What is Your Tears are Delicious?

It's an online catchphrase used to taunt people complaining about something petty, framing their distress as a tasty treat.

Where did Your Tears are Delicious come from?

The earliest documented use is a July 2007 Marriland Pokémon forum post by user Disfunction, with its tone likely drawn from Eric Cartman's tear-licking scene in the 2001 South Park episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die".

What does Your Tears are Delicious mean?

It's a dismissive retort close to "cry about it," telling someone that their complaint is petty and that the speaker enjoys their misery.

How do you use Your Tears are Delicious?

Drop the line in reply to someone whining about an unfair rule, a bad patch, or a canceled release, often paired with an image of a boy gulping a rushing stream of water.

Is Your Tears are Delicious still popular?

It was still a working retort on gaming forums in 2013, with appearances on GameFAQs and in Devil May Cry discussions on N4G, and KYM lists it as a long-running online catchphrase.

Your Tears are Delicious

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Published October 8, 2026

"Your Tears Are Delicious" is a dismissive catchphrase hurled at people complaining online, telling them their misery is a snack. It traces back to a July 2007 Pokémon forum argument where a user named Disfunction told a griping poster to "cry more." The line became one of the internet's go-to retorts for petty grievances and later picked up a signature pairing with a photo of a boy gulping rushing water.

catchphrase memes dismissal memes forum era memes late 2000s memes argument dismissal memes

Overview

The line works as a verbal shutdown in flame wars and comment arguments, functioning like "cry about it" but with a bit of cannibal glee attached3. Posters drop "your tears are delicious" whenever someone complains about an unfair game mechanic, a bad patch, a canceled release date, or any petty grievance, framing the complainer's distress as a snack worth eating.

Around 2010 the text got paired with a photo of a young boy with his mouth wide open under a rushing stream of water, posted to iRunTheInternet on December 18, 20106. The image makes the gag visual, with the kid "drinking" the target's metaphorical tears. The combo showed up heavily in Reddit, Tumblr, deviantART, and YouTube comment threads through the early 2010s3.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Marriland forum (Pokémon forum origin) / 4chan and gaming forums (viral spread)

Creator

Disfunction

Date

2007

The earliest documented use online is a July 2007 Marriland forum thread about Japanese Pokémon players getting access to more legendary Pokémon than American players1. Forum member Disfunction replied to the whining with "Cry more. Your tears are delicious," the exact phrasing that then spread elsewhere.

The line's tear-eating tone likely echoes a July 11, 2001 South Park episode titled "Scott Tenorman Must Die," in which Eric Cartman licks tears off a crying boy's face and calls them sweet and yummy2. KYM points to the episode as the probable cultural seed for the catchphrase3.

How It Spread

By 2008 the phrase showed up on the AskMen forums, on a Gamespot Super Smash Bros. Brawl "last sticker" thread, and on 4chan's /tg/ board in a traditional-games argument5. In February 2009, fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss posted a comic on his blog in which his cartoon self fired off "your tears are delicious" at hostile fan mail about the delayed release of his second novel4.

By late 2010 the "boy gulping water" image joined the text as a reaction macro, uploaded to iRunTheInternet on December 18 of that year6. Through 2011 a dedicated Facebook fan page collected over 1,100 likes, and the phrase kept cycling through gaming debates3.

In 2013 it was still a working retort on gaming boards, with appearances on GameFAQs' Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain board7 and on an N4G article about Devil May Cry8. By that point KYM noted easy sightings across YouTube, Reddit, Tumblr, and deviantART comment sections3.

Timeline

2001-07-11

South Park airs "Scott Tenorman Must Die," in which Cartman licks a boy's tears and calls them sweet, a likely tonal source for the catchphrase.

2007-07

Marriland forum user Disfunction writes "Cry more. Your tears are delicious" in a Pokémon fairness thread, the earliest documented online use.

2008

Phrase appears on AskMen, Gamespot's Super Smash Bros. Brawl forum, and 4chan's /tg/ board.

2009-02

Author Patrick Rothfuss publishes a blog comic using the line to respond to hostile fan mail about his delayed second book.

2010-12-18

The "boy drinking rushing water" image, later paired with the phrase, is posted on iRunTheInternet.

2011-07

A "Your Tears Are Delicious" Facebook fan page is created and gathers over 1,100 likes.

2013

Phrase surfaces in gaming arguments on GameFAQs, the Battlefield 3 forums, and N4G.

How to Use This Meme

Typical use is a one-line reply to someone venting about something minor. A common convention is to pair the words with the "boy drinking water" image macro, where the stream of water represents the target's tears6. The line often follows "cry more" or stands alone as a smug comeback in gaming threads and comment sections.