Socially Awkward Penguin

Examples

THEY THINK I'M STARING, LOOK AWAY / THEY SEE MY EYES DARTING, STARE INTO SPACE

They think I am staring

Source ↗
Credit & details

THEY THINK I'M STARING, LOOK AWAY / THEY SEE MY EYES DARTING, STARE INTO SPACE

Base penguin photograph: George F.; Mobley / National Geographic, per family source.

Source media ↗
OLD WOMAN CATCHES ME GRINNING AND SAYS I HAVE THE FACE OF SOMEONE IN LOVE / I WAS THINKING ABOUT LOBSTER ROLLS

Lobster rolls

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Credit & details

OLD WOMAN CATCHES ME GRINNING AND SAYS I HAVE THE FACE OF SOMEONE IN LOVE / I WAS THINKING ABOUT LOBSTER ROLLS

Base penguin photograph: George F.; Mobley / National Geographic, per family source.

Source media ↗
YOU START TYPING BUT SEE "YOUR FRIEND IS TYPING" SO YOU STOP / SO DO THEY

Friend is typing

Source ↗
Credit & details

YOU START TYPING BUT SEE "YOUR FRIEND IS TYPING" SO YOU STOP / SO DO THEY

Base penguin photograph: George F.; Mobley / National Geographic, per family source.

Source media ↗
Walk in on someone in the bathroom / Don't immediately close the door

Bathroom encounter

Source ↗
Credit & details

Walk in on someone in the bathroom / Don't immediately close the door

Base penguin photograph: George F.; Mobley / National Geographic, per family source.

Source media ↗
About & sources

A blue-backed penguin narrates small social missteps.

Date

Image macros documented on 4chan by May 2009; the base photograph predates the meme.

History

The blue-backed penguin uses George F. Mobley’s National Geographic photograph; its red-backed counterpart is Socially Awesome Penguin. In September 2015, getDigital reported that Getty Images had demanded €785.40 for its Geeksisters blog’s use of the photograph. The company removed the images but refused confidentiality and published the correspondence. It also released newly drawn awkward, awesome and hybrid penguins as public-domain alternatives—not a release of Mobley’s photograph.

getDigital · licensing correspondence (2015)
Catalog image
Socially Awkward Penguin representative image