Imagination Spongebob
Where it came from
From the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Idiot Box" (2002), where SpongeBob and Patrick get a cardboard box and a TV and opt for the box. SpongeBob holds up his hands with a rainbow arcing between them and breathes "imagination". The shot became an early 2010s meme for anything that only exists in someone's head.
SpongeBob spreads his hands in wonder and a rainbow appears between them. He says, reverently, "imagination". You caption the rainbow with something that sounds like a real fact but definitely isn't — a job someone claims to have, a salary figure, a habit they swear they keep, a plan that will never happen. The rainbow does all the work. Whatever it frames becomes fiction.
The comedy is how sincere the original scene is. SpongeBob isn't being sarcastic. He actually believes the imaginary thing is real, and the meme uses that against whoever's making up nonsense in front of you. It's the gentlest possible way to call someone a liar — you're not accusing them, you're just gesturing at a rainbow.
A 2011-era meme that somehow hasn't fully aged out. Still turns up anytime someone tries to pass off fiction as fact, which is a lot.
Search interest, over time
↳ data courtesy of google trends
