The Classic Loss Meme Explained

In 2008, webcomic Ctrl+Alt+Del published a strip where the protagonist's girlfriend miscarried. The internet hated it so much that the strip eventually got reduced to four lines and a corner: | || || |_. That shape went on to seed an entire genre of pattern-recognition memes, and seventeen years later, people are still finding it hidden in Among Us crewmates, Geometry Dash levels, and FlightReacts screenshots. This is the story of how a webcomic about grief became the internet's most-cited meme, how its creator eventually leaned in, and how an anti-fandom on 4chan accidentally invented the "Losslike." ▶ FRANKIE FEY YouTube:    / @frankiefey   Instagram:   / frankie.fey   TikTok:   / frankie.fey   X / Twitter: https://x.com/frankiefey More episodes with Frankie are on the way. Subscribe for more memes and Internet Culture -    / @knowyourmeme   0:00 Do you recognize this pattern? 0:40 Tim Buckley and Ctrl+Alt+Del 1:30 June 2, 2008 "Loss" drops 2:12 The Pregnancy Arc 3:24 Buckley's newspost 4:24 The reception pile-on 5:18 "Antichrist." "Art criminal." 5:42 Why people were mad — fridging 6:50 Loss, abstracted 7:36 From comic to glyph 8:26 "Is this Loss?" 8:48 Loss through the years 9:10 "Found," 2018 9:46 Losslikes the genre 10:04 Things that look like crewmates 10:40 Devil Vortex Saws 10:56 FlightReacts 11:28 Close SOURCES Loss on Know Your Meme: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/loss "Is This Loss?" catchphrase: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/is-thi... Losslikes (the genre): https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sub/lo... The original Loss strip, June 2, 2008: https://cad-comic.com/comic/loss/ "Found," 2018: https://cad-comic.com/comic/real/ Tim Buckley interview, New York Magazine, 2015: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2015/... Things That Look Like Among Us Crewmates: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/things... FlightReacts pattern-recognition meme: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/flight... /r/IsThisLoss:   / isthisloss   /r/PeterExplainsTheLoss:   / peterexplainstheloss   Producer: Andy Sowar Writing: P ham / Frankie Fey Editing: Flor M / MilanLab Host: Frankie Fey Editor in Chief: Don Caldwell #Loss #meme #isthisloss