What Is 'Shut Up And Take My Money' And Where Does The Quote Come From? The 'Futurama' Buying Meme And Reaction Explained

Spending money can be one of life's great pleasures, and memes are here to record all that makes existence a thing worth doing. Fry from the beloved cartoon series Futurama has generated his fair share of famous internet content, but one particular moment from the show stands out from the rest and seems to have been tattooed deeper and more vividly into the hive mind of Reddit.

That would be Fry's "Shut Up and Take My Money" meme. Let's explain the story behind this essential piece of meme culture and why it still continues to be used online so many years later.

Where Does 'Shut Up and Take My Money' Come From?

The meme image comes from a 2010 episode of Futurama parodying Apple and the experience of buying products from the company.

In the episode, an employee at the parody Apple Store warns Fry about some possible issues with the phone he means to buy, but Fry refuses to listen and instead waves money in her face, exclaiming, "Shut up and take my money!"

A screencap of this exchange was turned into an image macro by a German tech blog in 2011, and from there, the format saw continued viral use on Reddit whenever posters discussed products they were very happy to buy.

What Does 'Shut Up and Take My Money' Mean?

The meme is used to describe an individual (often the poster themselves) responding enthusiastically to some product or idea. In classic versions, people will attach the meme to a description or picture of some outlandish or interesting thing that might be worth buying.

How Do People Post 'Shut Up and Take My Money'?

Shut Up and Take My Money is over a decade old and still gets used to this day, so naturally during that time it has seen its fair share of evolution and surreal modifications. Some have changed the core image of Fry, making it odder.

Many have adapted the catchphrase to other characters, redrawing the image to reference different shows or fandoms, combining it with memes like SpongeBob's Wallet that center on a similar theme.

For the full history of Shut Up And Take My Money be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.