--- --- # Hilarious Elf on the Shelf Memes Taking Over the Internet Are Christmas Come Early by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Sep 18, 2017 6:46 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Sep 18, 2017 6:46 PM UTC Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without an Elf on the Shelf and Christmas seems to have started early on the internet. A few weeks ago—well before the start of the Christmas season—the internet was slowly taken over by rhyming Elf on the Shelf memes and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to let up anytime soon. According to [Polygon](https://www.polygon.com/2017/9/18/16326768/elf-on-the-shelf-meme-pokemon-zelda-nintendo), the jokes all started on Aug. 27 when [Tumblr user dankmemeuniversity](https://dankmemeuniversity.tumblr.com/post/164267637110) uploaded a photo captioned, “You’ve heard of Elf on the Shelf, now get ready for…” along with a photo of [Pokémon](http://time.com/4866278/legendary-pokemon-go/?iid=sr-link3)_’_s Ash Ketchum lying in the trash, encouraging viewers to complete the sentence with the rhyme, “Ash in the trash”. That photo and it’s brilliantly inane joke was reblogged more than 180,000 times, eventually inspiring [Tumblr user Kawaii Rain ](https://hopehedgehog.tumblr.com/post/164697997115)to respond with a new joke photo featuring “Link in the Sink”—with [_Legend of Zelda’_s Link ](http://time.com/4836507/influential-video-game-characters/?iid=sr-link7)lying in a sink. From there it took off with people on Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram joining in the rhyming fun. While Pokémon fans got the meme rolling, it quickly spread to other fandoms, including [Donkey Kong](https://coffjns.tumblr.com/post/165347657562)_,_ [_Powerpuff Girls_](http://kawaiitriot.tumblr.com/post/165443812966)_,_ [Furby](http://furbology.tumblr.com/post/165443607491/youve-all-heard-of-elf-on-the-shelf-now-get), [_Hamilton’s_ Lin-Manual Miranda](https://voiceofperseus.tumblr.com/post/165462207792/youve-heard-of-elf-on-the-shelf), [RuPaul](https://ithelpstodream.tumblr.com/post/165433559259/im-done), and pretty much every other show or [celebrity](http://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/4736291/rupaul/?iid=sr-link1) you can think of have received their own meme treatment. Of course, now that the meme has really taken off, people are yearning for its demise. > [](https://twitter.com/Simon%5FPegg/status/909714224510832641) However with the Christmas season quickly approaching, it is probably not going anywhere soon—unless Santa himself gets involved. > [](https://twitter.com/ChanceHarbour/status/909501745444900867) > [](https://twitter.com/adamjmoussa/status/909795587381514240) Funniest Rhyming Elf on the Shelf Memes ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4946736/rhyming-elf-on-the-shelf-memes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4946736/rhyming-elf-on-the-shelf-memes/"},"headline":"Hilarious Elf on the Shelf Memes Taking Over the Internet Are Christmas Come Early","datePublished":"2017-09-18T18:46:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:47:21.574Z","description":"It all started with a Pokémon joke and spiraled from there","url":"https://time.com/4946736/rhyming-elf-on-the-shelf-memes/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","memes","Holiday 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4946736/rhyming-elf-on-the-shelf-memes/","name":"Hilarious Elf on the Shelf Memes Taking Over the Internet Are Christmas Come Early"}}]}] ```