Prepare Your Anus

2009image macroclassic

Published September 23, 2026

Prepare Your Anus is a catchphrase image macro that pairs a mock warning with photos of intimidating or unsettling characters. It surfaced on TeamXBoxForums and got its first known image macro on FunnyJunk in October 2009, then spread through Reddit and YouTube behind a snarling Ewok photo and the sibling variant Pepper Your Angus.

catchphrase memesimage macro memesshock humor memeslate 2000s memesforum era memes

Overview

The template pairs the catchphrase with a photo or screenshot of a character wearing a menacing grin or unsettling stare, shown in YouTuber Plazmacharge's zoomed clip of a devious-looking boy1. Popular still-image variants include a CGI chipmunk from Alvin and the Chipmunks, a fuzzy Star Wars Ewok, and celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott holding a pepper mill, all pulled from wholesome media and captioned against type.

Prepare Your Anus works as a two-line caption on a still image, usually all caps 'PREPARE YOUR ANUS' up top with an optional expansion line underneath. Video and audio remixes drop the phrase as a punchline, and a deliberate typo variant, 'Pepper Your Angus,' runs as a parallel format across YouTube and forum posts2.

Origin & Background

Platform
FunnyJunk / Reddit (viral spread)
Date
2009

The earliest documented use of the phrase came from TeamXBoxForums user tenaciousdave, who titled a thread with the line while sharing a news story about humans possibly contacting aliens within two decades3. The first known image macro tagged with the caption appeared on the humor site FunnyJunk on October 21, 2009, submitted by user RussianPerson using a screenshot of the CGI Alvin from the 2007 film Alvin and the Chipmunks. The identity of the original captioner is unconfirmed.

How It Spread

The meme reached a wider audience on May 6, 2010, when the blog UpRoxx published a roundup titled 'Prepare Your Anus' anchored by a photo of a snarling Ewok from Star Wars3. That watermarked Ewok image, from the captioning site Meme Generator, became the defining visual for the caption. Reddit boosted it on September 6, 2011, when user tykeryerson posted the macro to /r/pics with a title about always laughing at it, pulling over 1,700 upvotes. A Facebook page went up on August 21, 2011, and hit roughly 19,750 likes within a year.

On January 23, 2012, YouTuber Plazmacharge uploaded a zoomed-in clip of a grinning boy captioned with the phrase1. Weeks later, on February 17, 2012, Redditor FenrirIII posted the Ewok macro with the caption 'Bite the pillow / I'm going in dry,' pulling over 6,100 upvotes and 150 comments before archival.

A parallel variant, 'Pepper Your Angus,' grew alongside it on Bodybuilding.com and the IGN Message Board, first appearing on July 17, 2011 as a Bodybuilding forum reply from member autrefois. On December 1, 2011, YouTuber PepperYourAngus posted a Duck Sauce 'Barbra Streisand' remix rewritten around the phrase2, and a crowd chant video from user kochen0 followed on January 27, 20134.

Frequently Asked Questions