The Grink

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Dan Devine @YourManDevine Wherever you are this weekend, and whoever you're celebrating with, I really hope that, in spirit, the Grink is there, too. : brent @murrman5. Oct 1, 2019 [me telling my story how I survived a plane crash and lived on a deserted island for a year] it was crazy [friend who once got a text from me where I accidentally called the grinch the grink] was the grink there? 12:13 PM Dec 24, 2022

I.G.Y. azalea @HaitianDvorce "so the tweet starts with a guy telling a story about how he survived a plane crash, and he's got a friend there, he accidentally sent 'grink' in a text instead of 'grinch,' and the friend asked 'was the grink there?' it's probably funnier if I just showed it to you" 10 11:20 AM · Dec 14, 2022 ASTROS

Ken Jennings @KenJennings My family says "was the grink there" every time I make a typo in a text. This is oppression. brent @murrman5. Oct 1, 2019 [me telling my story how I survived a plane crash and lived on a deserted island for a year] it was crazy [friend who once got a text from me where I accidentally called the grinch the grink] was the grink there? 6:01 PM Sep 14, 2022 :

Elamin Abdelmahmoud @elamin88 "Come have meaningful conversations" no, I want the website with the grink tweet 10:37 AM Nov 18, 2022 •

vague skies @galacticdad listen to me carefully, this is very important and I need you to answer truthfully, so think about this long and hard. was the grink there 2:05 PM Dec 25, 2022

pinga @poalofz ... [eddie telling his story of how he survived the bats from the upside down and almost died] it was crazy [steve who once got a text from him where he accidentally called the grinch the grink] was the grink there.? 9:59 AM May 19, 2023

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About

The Grink, an intentional misspelling of "The Grinch," is a catchphrase inspired by a viral tweet joking about how friends in a text message thread will take any opportunity to remind someone about a time they made a humorous typo. Since the tweet was made in 2019, "The Grink" has often been used as shorthand for making an embarrassing typo, particularly on Twitter.

Origin

On October 1st, 2019, Twitter user @murrman5^[1] posted a tweet containing the original instance of "grink" that read:

[me telling my story how I survived a plane crash and lived on a deserted island for a year] it was crazy
[friend who once got a text from me where I accidentally called the grinch the grink] was the grink there?

The tweet gained over 43,000 retweets and 183,000 likes in nearly four years (shown below).

brent @murrman5 : ... [me telling my story how I survived a plane crash and lived on a deserted island for a year] it was crazy [friend who once got a text from me where I accidentally called the grinch the grink] was the grink there? 10:52 AM Oct 1, 2019

Spread

In the years since the tweet was posted, "The Grink" became widely referenced and celebrated as an influential tweet, as many users expressed that they remembered the tweet when they made a typo. On April 13th, 2021, Twitter user @brocklesnitch^[2] joked that they had typed "Grink" so much, their phone had begun autocorrecting "drink" to "Grink," gaining 65 likes in two years (shown below, top). On February 9th, 2021, a local Florida television station misspelled "Gronk," referring to football player Rob Gronkowski, as "Grink" in their chyron, causing Twitter^[3] user @lukeoneil47 to joke that "THE GRINK WAS THERE," gaining over 240 retweets and 3,000 likes in two years (shown below, bottom).

Bec Shaw @Brocklesnitch it finally happened - i talk about the grink tweet so much that it autocorrected to grink from drink in a text message 3:14 AM - Apr 13, 2021

luke @lukeoneil47 THE GRINK WAS THERE Erik Pessolano @erikpessolano · Feb 9, 2021 @abc7error Who? Show this thread POW AMPIONS 6 GRINK VISITS DISNEY WORLD ORLANDO, FL 1 $ @abc7 abc :

On May 18th, 2023, Twitter user @rremake2^[4] then reimagined the tweet as if it were taking place between Leon and Claire from Resident Evil 2, gaining over 240 retweets and 800 likes in five days (shown below, left). On May 22nd, the Twitter account for Merriam-Webster^[5] notably referenced the meme in a prompt tweet about autocorrect failures, gaining 13 retweets and 366 likes in one day (shown below, right).