A slang spelling of America used to signal exaggerated American patriotism, often tied to redneck or Southern stereotypes.

Where did 'Murica come from?

First documented in a September 1, 2003 Democratic Underground post, then picked up by bloggers like Rising Hegemon mocking red-state voters after George W. Bush's 2004 reelection.

What does 'Murica mean?

It stands in for America, usually shouted or written to mock over-the-top patriotism or to embrace redneck stereotypes.

How do you use 'Murica?

Pair the word with images of bald eagles, flags, guns, bacon, or cowboy-hatted figures wrapped in the Stars and Stripes, in the style of the Murica Man macros.

Is 'Murica still popular?

By June 2017 Instagram had over 2 million posts tagged with the word and Th3L0p3z's music video had passed 3 million views, though the meme's peak was in the early 2010s.

'Murica

2003catchphraseclassic

Published September 7, 2026

'Murica is a slang spelling of America used to mock or celebrate over-the-top patriotism, redneck stereotypes, and Fourth-of-July excess. The word turned up on a Democratic Underground thread in September 2003 and got picked up by liberal bloggers after the 2004 Bush reelection, later spawning a full meme format built around bald eagles, flag-draped cowboys, and the rallying cry 'Murica, Fuck Yeah.'

political satire memes misspelling memes slang memes stereotype memes culture war memes

Overview

The 'Murica format runs on image macros stuffed with American cultural shorthand: bald eagles, monster trucks, bacon, guns, cheeseburgers, and men in cowboy hats wrapped in the Stars and Stripes. One anchor character is Murica Man, a bearded figure in a cowboy hat with an American flag around his shoulders who picked up more than 130 submissions on Memegenerator by December 20125. The tone swings between sincere red-state pride and ironic mockery, and captions often shout the word in all caps next to cartoonishly exaggerated symbols of American excess4.

Posts tagged 'Murica or #murica pair the misspelling with pictures of oversized meals, fireworks, pickup trucks, or military hardware, and the joke works in either direction depending on who is writing it. Rednecks, hicks, and jingoistic characters are the usual butt of the joke, as Urban Dictionary's early entry put it, describing the word as something 'usually shouted in an exclamation by stupid people/rednecks'3.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Democratic Underground / Tumblr (viral spread)

Date

2003

The earliest documented use of 'Murica sits in a Democratic Underground thread from September 1, 2003, where a poster argued that 'murica' would not hurt another country in response to an earlier claim about the government funding car bombs and building fires overseas4. Roughly a year later, in November 2004, the blogger behind Rising Hegemon used 'Wingnutted States of Murica' as a headline mocking the red states that had just voted to give George W. Bush a second term1.

How It Spread

The word crossed into wider slang after Urban Dictionary added its first Murica entry on April 8, 2006, defining it as an 'un-educated' way of pronouncing America3. A Facebook fan page went up in January 2011 and drew around 1,130 likes over the next two years4. That October, the single-topic Tumblr Fuck Yeah Murica launched, and by May 2012 a subreddit called r/Murica had opened, growing to nearly 18,000 subscribers within seven months as it collected posts of both ironic and sincere patriotism4.

Memegenerator's Murica Man page racked up more than 130 image macro submissions by late 20125. Momentum jumped on February 3, 2013, when YouTuber Th3L0p3z uploaded a music video titled 'MURICA that spliced the phrase 'Murica, Fuck Yeah' over animated soldiers, eagles, and other stock American imagery; the video crossed 3 million views by June 20172. In July 2014, the @MuricaFuckYeah Twitter account was created and grew past 50,000 followers by mid-2017 by pairing the phrase with photos of stereotypical American symbols, while Instagram had tagged the misspelling more than 2 million times by that same date4.

How to Use This Meme

A 'Murica post typically pairs the misspelled word, often written in all caps and sometimes preceded by an apostrophe, with an image loaded with American iconography: bald eagles, flags, guns, bacon, monster trucks, fireworks, or characters like Murica Man in a flag cape and cowboy hat5. The tone is up to the poster, since the same caption works for straight-faced patriotism or for making fun of it3.