Away from serious discussions on politics and animal videos, there exists an echo chamber on social media that’s dominated by fan communities. In the past few days, a repurposed meme has grabbed their attention, especially on X. It’s the phrase “Look between _ and _ on your keyboard”. Users are free to customise the template with any alphabet to point out the initials of their favourite celebrities or fictional characters or create jokes.
Like a crossword puzzle, the blanks cover the horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions of the qwerty keyboard. The 26 keys have been used to create unique combinations to appeal to a variety of fandoms—from anime lovers to cricket fans. A tweet that’s been viewed 1.8 million times read – “Look between M and P on your keyboard” with a photo of a manga character. The answer is L, which stands for the manga character Levi Ackerman. Even Kolkata Knight Riders has joined the trend to celebrate Shreyas Iyer, complete with an anime-style illustration of him accompanying the tweet.
The meme is not new. Its origins can be traced back to a 2021 post on an imageboard community, 4chan, about a character from a manga, K-On. The caption was “look between t and o on your’e key bored (sic)”. The letters are YIU, which is the name of the manga character.
But the simple format and easy adaptability to fandoms across the spectrum have led to a revival. While the accompanying picture is a dead giveaway, it hasn’t stopped people from sharing and participating in the trend. They are innovating the meme, making users look at the keyboard or decode the inside joke. A post which has seen high engagement is – “Look between Q and E on your keyboard. That’s all we baggin’ this year, trust”. It’s like a code only the chronically online can crack—the alphabet is W, which in Gen-Z slang stands for winning.
Also read: ‘Moye moye’ trend is the death of creativity. It’s just mocking disabled people
Just harmless fun
There’s nothing more to say about the meme than that it’s just simple fun and that’s all it needs to be. Memes and social media fads don’t always require in-depth exegesis.
Internet subculture is a rabbit hole that has its own unwritten set of laws. It’s a crowded, chaotic space that can be deciphered only by those who are part of that universe. A meme like this one allows these communities to bond over a harmless trend and enjoy these spaces, which are often marred by their own complexities and problems.
Only last week, the anime/manga community was crying over the cancellation of a movie on the popular ice skating anime, Yuri on Ice. And the K-pop community is currently bleeding due to fandom wars over the Coachella performance of the K-pop group, Le Sserafim. In the middle of all this hue and cry, it’s mindless memes that prompt you to pause and look at the keyboard that makes social media a fun place to be.
Not everyone goes to social media to spout gyan, be a toxic prick or a fussy known-it-all. Some just go to enjoy a bit of humour, take a break from the overwhelming real world and indulge in something non-cerebral.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)