Episodes
The Bernie's Mittens meme described in the episode
Say My Meme, Meme: Bernie's Mittens

Meme: Bernie's Mittens

Bernie Sanders nearly broke the internet in January 2021 when a photographer captured the senator sitting, arms crossed, in the freezing cold of the Biden-Harris presidential inauguration. Here's a take on the already-classic meme from Denmark. Submit your meme description today by emailing a voice memo to hello@saymymeme.com.

Episode Transcript

Cecilie:

...Hey Meme Lovers out there, and greetings from Denmark. My name is Cecilie and one of my favorite memes so far this year has been Bernie's mittens. A little background to really understand the Bernie's mittens meme. The basis of the meme is a press photo that has been taken of Bernie Sanders from the inauguration ceremony of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In this photo, he is sitting in the audience with good distance around him, on a foldout chair. He's wearing winter clothing to match the weather, which is an army green Parka coat and black pants. He's wearing one of those light blue surgical face masks, and then he's wearing knitted mittens with a pattern in brown, white, and black. He's sitting leaned back in the chair with both his legs and his arms crossed so that his mittens are very much in focus of the picture. You cannot really see much of his face because it's hidden behind the face mask, but he looks a little bit impatient.

Cecilie:

Some of my favorite memes has been with this Bernie's mittens character where this picture of Bernie has been Photoshopped into different situations. Some of my favorite has been ... The first one here, the caption says, "your order has been shipped." Me: Then on the picture is a picture just at the regular house, and then Bernie with his mittens has been photo-shopped into this picture. So he's sitting outside of the house. It signifies how impatient you are when you are waiting for your order to be delivered.

Cecilie:

Another one of my favorite Bernie's mittens meme, the tagline reads, "The real reason Jack couldn't fit on the door." And there is a screenshot from the Titanic movie, the scene where the Titanic has sunk and Rose and Jack are floating on the door. It's like a drone shot down on the door where you see Rose lying on that door in the darkness, and Jack kind of holding onto the door, but being in the water. It has always been a lot of debate about whether or not Jack could have actually fit on that door because, spoiler, if you haven't seen Titanic, he ends up actually dying from the cold, by being in the water, and Rose survives because she's on the door. But there has always been this discussion about whether or not Jack could have actually fit on the door because there is a certain amount of space next to Rose on the door. So in the screenshot, Bernie with his mittens has been photo-shopped onto the door next to Rose. The meme argues that that is a real reason why Jack couldn't fit on the door.

Cecilie:

The last one of my favorites. Actually, is just the original picture of Bernie Sanders with his mittens and the caption read "hmm, so you're just going to sit there with an attitude? Me: Then it's just the image of Bernie Sanders, just sitting there looking impatiently or whatever you read into his face, it's impatient, you'd rather want to be anywhere else where you are right now. It's just his body language and his facial expression. Even though you can't see it a lot, it's just perfect from any of these memes because his body language with both his legs and his arms being crossed and just totally wrapped in his winter clothing, it's just like a very closed off body language, and the look in his eyes, kind of signal. He very impatient, this thing just need to finish. That he rather be anywhere, but the place he actually is. Thank you very much to say my meme and keep up the good work.

Will:

Thank you, Cecilie and all of our friends in Denmark and around the world, for listening to say my meme and contributing. You can describe your favorite meme, be it a current or a classic, by emailing us a voice memo at hello@saymymeme.com.