About
#ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin is a hashtag used on Twitter and Tumblr. The hashtag accompanies a photo of a couple, normally awkward or unappealing, and sometimes NSFW.
Origin
The phrase most likely originated from the 2012 Manio song “This Could Be Us,” as the chorus repeats the phrase “that could be us.”[5] The hashtag was first used on Twitter by @blackgalaxshe[2] on January 18th, 2014. It’s been mentioned on Twitter over 1.9 million times as of February 2014.[3]
Spread
On January 26th the Twitter account @ButWhyYouPlayin[5] was created, its tweets focus on #ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin. On January 29th, Bossip[4] collected the best photos paired with the hashtag, and on February 6th, The Daily Dot[1] published a post titled “#ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin is the greatest hashtag” which included a collection of the akward photos used to accompany the hashtag and highlighted the existence of the trend of NSFW photos accompanying the hashtag.
Notable Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]The Daily Dot – #ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin is the greatest hashtag
[2]Twitter – @blackgalaxshe
[3]Topsy – #ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin
[4]Bossip – #ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin Is The Funniest Hashtag Of The Day
[5]AZLyrics- That Could Be Us