Ew, I Stepped in Shit Meme

What does the Ew, I Stepped in Shit meme mean?

Ew, I Stepped in Shit is a two-panel reaction comic: a man looks down at his shoe in disgust and says the line, and the close-up of the sole names the thing he just "stepped in." Whatever is written on the sole is what the poster is dismissing — an opinion, a fandom, a trend, a person. Replying with it is the internet's deadpan way of saying "this is beneath me."

Origin

• June 3, 2013: German webcomic artist Vincent Kunert publishes the strip "Ew, shit" on his site LOLnein. A man steps in feces and complains; the pile answers back, "Ew, human."
• June 9, 2015: Kunert posts the follow-up "Ew, I stepped in Shit". The punchline moves to the close-up of the shoe sole, which reads "Your Opinion" — and that blank sole is what made the format exploitable.
• 2015–2017: the template spreads on Tumblr, 4chan and reaction threads, mostly for dunking on media takes and waifus (a sibling of the "Your Waifu Is Shit!" family of jokes).
• Today: imgflip carries it as a standard blank template, and the sole carries everything from game-design complaints to political takes.

Examples

• A gaming thread labels the sole "FORCED SLOW WALKING SECTIONS IN VIDEO GAMES" — the thing the poster just stepped into and hates.
• "Your Opinion" remains the canonical sole text: someone else's take is the mess on your shoe.
• Fandom versions put a character or ship name on the sole, turning the comic into a ready-made reaction image for arguments.

Translation

• Literal reading: a man steps in feces and is revolted by the mess.
• Actual meaning: the mess is someone's opinion or taste; the poster finds it disgusting and wants an audience for that disgust.
• Cross-language note: the format travels unchanged because the joke is the blank sole — non-English communities swap the caption and keep both panels. Chinese reposts often keep the English line, since the deadpan tone survives translation better than a localized rewrite.

FAQ

What does the Ew, I Stepped in Shit meme mean?

It is a dismissive reaction image. The text on the shoe sole is the thing the poster just "stepped in" — an opinion, a fandom, a trend or a person they find disgusting — so posting the comic says the target is a mess, not an argument worth engaging with.

Where does the Ew, I Stepped in Shit comic come from?

German webcomic artist Vincent Kunert drew it for his site LOLnein. The original strip "Ew, shit" appeared on June 3, 2013 (the pile answers "Ew, human"), and the exploitable follow-up "Ew, I stepped in Shit" followed on June 9, 2015, moving the punchline to the shoe sole with the text "Your Opinion."

What do people write on the shoe sole?

Anything they want to dunk on: someone's hot take ("Your Opinion" is the classic), a game design trope like forced slow walking sections, a fandom ship, a political figure, or an entire platform. The blank sole is exactly why the format is still in rotation years later.