''Hawk tuah'' ( ) is an

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

originating from a viral

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

video posted in 2024. During a

vox pop ( ) is a Latin phrase (originally ''Vox populi, vox Dei'' – "The voice of the people is the voice of God") that literally means "voice of the people." It is used in English in the meaning "the opinion of the majority of the people." In journa ...

street interview in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Haliey Welch Haliey Aliene Welch ( ; born 2002 or 2003), commonly referred to as the Hawk Tuah Girl, is an American Internet personality. She became an internet meme after being interviewed in a viral 2024 TikTok video in which she used a catchphrase, ''ha ...

used the

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

''hawk tuah'', an

onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetics, phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as Oin ...

for

spitting Spitting is the act of forcibly ejecting saliva, sputum, nasal mucus and/or other substances from the mouth. The act is often done to get rid of unwanted or foul-tasting substances in the mouth, or to get rid of a large buildup of mucus. Spi ...

expectoration Sputum is mucus that is coughed up from the lower airways (the trachea and bronchi). In medicine, sputum samples are usually used for a naked-eye examination, microbiological investigation of respiratory infections, and cytological investigation ...

on a penis as a form of

oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth). Cunnilingus is oral sex performed on the vu ...

, specifically

fellatio Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act consisting of the stimulation of a human penis, penis by using the mouth. Oral stimulation of the scrotum may also be termed ''fellat ...

History

On June 11, 2024, a ''

channel, ''Tim & Dee TV'' owned by Tim Dickerson and DeArius Marlow, released a video featuring an interview with Haliey Welch in the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

district of

, United States. Welch and another woman approached Dickerson and Marlow and asked to be interviewed. The interview began with what Dickerson and Marlow considered tamer questions, such as, "What makes you material?" Eventually, Dickerson and Marlow stated, Welch encouraged Marlow to "spice up the questions". Marlow responded by asking, "What's one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?" Welch's reply, in a strong Southern accent was, "You gotta give 'em that 'hawk tuah' and spit on that ", referring to spitting on someone's penis as a form of fellatio for lubricatory purposes. The sound and physical movement by Welch imitated popular depictions of individuals in

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

saloons Saloon may refer to: Buildings and businesses * One of the bars in a traditional British pub * An alternative name for a bar (establishment) * Western saloon, a historical style of American bar * The Saloon, a bar and music venue in San Francis ...

spitting into a spittoon.

Popularity

The next day, Marlow uploaded the clip to TikTok and almost immediately other accounts across social media began reposting the video after scrubbing off the "Tim and Dee TV"

watermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations i ...

. Dickerson and Marlow estimated that they filed at least fifty copyright claims in the days after they first published the clip. The original video had gone viral, receiving millions of views across

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

, and YouTube, spawning

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

es and remakes of the original audio, and gaining Welch the nickname ''Hawk Tuah Girl''. The video and the phrase turned into a meme. Welch, who had been a

minimum-wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Be ...

worker at a factory, subsequently created an

account and gained a sizable

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

followership and media attention. She also founded a company under which she registered various

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

s, gained representation by an agent, and began selling

merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

themed on the phrase and making paid appearances. On August 15, 2024, she threw the

ceremonial first pitch The ceremonial first pitch is a longstanding ritual of baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from their seat in the grandstand to ...

of a

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

game, and launched a podcast, ''

Talk Tuah Haliey Aliene Welch ( ; born 2002 or 2003), commonly referred to as the Hawk Tuah Girl, is an American Internet personality. She became an internet meme after being interviewed in a viral 2024 TikTok video in which she used a catchphrase, ''ha ...

'', under the Betr media company co-founded by

Jake Paul Jake Joseph Paul (born January 17, 1997) is an American Professional boxing, professional boxer, influencer and actor. He began his career posting videos on Vine (service), Vine in September 2013 and had amassed 5.3 million followers and 2 bi ...

. Dickerson and Marlow indicated they were happy for Welch but were upset for not receiving credit for Welch's fame.

Notes

References

{{reflist 2020s fads and trends 2020s viral videos 2024 quotations Fellatio Generation Z Internet memes introduced from the United States Internet memes introduced in 2024 Onomatopoeia Sexual slang Women-related neologisms Spitting

History

Popularity

See also

Notes

References