We Used To Be A Country. A Proper Country

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A Lukewarm Hot Dog and Pickle Jello recipe from 1973. We used to be a country. A proper country.

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About

We Used To Be A Country. A Proper Country refers to a catchphrase coined on Twitter in early December 2021. It was originally used in an anti-vax context, where the original tweeter was trying to show how good life used to be in America without masks. The catchphrase then picked up ironic usage going into December 2021 where people paired it with humorous images.

Origin

On December 2nd, 2021, Twitter^[1] account @DarnelSugarfoo posted a tweet (shown below) with an image of an American 7-Eleven photographed in 1973, captioning it, "We used to be a country. A proper country," in reference to the lack of face-masks worn within the photograph. The tweet received roughly 10,000 likes over the course of five days before inspiring parodies.

Rosie's Omicron Dance Party @DarnelSugarfoo A "7-Eleven" in 1973. We used to be a country. A proper country. 0026 Manilla Wemype Trides ndent

Spread

The first variants of the meme occurred within the replies of the original tweet, where Twitter users started pairing the catchphrase with other images depicting strange sects of American culture. The first variant was posted by Twitter^[2] user @Absolutego13 on December 3rd, 2021, around 2 p.m. EST. The tweet (shown below) received roughly 16,000 likes in four days.

A typical American "office" in 1985 We used to be a country. A proper country

Another variant (also posted on December 3rd but a couple of hours after the one above) received a lot of attention, posted by Twitter^[3] user @Chigurh_Crash. The tweet (shown below) received roughly 9,400 likes in four days.

A house in 2006. We used to be a country. A proper country.

As the trend continued into December, the examples of American culture got increasingly more absurd. Many tweets^[4]^[5] within the trend involved photos of "shitty food porn" and some referenced more recent pieces of American nostalgia like the 2018 Fortnite map.^[6] Memes with the catchphrase also appeared on other platforms like Facebook ^[7] and Instagram ^[8] starting on December 6th, 2021.