About

Nerd Dog or Dog With Glasses, Raised Finger, Buck Teeth is a reaction image of a corgi with fake buck teeth in its mouth, glasses and an index finger Emoji pointing upward photoshopped onto it to make it resemble a nerd. The meme, used similarly to the Nerd Emoji and ackchyually formats, is a version of the Nerd Emoji Raising Finger Emoji memes, which were popularized in Brazil in early 2022. The nerd dog meme became popularized online in late 2022 after it was edited over footage of a news anchor reacting to an earthquake live on-air.

Origin

On March 17th, 2014, the KTLA 5 YouTube^[1] channel posted a video of two news anchors reporting on the news when an earthquake happens, garnering over 859,000 views in nine years. The reporter on the right raises his finger and says, "Earthquake. We're having an earthquake," with the two then getting under the desk. On September 20th, 2022, Redditor u/jdey4 posted a video of a corgi wearing fake buck teeth to /r/funny,^[2] garnering over 31,000 upvotes in eight months.

On November 30th, 2022, TikToker^[3] @badgerfart posted an edit showing the KTLA 5 footage followed by an edit of the dog with added glasses and the Index Finger Emoji after the reporter points into the air, garnering over 4.3 million views in six months (shown below).

@badgerfart

♬ original sound – Luca

Spread

The video and isolated meme of the nerd dog gained viral spread over the following months in further edits and as a reaction image. On December 5th, 2022, YouTuber^[4] El Pepegalino – xQc Clips posted a clip of streamer xQc reacting to the meme, garnering over 67,000 views in five months (shown below).

On February 4th, 2023, Twitter^[5] user @rodricarreraaa posted a meme using the image, garnering over 58,600 likes in three months (shown below). On March 4th, Tumblr^[6] user teathattast made a post sharing the dog and several other photoshops of animals edited in the same way, garnering over 900 notes in two months.

On March 30th, YouTuber^[7] squewe included the KTLA edit in a video titled "Top 5 Nerd 🤓" garnering over 875,000 views in two months. On May 23rd, Twitter^[8] user @cowboybitchboop posted a screenshot of a text from her dad where he uses the reaction image, writing, "MY FUXKING DAD KEEPS USING THIS PIC IM CRYINGGGG," garnering over 203,000 likes in two days (shown below).