Fanum tax

Fanum tax (/fæn.əm.tæks/ ⓘ) is an Internet slang term describing the theft of food between friends.[1] Originally coined by American streamer Fanum, the term has become an internet meme, particularly employed and popularized by Generation Alpha.[2][3]

Etymology

Fanum, who coined the phrase Fanum tax

The first usage of Fanum tax referred exclusively to streamer Fanum, who jokingly "taxed" snacks by taking bites of food from fellow content creators during streams on the broadcasting platform Twitch.[2] In an interview with Wired, Fanum defined the term as:

Let's say your friend having a meal, he's having a good meal, and you just want a piece of that meal. Like, you know what I'm saying? You need a share. That's your friend and the friend's share, right? Get you a little piece of the meal. It's the Fanum tax. You just go ahead and just like, lemme get a little bit of 5%, 10% of the meal, maybe 20%.[4][dead link]

The term circulated among the YouTube collective AMP in late 2022 and was popularized especially during Fanum's Twitch streams with popular American YouTuber Kai Cenat, where Fanum would take Cenat’s cookies.[5]

On October 2, 2023, a TikTok account under the username @ovp.9 posted a short video of a character from the online video game Fortnite "singing" to a musical parody of the 2021 song "ecstacy" by Suicidal-Idol.[6] The parody, titled either "Sticking Out Your Gyat for the Rizzler" or "You're so skibidi, you’re so fanum tax",[7] features multiple internet culture terms including gyat, Skibidi Toilet, rizz and Sigma male. The song was used in many videos on TikTok, inspiring the mass creation of videos featuring Minecraft-inspired games on the platform.[6]

The sound was used in over 195,000 videos and amassed over 321 million views on TikTok.[6]

Reception

According to Business Insider, many members of Generation Z claim "they were not aware of the meme at all."[8] The New York Times referred to the term as "the language of Gen Alpha."[9]

References

  1. ^ Glaze, Virginia (2024-01-22). "What does 'Fanum Tax' mean? Viral Kai Cenat meme explained". Dexerto. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  2. ^ a b Topsfield, Jewel. "Bruh, what's a Fanum tax? Your guide to Gen Alpha slang". Stuff. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  3. ^ "Parents and Gen Alpha kids are having unintelligible convos because of 'brainrot' language". NBC News. 10 August 2024.
  4. ^ "Fanum Answers The Web's Most Searched Questions". WIRED. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  5. ^ Stanford, Kaitlin (2023-10-17). "What is 'Fanum tax'? TikTok song of Gen Alpha slang has Gen Z feeling like the new 'cringe' generation". In The Know. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  6. ^ a b c Diaz, Ana (2023-10-19). "'You're so Skibidi, so Fanum tax,' and other fun nonsense, explained". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2024-02-24. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  7. ^ Torrefranca, Marielle (2024-01-03). "WATCH — 3 'skibidi' origin stories you may not know about". CBC Kids. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  8. ^ Press-Reynolds, Kieran. "The new Gen Alpha slang 'fanum tax' has even stumped Gen Zers, who worry they're too old to keep up". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  9. ^ Kircher, Madison (2023-11-08). "Gen Alpha Is Here. Can You Understand Their Slang?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-02-25.