Aboba

About

Aboba, or 🅰️🅱️🅾️🅱️🅰️, also spelled, "АБОБА," is a meaningless word that became popular in Russian shitposts and as a spam comment in early 2021. The word originates from the animated YouTube short "Inside Zhmyshenko," and is the last name of the short's protagonist, Valeriy Aboba. The word soon became a popular Russian catchphrase online.

Origin

On January 23rd, 2021, Russian YouTube^[1] channel "WELL, DOBRENKO!" posted a short animated comedy skit to YouTube titled "Inside Zhmyshenko." The cartoon stars a politician and presidential hopeful named Valeriy Aboba. Shortly into the skit, the candidate says his name, "Aboba" (shown below). The video gained over 139,000 views in five months, and inspired many to span "Aboba" or "🅰️🅱️🅾️🅱️🅰️" in the comments in mock support of the candidate and as a general shitpost.

The name became associated with a redraw of Casie,^[9] a twin famously photographed by Roger Ballen. Notably, the same twin is used as popular Russian streamer Glad Valakas' identity^[8] (example shown below, edited campaign poster).

Spread

On February 9th, 2021, YouTuber^[2] DolbaLight posted an edit of I, Robot in which the robot says "aboba," garnering over 2.4 million views in four months (shown below). This video greatly helped spread the term, and inspired numerous similar video edits replacing the audio in various clips with a clip saying "aboba."

The word ABOBA is often used in shitposts, similarly to the B Emoji and as a spam comment on memes, as well as similarly to kek. Rapper Morgenstern has notably used a sticker reading "🅰️🅱️🅾️🅱️🅰️" on Instagram a number of times, including during a live stream around April while reacting to an aboba meme (shown below, re-uploaded to YouTube).

On May 4th, Instagram^[3] user @playmemes_official posted an Are You Going To Sleep meme featuring the term, garnering over 5,000 likes in a month (shown below, left). On May 13th, Instagram^[4] user valakasglad posted a piece of art depicting Aboba as a heartthrob, garnering over 16,000 likes in a comparable span of time (shown below, right).

On June 2nd, Instagram^[5] user @breathhee posted an edited clip of Russian actress Ekaterina Klimova saying "aboba" on the late-night talk show Evening Urgant,^[6] garnering over 328,000 views and 14,000 likes in a week (shown below). Klimova originally appeared on the show on April 27th.^[7]

The character, President Aboba, also has a popular website^[10] made to look like an endorsement of Aboba.

Related Memes

B Button Emoji 🅱

The B Emoji is used similarly to "Aboba," with users replacing letters in random words with the "🅱" emoji for comedic purposes on meme posts, but not necessarily meaning anything (example shown below). It is mostly used in shitposts.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References