That Really Rustled My Jimmies — Close-up illustration of a gorilla from the Gorilla Munch cereal box next to jungle leaves and fruit.

That Really Rustled My Jimmies

2010catchphraseclassic

Published August 7, 2026

That Really Rustled My Jimmies is a 4chan catchphrase paired with a frowning gorilla image macro, used to express annoyance at another poster in mock 1950s slang. It started on FunnyJunk in June 2010 and went viral across 4chan between late 2010 and 2013.

catchphrase memes primate memes 4chan memes reaction memes frustration memes

Overview

"That Really Rustled My Jimmies" is a catchphrase paired with reaction images of frowning apes and other animals, used on 4chan to express annoyance at another poster in mock old-fashioned English4. The signature version pairs the phrase with a frowning gorilla image macro, while the counter-format captions a cartoon gorilla from a Gorilla Munch cereal box with "My Jimmies Remain Unrustled"6.

The line reads like 1950s slang, and its awkward register is much of the joke. Posters use it as a stiff, faux-Victorian way of admitting they got annoyed, while the unrustled version works as a flat dismissal of obvious bait7.

Origin & Background

Platform
FunnyJunk (origin) / 4chan (viral spread)
Date
2010

The macro started on FunnyJunk. On June 16, 2010, an anonymous user posted the frowning-gorilla image with the caption "That really rustled my jimmies"6. The account was later deactivated. The underlying photograph came from a Flickr post titled "nors," uploaded by Frank Wouters on July 4, 20073.

The catchphrase went mostly unnoticed until December 15, 2010, when a 4chan /r9k/ thread invited users to share "times when someone really rustled your jimmies," written in a mock 1950s greentext style; responses reintroduced the FunnyJunk gorilla and cemented the pairing7.

How It Spread

Through 2011 the jimmies format jumped across 4chan boards, showing up in threads on /v/, /x/, and /tv/, and drifting outward to Newgrounds, Tumblr, and Facebook4. On February 23, 2012, a "Jimmies General" thread was sticky-featured on /v/ and ran past 650 posts before archiving5. The following day 4chan briefly renamed the /v/ board from "Video Games" to "Jimmies"4.

The meme reached mainstream news on April 12, 2012, after Modesto resident James Ferrario killed a deputy sheriff and a locksmith during an eviction. A /b/ troll posted a fake AMA claiming to be Ferrario, and a Fox 40 KTXL reporter aired the thread, calling the suspect "Jimmy Rustle" and describing an alleged "gorilla fetish" based entirely on the jimmies images being posted2.

On March 6, 2013, the hacking group NullCrew defaced Time Warner Cable's customer support page with the Gorilla Munch cartoon in protest over the Copyright Alerts System, and the defacement stayed up for several hours before the company took it down1.

How to Use This Meme

People typically pair the phrase with a reaction image, most often the frowning gorilla or another disgruntled-looking animal, and post it in reply to something they find annoying or bait-y. The inverse, "my jimmies remain unrustled," is a common convention for signaling that a provocation failed to get under the poster's skin. Both variants often use plain white overlay text in the classic 4chan macro style.

Frequently Asked Questions