# Serious Cat Serious Cat is an image macro based on a 2003 photograph of a white cat with an unusually stern, almost offended expression. The photo first appeared on Japanese imageboard gazo-box.com, surfaced in 2005 on the Korean comedy site Humor University as 'Jae-Young Cat,' and reached 4chan and LOLcat blogs in 2006 as a reaction face for mock-serious internet arguments. By November 2007, the 'I are serious cat. This is serious thread' catchphrase had its own single-serving website at SeriousCat.com. ## Origin On November 4, 2003, a photo of a white cat with a stern expression was uploaded to the Japanese imageboard gazo-box.com, where it went unnoticed outside a small circle of visitors for years[1]. The archived page shows the image on a 2ch-style joyful board, posted among ordinary cat snapshots rather than as a joke[1]. In early 2005, a user on the Korean comedy site Humor University paired the photo with a shot of DJ Jae Young from the group DJ DOC, pointing out the strong facial resemblance between the two[6]. Korean posters renamed the cat 'Jae-Young Cat' and the comparison bounced through DCInside and RuliWeb[7]. Jae-Young Cat and one of its derivatives later ranked among Naver Boom's most reblogged pictures of 2005[8]. - **Platform:** Humor University (Korea) / 4chan (English-speaking spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2005 ## Overview The joke works on exaggerated deadpan. The cat's wide eyes and tight mouth read as grave disapproval, which clashes with whatever the image gets attached to. Users typically Photoshop the face onto other bodies or caption the plain image with 'I are serious cat. This is serious thread'[3]. On I Can Has Cheezburger, the macro appeared alongside more cheerful cat captions and became the LOLcat template for warning that a thread had turned combative[4]. Image edits also swapped the cat's head onto human subjects, keeping only the face unchanged against the new scene[3]. ## How to Use To use Serious Cat, people typically overlay the cat's face on another subject in Photoshop or paste the plain image into a thread as a mock-stern reaction, often with the broken-English line 'I are serious cat. This is serious thread' to signal that an argument has grown ridiculous[4]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Serious Cat? A LOLcat image macro based on a 2003 photo of a white cat with a stern expression, often paired with the caption 'I are serious cat. This is serious thread'[4]. ### Where did Serious Cat come from? The source photo was uploaded to Japanese imageboard gazo-box.com on November 4, 2003 and first photoshopped into a comparison with Korean DJ Jae Young on Humor University in 2005[1][6]. ### What does Serious Cat mean? The image reads as deadpan disapproval, used to mock people taking an online discussion more seriously than it deserves[4]. ### How do you use Serious Cat? People Photoshop the cat's face onto other subjects or caption the raw image with 'I are serious cat. This is serious thread' when a thread grows overheated[9]. ### Is Serious Cat still popular? It is a classic early LOLcat that still shows up in retrospectives, including an April 2025 r/LostMedia thread that identified the original 2003 photo for the first time[2]. ## References 1. [https://web.archive.org/web/20041026201007if_/http://www2.gazo-box.com:80/entrance/joyful2ch-h.cgi?mode=res&no=11]() 2. [https://www.reddit.com/r/lostmedia/comments/1k4jmhc/serious_cat_meme_unedited_version_from_2003_found/]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/serious-cat]() 4. [http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/07/19/i-are-serious-cat/]() 5. [https://digg.com/news/offbeat/Serious_cat_is_not_amused_PIC]() 6. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ClvEk9Y_sQ]() 7. [http://boom.naver.com/BoardRead.nhn?categoryId=1&articleNum=20050805162324513]() 8. [http://boom.naver.com/BoardRead.nhn?categoryId=1&articleNum=20051007183418270]() 9. [http://seriouscat.com]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/serious-cat Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library