Always Has Been Meme

What does the Always Has Been meme mean?

Always Has Been is a two-astronaut format about revelations that were never secret. One astronaut stares at something absurd about the world — "Wait, it's all Ohio?" — and panics; a second astronaut floats behind him, gun raised, and answers the question with three words: Always has been. The joke lands as a fake conspiracy reveal: the ridiculous truth was there all along, and only you are surprised.

Origin

• December 11, 2016: the earliest version appears as an MS Paint drawing of two astronauts looking at a flat Earth, posted by Redditor Wiegand6 to r/dankmemes.
• August 2018: the gun-pointing variant surfaces on 4chan with the dialogue "Wait, it's all America? / Always has been," giving the format its fixed punchline.
• 2019-2020: the "Wait, it's all Ohio?" rewrite spreads on Twitter and Reddit (attributed to @SmashBrosOmega), fusing the format with the cursed-Ohio joke universe.
• 2020: "Always has been" becomes a general catchphrase for any mock-conspiracy reveal, well beyond the astronaut image.

Examples

• "Wait, it's all Ohio?" — the canonical version, with the world map secretly Ohio.
• Workplace and fandom versions replace Ohio with whatever has quietly taken over: "Wait, it's all reboots? / Always has been."
• The bare phrase "always has been" is now used as a reply on its own, with no image at all.

Translation

• Literal reading: two astronauts; one is shocked by a fact, the other silences him.
• Actual meaning: an absurd truth was never hidden — it was always the case, and the panic is misplaced.
• Cross-language note: the three-word punchline is usually kept in English (or translated literally and paired with the original image); the format's popularity is tied to the "Ohio" variant, which rarely translates.

FAQ

What does the Always Has Been meme mean?

Astronaut A notices something absurd is true about the world and panics; astronaut B, floating behind him with a gun, replies "Always has been." The joke is that the ridiculous truth was never a secret — only the observer is late to it.

Where does the Always Has Been meme come from?

The earliest version is an MS Paint drawing of two astronauts looking at a flat Earth, posted to Reddit's r/dankmemes on December 11, 2016. The gun-pointing variant with the "Always has been" line appeared on 4chan in August 2018, and the famous Ohio rewrite spread across Twitter and Reddit in 2019-2020.

What is the Ohio version of Always Has Been?

"Wait, it's all Ohio? / Always has been" — astronaut A is shocked that the entire world is Ohio, and astronaut B confirms it with a gun. It fused with the "Only in Ohio" cursed-Ohio joke universe and remains the best-known version of the format.