{"id":"the-breakfast-question","name":"The Breakfast Question","summary":"The Breakfast Question is a bait question used in online arguments to signal that an opponent can't process hypotheticals, based on a June 2021 4chan story about IQ research at San Quentin State Prison. The phrase 'How would you have felt if you hadn't eaten breakfast?' went viral on Twitter in January 2023 as shorthand for calling someone cognitively limited.","tags":["breakfast question meme","4chan breakfast question","counterfactual meme","iq meme","san quentin meme","how would you have felt if you hadn't eaten breakfast","greentext meme"],"howToUse":[],"imageCount":9,"nsfw":false,"images":[{"url":"https://fcdtoybbbn2ccxbp.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/images/the-breakfast-question/the-breakfast-question-original-4chan-post-cover.webp","caption":"The original 4chan post from June 15, 2021 that introduced the 'breakfast question' as an example of a conditional hypothetical some people cannot process.","width":1920,"height":1080,"nsfw":false},{"url":"https://fcdtoybbbn2ccxbp.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/images/the-breakfast-question/the-breakfast-question-original-4chan-post-screenshot.webp","caption":"The original 4chan post that popularized the breakfast question as a supposed test of conditional-hypothetical reasoning.","width":680,"height":482,"nsfw":false},{"url":"https://fcdtoybbbn2ccxbp.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/images/the-breakfast-question/the-breakfast-question-4chan-recursion-followup.webp","caption":"A follow-up post from the same thread extending the discussion to recursion, storytelling, and nested narratives.","width":680,"height":441,"nsfw":false},{"url":"https://fcdtoybbbn2ccxbp.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/images/the-breakfast-question/the-breakfast-question-4chan-anachronism-post.webp","caption":"A further reply in the thread extending the theory to time perception and anachronism, using a WWII laptop-computer hypothetical.","width":680,"height":407,"nsfw":false},{"url":"https://fcdtoybbbn2ccxbp.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/images/the-breakfast-question/the-breakfast-question-endingbigly-painting-tweet.webp","caption":"A tweet applying the breakfast question format to a Daniel Nance painting for comedic effect.","width":680,"height":1059,"nsfw":false},{"url":"https://fcdtoybbbn2ccxbp.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/images/the-breakfast-question/the-breakfast-question-catholic-space-emperor-tweet.webp","caption":"A tweet remixing the breakfast question as dialogue for an edited historical portrait, a common variant of the meme.","width":680,"height":1129,"nsfw":false},{"url":"https://fcdtoybbbn2ccxbp.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/images/the-breakfast-question/the-breakfast-question-twitter-real-example.webp","caption":"A screenshot of a real Twitter exchange where a user demonstrably cannot process the conditional breakfast question.","width":680,"height":899,"nsfw":false},{"url":"https://fcdtoybbbn2ccxbp.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/images/the-breakfast-question/the-breakfast-question-mythbusters-breakfast-tweet.webp","caption":"A MythBusters-themed variation joking that the show would investigate the breakfast hypothetical.","width":680,"height":575,"nsfw":false},{"url":"https://fcdtoybbbn2ccxbp.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/images/the-breakfast-question/the-breakfast-question-movie-interrogation-tweet.webp","caption":"A cinematic variant of the meme placing the breakfast hypothetical exchange over interrogation-scene film stills.","width":680,"height":681,"nsfw":false}],"historyUrl":"https://fcdtoybbbn2ccxbp.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/images/the-breakfast-question/history.md","related":["the-great-toilet-paper-debate","gif-vs-jif-pronunciation-debate","how-do-you-draw-an-x","pineapple-on-pizza-debate","yanny-vs-laurel","would-you-kill-baby-hitler","bill-nye","burger-emoji-debate","communism","milk-coke-debate","trump-sniffles","the-dress"],"popularityRank":2788,"license":"Meme images and history: templates, screenshots, photos and fan edits, many of copyrighted material or real people. Explicit and offensive memes and images are included and flagged nsfw. Check you have the right to use an image before publishing."}