Damn, Daniel, your name just got destroyed by a meme

“WHAT ARE THOSE?”: a subversive sneaker meme, explained for the Olds

I feel like, once watching the source video, this meme should be pretty self explanatory. But in case it is not, the premise appears to be this: a teen ambushes his friend over and over  — probably over the course of many days — saying the same phrase in a funny voice, edits the clips together, and posts the video to Twitter. It goes nuts, a brand gets involved, many brands get involved, and now Josh Holz and Daniel Lara, the speaker and subject, are very Internet famous and esteemed publications like The Washington Post are writing about it.

There have been worse memes.

In case you were wondering, this the best thing that has happened to the “Damn Daniel” meme:

As is traditional at peak meme, an unstoppable horde of people are remixing, typing, and saying “Damn, Daniel,” and it seems that this is changing the lives of people who are also named Daniel. Here are just a few examples of people sympathizing with Daniels, or plotting their demise.

So yes, it is a terrible time to be named Daniel, unless you are THE Daniel Lara of the White Vans, I suppose.

The silver lining here? At least Daniels aren’t alone. Tims, for instance, are still haunted by a decade-old South Park character:

And Abbys, as I would know, have at least two scourges that date back decades: “Abby Normal” from any Mel Brooks fan, and the always popular “Dear Abby” reference.

In any case, the best thing you can do for the Dans and Daniels you know this week is to remind them that they are not alone. Memes will ruin us all, one name at a time.

Liked that? try these: 

• ‘How should a dog wear pants’ is the meme we deserve for the end of 2015
• X-files fans are meme-ing the heck out of that LA ‘UFO’
• The Internet’s most famous dog rater keeps disappearing from Twitter