Smith, and Fey herself as math teacher Ms. Norbury[4]. Rotten Tomatoes critics later described the film as 'elevated by a brilliant screenplay and outstanding ensemble cast' with 'fresh, female-fronted humor'[7]. The plot centers on Cady, a former homeschooler who falls in with the Plastics, then makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, Regina's ex-boyfriend[4].
- **Platform:** Film (Paramount, 2004) / Tumblr and Twitter (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Tina Fey (screenwriter)
- **Date:** 2004
## Overview
The Mean Girls meme is not a single image but a sprawling library of screenshots, GIFs, and audio clips ripped from the film's most quoted scenes[1]. Pink-Wednesday selfies, Regina George cafeteria putdowns, Karen's weather-forecasting one-liners, and Cady's slow slide into clique politics all get recycled online year after year[2]. Fans treat the movie as a source pack, pairing stills with fresh captions to comment on friend drama, workplace beef, or celebrity feuds[5].
Formats vary by platform. Tumblr users built long photoset mashups pairing Mean Girls quotes with unrelated fandoms, the best-known being Taylor Pearce's 2013 Mean Mad Men blog[6]. Twitter and TikTok users lean on the annual October 3rd anniversary post and the 'Get in loser, we're going shopping' template, where Regina's red convertible gets captioned with an invite to something absurd[5]. Reaction GIFs of Regina, Gretchen, and Karen fill comment threads whenever someone deserves a dramatic clapback[2].
## How It Spread
The film built a cult following through cable reruns and DVD rewatches, but the meme machine really got going once Tumblr and Twitter took off in the late 2000s and early 2010s[1]. Fans of quotable comedies started building screenshot archives, pairing Regina, Cady, and Karen with reaction-heavy captions. In April 2013, Taylor Pearce, a 22-year-old Western University graduate, launched the Mean Mad Men Tumblr, mashing up stills from AMC's Mad Men with Mean Girls quotes and casting Betty Draper as Regina George, Don Draper as a stone-cold Plastic[5]. The blog racked up 50,000 hits and thousands of followers within a week, with a French site picking it up internationally[5][6].
The bigger annual event is National Mean Girls Day on October 3rd, tied to the scene where Aaron Samuels asks Cady what day it is and she answers 'It's October 3rd'[1]. By October 2012, the hashtag #NationalMeanGirlsDay was trending on Twitter, and a parody 'Regina George' account tweet reminding fans to wear pink pulled over 18,900 retweets[1]. The Obama re-election campaign even used the date to promote a presidential debate scheduled for the same night[1]. E! Online covered the holiday the same year and quoted Kanye West saying he and his crew were 'watchin' Mean Girls' on a jet flying back to New York, 'and that's how we party'[2].
Paramount kept the movie in circulation with a $2.99 rental on its official YouTube channel[8], and Urban Dictionary entries call it 'possibly the best movie ever' and 'the most quote-able movie ever,' showing how thoroughly the script embedded itself in casual internet speech[9].
## How to Use
The common convention on October 3rd is to post a screenshot of the 'It's October third' exchange or a photo of yourself wearing pink, tagged #NationalMeanGirlsDay or #MeanGirlsDay[1]. The 'Get in loser, we're going shopping' template typically pairs Regina's red convertible with a caption inviting someone to something ridiculous or unpleasant[5]. Reaction quotes like 'Boo you whore,' 'Is butter a carb?,' 'She doesn't even go here,' and 'Grool' often show up as text overlays on unrelated screenshots or as replies to friends[9]. Since the Plastics rule that 'on Wednesdays we wear pink' is part of the same universe, fans double up on pink outfits when October 3rd lands on a Wednesday[1].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Mean Girls?
A 2004 Tina Fey teen comedy whose most quoted lines built a long-running library of reaction images, GIFs, and October 3rd holiday posts[3].
### Where did Mean Girls come from?
Tina Fey adapted the screenplay from Rosalind Wiseman's non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes, and Paramount released the film on April 30, 2004[3].
### What does Mean Girls mean online?
It refers to the catchphrases, screenshots, and GIFs pulled from the movie that fans use as reaction content and inside jokes[1].
### How do you use Mean Girls memes?
Fans post the 'It's October third' scene on October 3rd, wear pink on Wednesdays, and drop quotes like 'Boo you whore' or 'Get in loser' as replies and reaction images[1].
### Is Mean Girls still popular?
The film's quotes and the October 3rd holiday still draw heavy engagement each year, with outlets like E! Online running annual recap posts and social feeds filling with pink Wednesday content[2].
### What is National Mean Girls Day?
An internet-invented holiday on October 3rd, tied to the scene where Aaron Samuels asks Cady what day it is in the film[1].
### Who wrote Mean Girls?
Tina Fey, an SNL cast member at the time, wrote the screenplay based on Rosalind Wiseman's book about high school clique politics[6].
### What is the Mean Mad Men Tumblr?
A 2013 blog by Taylor Pearce that pairs Mad Men stills with Mean Girls quotes, comparing Betty Draper to Regina George and Don Draper to a Plastic[5].
### What does 'On Wednesdays we wear pink' mean?
A Plastics dress-code rule from the movie that fans still observe on Wednesdays, especially when October 3rd lands on that day[1].
### Why is October 3rd important?
In the movie, that is the exact date Aaron Samuels asks Cady what day it is, which fans turned into the annual National Mean Girls Day holiday[1].
## References
1. [https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/10/how-internet-celebrating-national-mean-girls-day/322867/]()
2. [https://www.eonline.com/news/351009/happy-national-mean-girls-day-here-s-how-to-celebrate]()
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mean-girls]()
4. [https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=meangirls.htm]()
5. [https://www.thedailybeast.com/meet-mean-mad-men-a-tumblr-mash-up-of-mad-men-and-mean-girls]()
6. [https://www.salon.com/2013/04/02/mean_mad_men_tumblr_shows_that_ad_men_are_all_mean_girls_at_heart/]()
7. [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mean_girls/]()
8. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eORqi-n2V0]()
9. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mean%20Girls]()
---
Source: https://meme.com/memes/mean-girls
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library