Species | Canis familiaris | ||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Breed | Shiba Inu | ||||||||||||||||||
Sex | Male | ||||||||||||||||||
Born | Hong Kong | 9 January 2011||||||||||||||||||
Died | 18 August 2023 Hong Kong | (aged 12)||||||||||||||||||
Cause of death | Cancer | ||||||||||||||||||
Years active | 2019–2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
Known for | Internet celebrity | ||||||||||||||||||
Owner | Kathy | ||||||||||||||||||
Residence | Kowloon, Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||||||
Named after | Ramune | ||||||||||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 波 子 [1] | ||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | Small ball | ||||||||||||||||||
|
Balltze ( Chinese: 波子, 9 January 2011 – 18 August 2023), nicknamed Cheems in online memes, was a Shiba Inu from Hong Kong. He was called Ball Ball (波波; Bōbō) by his owners.
Balltze was born on 9 January 2011. [2] He was adopted at the age of one from an emigrating friend, [3] by fashion designer Kathy from Kowloon. [4] Kathy's brother named him after Ramune, a Japanese beverage in which a marble ball inside the bottle is pressed down to let the drink flow. [4] He was known as Ball Ball by his owners. [5]
In May 2022, Balltze was diagnosed with pancreatitis. [6] He recovered in June. [7] In May 2023, his owners reported that he had serious respiratory problems. [8] He had cancer and was undergoing thoracentesis (the draining of fluid from his chest) when he died on 18 August 2023, aged 12. [9] His funeral was held on 23 August, and donations of US$13,000 were sent to local animal charities. [10]
In a 2020 interview with Know Your Meme, Kathy said that Balltze wanted his legacy to be "Meme fade, [fellow Shiba Inu meme] Doge is eternal. Remember me as 'Balltze', not 'Cheems' or 'cheemsburger', I'm just a Balltze". [4]
Balltze appears as the Internet meme character Cheems, whose name comes from his taste for " cheemsburgers" [ sic]. The character adds the letter "m" into words as he speaks. [6] The meme was first posted to the r/dogelore subreddit on Reddit in June 2019. [4] The image used for the meme was uploaded originally on Balltze's Instagram account in 2017, and shows him sitting on the floor. [5]
Cheems also features in the "Swole Doge vs Cheems" meme in which a muscular version of Doge represents something considered better in the past, and Cheems represents its current, lesser state. [5] The meme became viral in mid-2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. [11] [12] In another meme format, Godzilla and King Kong represent two competing concepts, while Cheems armed with a baseball bat is the winning third concept, chasing the other two away. [13]
In 2020, another meme circulated, in which Cheems hits another dog with a baseball bat causing the onomatopoeia "bonk", while saying "go to horny jail"; the meme is posted in response to sexually suggestive messages. [5] The Guardian journalist Caleb Quinley noted this image in protests against the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. [14]
Cheems appeared in several other memes in the Spanish-speaking world, including saying "no puede ser" ("It cannot be") and "me da amsiedad" ("It gives me amxiety" [sic]). [15] [16] In 2021, Spain's public broadcaster RTVE wrote "What is clear is that a meme is worth more than a thousand words and Cheems and Doge now form part of Internet popular culture, reinventing themselves constantly to brighten our days or put us in our places". [5] Balltze's owner Kathy's favourite Cheems meme was one in Spanish, in which he takes a bath and says "Could you carry on scrolling? It's just that I'm taking a bamth [sic]". [4]
Kathy initially did not understand the Cheems memes for their absurdist nature. She later signed deals with a management company and an American toy company, as well as making T-shirts which benefitted local canine charities. [4]
Cheems inspired cryptocurrency such as Cheems Inu and Cheemscoin. Parth Dubey of the International Business Times wrote that they were part of "a number of wannabe dog-themed coins" competing against Dogecoin and the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency. [17]
Species | Canis familiaris | ||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Breed | Shiba Inu | ||||||||||||||||||
Sex | Male | ||||||||||||||||||
Born | Hong Kong | 9 January 2011||||||||||||||||||
Died | 18 August 2023 Hong Kong | (aged 12)||||||||||||||||||
Cause of death | Cancer | ||||||||||||||||||
Years active | 2019–2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
Known for | Internet celebrity | ||||||||||||||||||
Owner | Kathy | ||||||||||||||||||
Residence | Kowloon, Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||||||
Named after | Ramune | ||||||||||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 波 子 [1] | ||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | Small ball | ||||||||||||||||||
|
Balltze ( Chinese: 波子, 9 January 2011 – 18 August 2023), nicknamed Cheems in online memes, was a Shiba Inu from Hong Kong. He was called Ball Ball (波波; Bōbō) by his owners.
Balltze was born on 9 January 2011. [2] He was adopted at the age of one from an emigrating friend, [3] by fashion designer Kathy from Kowloon. [4] Kathy's brother named him after Ramune, a Japanese beverage in which a marble ball inside the bottle is pressed down to let the drink flow. [4] He was known as Ball Ball by his owners. [5]
In May 2022, Balltze was diagnosed with pancreatitis. [6] He recovered in June. [7] In May 2023, his owners reported that he had serious respiratory problems. [8] He had cancer and was undergoing thoracentesis (the draining of fluid from his chest) when he died on 18 August 2023, aged 12. [9] His funeral was held on 23 August, and donations of US$13,000 were sent to local animal charities. [10]
In a 2020 interview with Know Your Meme, Kathy said that Balltze wanted his legacy to be "Meme fade, [fellow Shiba Inu meme] Doge is eternal. Remember me as 'Balltze', not 'Cheems' or 'cheemsburger', I'm just a Balltze". [4]
Balltze appears as the Internet meme character Cheems, whose name comes from his taste for " cheemsburgers" [ sic]. The character adds the letter "m" into words as he speaks. [6] The meme was first posted to the r/dogelore subreddit on Reddit in June 2019. [4] The image used for the meme was uploaded originally on Balltze's Instagram account in 2017, and shows him sitting on the floor. [5]
Cheems also features in the "Swole Doge vs Cheems" meme in which a muscular version of Doge represents something considered better in the past, and Cheems represents its current, lesser state. [5] The meme became viral in mid-2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. [11] [12] In another meme format, Godzilla and King Kong represent two competing concepts, while Cheems armed with a baseball bat is the winning third concept, chasing the other two away. [13]
In 2020, another meme circulated, in which Cheems hits another dog with a baseball bat causing the onomatopoeia "bonk", while saying "go to horny jail"; the meme is posted in response to sexually suggestive messages. [5] The Guardian journalist Caleb Quinley noted this image in protests against the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. [14]
Cheems appeared in several other memes in the Spanish-speaking world, including saying "no puede ser" ("It cannot be") and "me da amsiedad" ("It gives me amxiety" [sic]). [15] [16] In 2021, Spain's public broadcaster RTVE wrote "What is clear is that a meme is worth more than a thousand words and Cheems and Doge now form part of Internet popular culture, reinventing themselves constantly to brighten our days or put us in our places". [5] Balltze's owner Kathy's favourite Cheems meme was one in Spanish, in which he takes a bath and says "Could you carry on scrolling? It's just that I'm taking a bamth [sic]". [4]
Kathy initially did not understand the Cheems memes for their absurdist nature. She later signed deals with a management company and an American toy company, as well as making T-shirts which benefitted local canine charities. [4]
Cheems inspired cryptocurrency such as Cheems Inu and Cheemscoin. Parth Dubey of the International Business Times wrote that they were part of "a number of wannabe dog-themed coins" competing against Dogecoin and the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency. [17]