# Thumbs Up Crying Cat

Thumbs Up Crying Cat is a reaction image of a cat with photoshopped teary eyes giving a thumbs up, first posted to Reddit in June 2019. It caught on in April 2020 as a way to signal reluctant compliance or fake positivity through obvious sadness.

## Overview
Thumbs Up Crying Cat is a reaction image showing a cat with photoshopped teary eyes giving a thumbs up. It also goes by Thumbs Up Sad Cat or Crying Cat Meme with Hand[3]. The combination reads as reluctant compliance, a way of saying okay while very clearly not being okay.

The image builds on the earlier Crying Cat template, itself a photoshopped variant of Serious Cat with glassy, watery eyes edited on top[3]. Adding the thumb shifts the emotional register from straight sadness into something closer to forced positivity, which is what gave this specific version its own life as a distinct reaction from plain Crying Cat.

## How It Spread
The reaction image took off in April 2020. On April 18, Twitter user @SaoryEmanoelle replied to a @RespectfulMemes post about one-sided friendships, using the image captioned "They not thinking about us though lmao"[4].

On June 22, 2020, Redditor edmemesthrowawaybby posted it to /r/EDanonymemes with a caption about intrusive body-image thoughts during a hug with a boyfriend, pulling over 200 upvotes at 100% approval[5].

The image hit /r/dankmemes later that summer. On July 27, 2020, user mijuzz7 posted a captioned version there that pulled over 47,000 upvotes at 96% approval inside three days[2].

## How to Use
People typically drop the image under a caption about accepting a bad outcome, giving a polite response through obvious distress, or agreeing to something they actually hate. First-person captions about relationships, body image, mental health, or awkward social replies are common conventions[2]. The joke lands when the text says fine and the picture says otherwise.

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Thumbs Up Crying Cat?
A reaction image of a cat with photoshopped teary eyes giving a thumbs up, used to convey reluctant compliance or masking sadness behind a polite response[3].

### Where did Thumbs Up Crying Cat come from?
Redditor IAMAdumbgirl posted the original photoshopped image to /r/sadcats on June 17, 2019 with the caption "sad thumbs up"[1].

### What does Thumbs Up Crying Cat mean?
It signals forced positivity or agreement while feeling awful, pairing an outward okay gesture with visible sadness[3].

### How do you use Thumbs Up Crying Cat?
Drop the image under a first-person caption about accepting bad news, giving a polite reply through distress, or hiding how you actually feel[2].

### Is Thumbs Up Crying Cat still popular?
It saw major spread through 2020 on Reddit and Twitter, including a mijuzz7 post to /r/dankmemes that pulled over 47,000 upvotes[2].

## References
1. [https://www.reddit.com/r/sadcats/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/sadcats/>)
2. [https://www.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/>)
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thumbs-up-crying-cat](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thumbs-up-crying-cat>)
4. [https://twitter.com/SaoryEmanoelle](<https://twitter.com/SaoryEmanoelle>)
5. [https://www.reddit.com/r/EDanonymemes/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/EDanonymemes/>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/thumbs-up-crying-cat
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