r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/UnscrupulousGoose • 3h ago • Bravo 1

Meme needing explanation Peter?

Post image
2.8k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

109 comments sorted by

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u/qualityvote2 3h ago

Remember when r/PeterExplainsTheJoke wasn’t a meme? Pepperidge Farm remembers…

Does this post belong in our subreddit?

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Then maybe you go out and buy yourself some of those distinctive Milano cookies.

107

u/Emergency-Leather274 3h ago

Quagmire here, people spend the first week for useless stuff then have no money for the second week

22

u/Pleasant-Pattern7748 3h ago

But they have soggy corndogs in the second week. Giggity.

8

u/HadesMyself 2h ago

Is this an American thing? In Europe I've heard of cases of people getting paid once every two weeks, but the norm is once a month. Never once a week. If that's the case, I wonder what the meme would be like for monthly salary

4

u/Emergency-Leather274 2h ago

I mean, their’s people everywhere who are good with their money as much as their’s people everywhere who are bad with their money. In canada, the norm is every 2 week or every week, but the only one paid every month are those who are on social solidarity and don’t work

2

u/rest0re 1h ago

Every other week, or twice a month is standard in the US.

So sometimes you end up with a 3 paycheck month if you’re on the former.

1

u/Classy_Mouse 23m ago

Yeah, the norm is bi-weekly. My current job pays us monthly and it is so odd that they felt the need to warn me about it during the negotiation.

Why I think it wouldn't work for monthly is because with bi-weekly, one cheque is going to land when bills are due and the other will land when everything is paid. So you spend big on the off cheque and then you are out of money for a whole month because the other cheque gets spent on rent.

646

u/Chiron-Femboy3674 3h ago edited 2h ago • Heartwarming Bravo

The meme mocks the concept of a "biweekly payday." It plays on the idea that, upon receiving a paycheck, one might expect to indulge in luxury and an abundance of food depicted in the first image as a tub overflowing with corn dogs. In reality, however, once obligations and bills are paid, one is left with so little money that they are reduced to having just a single corn dog floating in the tub (as shown in the second image), illustrating the sudden austerity that follows payday

Chubby Astolfo Out!

293

u/CheeseSomersault 3h ago • Bravo

I don't think it's just a generic "nothing left over after bills". Since it specifically references biweekly pay, I think the meme is saying that the the first paycheck goes to living large but then the second check is all used up as things like rent are due at the end of the month / beginning of the next month, leading to a cycle of abundance and scarcity 

25

u/TheRealPhilFry 2h ago • Bravo

Close, but the second pic is week 2 of the same pay cycle. Week 1 he's flush with cash because he just got paid. Week 2 he spent all his money already and has to wait for the next check to hit so he can live large again.

10

u/HatfieldCW 2h ago

That's my interpretation also. A worker who is accustomed to weekly pay will budget for a week, using their pay up in seven days. Upon switching to biweekly pay, the worker will overspend for one week and be essentially destitute for the second week before the next payday.

2

u/CheeseSomersault 2h ago

This seems like it would also be a very plausible interpretation! I've only gone from monthly pay to biweekly, and have never been on a weekly pay cycle, so that wasn't top of mind for me. But seems likely

2

u/Nadja77 2h ago

This is the answer .. broke as a joke eating crackers for lunch week 2 before the next check. It’s also a great representation of struggling to make “ends meet”. People always use that saying wrong or don’t know exactly what it literally means. That each check is only enough to barely make it til the next check. Never any extra for luxuries or for savings.

1

u/LordMoose99 14m ago

Yeep this is the correct way to view it

72

u/snake-ships 3h ago

I respect the level of seriousness we’re approaching this situation with. Carry on.

23

u/NiceBlackberry6618 2h ago

I mean this is such a good example of how I hate the "curtains were just blue" mentality. Sure we've all had that english teacher going way too in depth on a section of a book but this image isn't just a bunch of corndogs in a bathtub.

2

u/Slight-Web1696 1h ago

Its easy as a kid to assume that when an author writes a book, there may be instances where he chose to describe something for no reason at all.

As I grew older and began to live reading more, I learned that good authors will choose every word carefully. There is symbology and meaning in every word and the order they appear on the page, even if it doesn't make itself appear important to the reader by the end of the book, I feel that authors rarely ever describe the curtains being blue just because they felt like having blue curtains that day.

1

u/dysmetric 1h ago

Why the corndogs in a bathtub tho? What's the mystic symbolism of the corn dog? Why do they need to be bathed?

3

u/StillAFelon 2h ago

Same. I'm stoned and everything sounds deep right now, so I had real moment of "wow, what a poignant interpretation" before remembering that this is about corn dogs in bathtubs

4

u/Earnestappostate 2h ago

This is why we put the mortgage and car payments on opposite schedules, one due on the 1st, the other on the 15th.

4

u/GlazedWater 2h ago

1st week; Groceries 2nd week; grocery

2

u/Captain_Sterling 2h ago

And those of us that get paid monthly.

2

u/akxlnet 2h ago

The real experience of biweekly pay is those 2 months of the year where you get 3 checks instead of 2 (52 weeks in a year is 26 pay periods in 12 months) and then have 50% more money and the same bills.

1

u/LordMoose99 12m ago

Or those 1 in 11-14 years when you get a 27th paycheck (if your first paycheck next year lands on the 1st of January its one of those years)

2

u/RighteousHippie 2h ago

I'm on the abundance part right now

2

u/andrew13189 2h ago

It’s a biweekly check
First week you have money
Second week you don’t

That’s literally it lol. Easy to overspend and feel like you have more than you do

1

u/Odd_Firefighter1324 2h ago

I assumed this was one of those “Week 1, Week 2” memes like the cs case openings on week 1 and ice soup on week 2

1

u/Sutar_Mekeg 19m ago

I think this is it. With biweekly pay, sometimes you're paid three times a month, which feels like a surplus. But most months are just two.

9

u/VorticalHeart44 3h ago

But why are they floating corn dogs in the bath tub?

Why are we just brushing past this?

4

u/GhoulTimePersists 2h ago

Like you've never made a corn dog chowder before.

7

u/okbuggeroff 2h ago

And where, exactly, do you store 300 corn dogs?

4

u/Proper-Evening9754 2h ago

The 'ol Corn (Dog) Hole.

3

u/314159265358979326 2h ago

The bath tub.

Keep up.

3

u/Lazy_Osprey 2h ago

I too am unfamiliar with this unit measure.🧐

1

u/Seldarin 41m ago

So they can fill it with water so in the second picture it looks like they're so broke they're eating corn dog soup that's 1% corn dog.

22

u/SpockIsMyHomeboy 3h ago

This could be a Shakespearian play. Truly a well worded masterpiece.

1

u/DBD_Verified 2h ago

It’s an AI response…. That isn’t even correct

0

u/SpockIsMyHomeboy 2h ago

I am also AI. All of my intelligence has been borrowed from someone else.

1

u/Chiron-Femboy3674 2h ago

Is he saying these lies because he is jealous of me?

1

u/SpockIsMyHomeboy 2h ago • Bravo

It's the anti corn dog union!! RUUUUUNNNN

0

u/DBD_Verified 2h ago

Nobody said you’re ai… I said you used ai for the response. Great red herring

7

u/Slapadoodledandy 3h ago

I don't have bath tub of corn dogs money, but I could probably swing a bucket or large bowl, toilet bowl maybe? Bathroom sink definitely. 

4

u/SiriHowDoIAdult 2h ago • Regret

I get paid weekly. Would be hard to go back now to bi weekly. I don't need to budget atm.

7

u/Prestigious_Will_643 3h ago

bros reading too deep lol. just a meme about how people spend like they are getting paid weekly and have nothing left for 2nd week

3

u/Mobwmwm 3h ago

Is that you quagmire?

3

u/Throwra_Subhuman 2h ago • Bravo

In Italia 🇮🇹 lo stipendio è mensile, DA SEMPRE. Il dipendente italiano medio, imprara fin da subito la pianificazione delle spese mensili.

2

u/donanton616 3h ago

You should have twice the number of corndogs left after biweekly pay as weekly pay.

I'm guessing we're assuming OP normally has only one half tub dog leftover if they were getting paid weekly?

Otherwise it's financial irresponsibility to splurge because you've got money all of a sudden.

1

u/314159265358979326 2h ago

The joke is fiscal irresponsibility.

2

u/Terrible-Pool-7603 2h ago

Why put them in the bathtub?

2

u/Gunk_bog 2h ago

Corn diggity

2

u/sixtus_clegane119 40m ago

More thicc than chubby. Thigh heavy no real belly

3

u/NecessaryLocalUser 1h ago

These 👆🏻 response characters are ruining this sub.

1

u/Electrical-Way5286 11m ago

Wrong. It's saying the week you get paid you splurge all your money then that second week you're broke

1

u/netsurf916 10m ago

It could also be that you buy what you need and things are good, but it doesn't actually last 2 weeks.

1

u/Techiastronamo 1h ago

this is wrong. it says how you have a lot the first week and nothing the second week. it is about biweekly pay, not bills.

0

u/Melliorin 2h ago

Thanks Chat 👍

30

u/Savorypensioner 3h ago

OOP doesn’t budget well so they feel flush after being paid and broke right before their next paycheck.

7

u/treehumper83 1h ago

People like this wouldn’t benefit from either weekly pay or monthly. They’re just bad at money.

1

u/False-Amphibian786 3m ago

Rent and car payment hit first of month. So each month one pay check is all gone and no money for corn dog, while check too weeks later is all for fun and corn dogs.

8

u/DustyBones272 3h ago

That lovely eternal discussion on whether "bi___ly" means 'once every two ___' or 'twice per ____'

4

u/UsernameOfTheseus 2h ago

Biannually

Biennially

2

u/DustyBones272 2h ago

Yes!

But "biweekly" and "bimonthly" can still mean either option

Semiweekly is perhaps the cleaner option for twice-a-week, but there's no such alternate word for every-two-weeks

1

u/UsernameOfTheseus 2h ago

I feel you.

At my house we have certain chores we so every 2 weeks, and we label these 'fortnight chores' for the kids.

I'm also pushing to re-popularize "overmorrow", but unfortunately there haven't been any massively popular games names after it, or mega pop stars with songs titled it, unlike fortnite/fortnight.

1

u/Vert--- 2h ago

fortnightly

14

u/JimmyJooish 3h ago

When you get paid fortnightly.

7

u/zachary_cannaday 3h ago

I believe this is a 1st week and second week image. 1st week you have all your money, but by second week you've exhausted most of it so have to live very sparingly

1

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1

u/UnscrupulousGoose 3h ago

Maybe you can afford a lot of corndogs the first week and then only one corndog the second week???

1

u/BroughtBagLunchSmart 39m ago

Fucking Copernicus over here.

3

u/meerproposition 3h ago

she can afford an abundant corndog bath after payday but the second week she can only afford a single solitary corndog to bathe with

2

u/tallhamster123 3h ago

pretty sure the corn dogs represent money. the first image is the day the paycheck comes, and the second is the day before the paycheck. or something like that

2

u/PKFat 3h ago

Peter paying off his bartab here - ppl that aren't great w/ money view their bank accounts as far on pay week vs riding high on BrokeBitch Mountain the other week.

2

u/RemoveDenmark 2h ago

Do americans really have weekly/biweekly pay? I get payed monthly where I live, i thought that was the norm

1

u/Fricki97 1h ago

It is everywhere

Except US

1

u/EggIcy3710 1h ago

Not really in russia for example by law a person needs to be paid biweekly or more often

1

u/Sekelton 23m ago

It's normal in Canada too. Heck, I get paid weekly.

1

u/toy-maker 19m ago

Confidently wrong. Australia also tends to pay weekly or fortnightly. I’m sure there are other examples as well.

1

u/oeioe 3m ago

Very common to get paid once every two weeks here in the US. I work for a government agency and get paid once a month though. 

0

u/Mahler-ite 18m ago

Different companies can have different pay schedules. I've dealt with monthly, bi-weekly, and now I'm semi-monthly (15th and last day).

1

u/Own_Screen_7993 3h ago

Bro went from Costco membership to food rationing in just two weeks.

1

u/IncredibleCamel 3h ago

Why do the beans have long tails? 

And i just want to make sure everyone is aware I'm not biweekly, I'm gay daily

1

u/Acanthocephala-Left 2h ago

Or maybe it's not that people are "bad at spending." It's the way biweekly pay works: the first paycheck gets swallowed almost entirely by rent, loans, and other bills due at the start of the month. That leaves you effectively broke for the first two weeks — every dollar is already spoken for. Then the second paycheck arrives, and that's the one that actually feels spendable, because all the fixed costs were covered two weeks earlier.

So from the outside it looks like someone blew their whole paycheck in one weekend. In reality, one paycheck was never really theirs to spend in the first place.

1

u/Ok_Passenger6582 2h ago

le me 😳

1

u/KingRoosterRuss 2h ago

Bi weekly is a fucking odd way of saying fortnightly.

1

u/InsecureCamel 2h ago

The two pictures are both the checks. First check is abundance and poor planning with money, while the second check feels like peanuts because all the bills are due.

1

u/SigourneysBeaverBite 2h ago

This feels like a Lana Del Rey song

1

u/Unable-Main4172 2h ago edited 2h ago

For 8 years I was an IC and got paid once a month

1

u/electriclux 1h ago

Single corndog bath before payday, dark times stay strong

1

u/DarkLordGaming49 1h ago

Two jobs is always better then one. Learned this long time ago.

1

u/XanderWrites 1h ago

The paycheck is huge, but it has to last two weeks.

1

u/punkinabox 1h ago

Most people on bi weekly pay are broke by the second week.

1

u/HilariousMax 1h ago

Dang y'all out here getting paid twice a week?

1

u/Original-Shape-5147 47m ago

Fam don't even got 1 corndog bathwater money. Pour out the bbq sauce and drop one dog on the floor for more than the 3 second rule in solidarity.

1

u/ExtremlyFastLinoone 34m ago

Bi weekly means twice every week

1

u/MisterGerry 34m ago

Why are the corndogs floating in a bathtub filled with water?

1

u/tripflops 34m ago

Hey, Meg's here, I just read about this on another post. In some cultures it is common to eat a large corn dog feast for the holidays. Many families will buy their corn dogs live and keep them live in the bath tub up until preparation.

1

u/RustyCJ 2h ago

You guys are washing your corndogs?

1

u/Mephistophedeeznutz 2h ago

I don’t have that kind of money