Meme Overview

I Should Buy a Boat Cat, also known as 'Sophisticated Cat' or 'Fancy Cat,' features a photograph of a cat dressed in a suit, seated at a table while reading a newspaper. The meme's captions humorously articulate various insights and aspirations, typically following the snowclone format 'I should buy a X.'

How It Began

The origins of the meme can be traced back to Bjork's music video for 'Triumph of the Heart,' directed by Spike Jonze, released in January 2005. In this video, Bjork's anthropomorphic cat husband is depicted seated at a table, consuming coffee and reading a newspaper while dressed in a blue shirt. On February 2, 2012, Reddit user DrTango shared a screenshot of this cat with the caption 'I should buy a boat' in the /r/funny subreddit, garnering over 12,350 upvotes and 165 comments before it was archived.

Meme Evolution

The meme gained traction when humor site 9gag re-shared DrTango's image on February 3, 2012, amassing over 40,400 upvotes and 4,200 Facebook shares within nine months. It was also featured on College Humor on February 9. On August 31, the image made an appearance in an episode of Game Grumps. On September 10, another Redditor, RoTTaax, posted a variant titled 'How I feel when I post a long comment that gets 3 upvotes' in the /r/AdviceAnimals subreddit, resulting in over 9,900 upvotes. The meme further evolved on November 6, with Redditor bathroomstalin posting 'We've all thought about it,' which featured the cat with the caption 'I should buy a horse mask.' Another user, TwoSwords, posted a photoshopped version of the image with a horse head mask, both posts quickly reaching the front page and receiving thousands of upvotes.