AboutWhat does the meme depict?

The Awkward Moment Seal meme features an image macro of a northern elephant seal with a distinctly wide-eyed and somewhat bewildered expression. This meme is typically used to highlight socially awkward or uncomfortable situations. It bears similarity to other memes like 'That Awkward Moment...' and the Socially Awkward Penguin, both known for their depiction of socially uneasy scenarios.

OriginWho did it first?

The Awkward Moment Seal meme was first introduced in the online environment via a photo uploaded to the website Nature's Pics Online around 2010, under the title 'Northern Elephant Seal (Weaner).' The actual meme journey began when the image surfaced on Reddit on April 15, 2014, after user Niccalv2015 uploaded it to the subreddit r/aww in a post titled 'Hurumph,' garnering over 3,000 upvotes and numerous comments. The next day, the first captioned meme version appeared on the subreddit r/funny, posted by Balten with the title 'I always feel like the creepiest person when I do this…' which almost reached 2200 upvotes. Subsequent posts added various captions to the seal image, notably on April 17 by user walrusmeats on the subreddit r/AdviceAnimals, with captions that continued to resonate with the theme of awkward or embarrassing personal revelations.^[1]

Origin: 2014