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Time Is A Man Made Concept

2018catchphraseclassic

Published October 3, 2026

Time Is A Man Made Concept refers to a Twitter joke format from February 2018 that pairs a Yoko Ono tweet about the illusory nature of time with mock conversations about missed deadlines, overdue chores and procrastination. The gag spread the week Ono posted and spawned a short-lived but widely shared template about dodging real-world responsibilities with cosmic philosophy.

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Overview

The format works as a two-part setup. The top half quotes someone, usually a partner, boss or inner voice, demanding to know when a task will get done. The bottom half answers with Yoko Ono's exact tweet, which reads that time is a man made concept, that 'when' is not a relevant thing to think about, and that whatever is being asked about will happen yesterday or tomorrow1. The humor comes from using avant-garde philosophy to blow off dishes, deadlines and life choices.

Most entries are plain text screenshots or copy-pasted quote tweets rather than image macros, which kept the format cheap to replicate on Twitter in early 20182. Topics skew toward very normal procrastination, late reviews, undone chores, parental nagging about career progress, instead of anything about Ono herself54.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter
Creator
Yoko Ono; @TomZohar
Date
2018

On February 23rd, 2018, musician and artist Yoko Ono tweeted, "Time is a man made concept. Therefore, 'when' is not a relevant thing to think about. Just know that it will happen, yesterday or tomorrow." The post picked up more than 3,400 retweets and 9,500 likes in its first week1.

The same day, Twitter user @TomZohar quote-tweeted Ono with a mock exchange, writing, "My husband: 'you said you were gonna do the dishes, when is that gonna get done?' Me:" above her tweet. That post is the earliest known use of Ono's words as a joke punchline and pulled roughly 100 likes in its first week2.

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How It Spread

The format caught on fast on Twitter over the following week. On February 24th, 2018, user @lukasneville posted "Editor: Your review is now overdue Me:" above the Ono quote tweet, which cleared 4,300 retweets and 21,000 likes within days and became the biggest hit in the chain5.

Two days later, on February 26th, @Laur_Katz used it on herself with "me: when will i get my life together also me:" paired to Ono's tweet, pulling more than 400 retweets and 740 likes over four days3. On February 27th, @thinvalue flipped it toward family pressure with "'When are you finally going to get a real job and start doing something with your life?' Me:", a version that cleared 470 retweets and 1,200 likes4. Know Your Meme later cataloged the format and the Ono source tweet together as the full joke sequence6.

Timeline

2018-02-23

Yoko Ono tweets the original line about time being a man made concept[1].

2018-02-23

@TomZohar posts the earliest known joke using Ono's tweet as a punchline about dirty dishes[2].

2018-02-24

@lukasneville's overdue-review version becomes the biggest hit, pulling 21,000+ likes[5].

2018-02-26

@Laur_Katz posts a self-directed version about getting her life together[3].

2018-02-27

@thinvalue uses the format for a jab about getting a 'real job'[4].

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