I Crave That Mineral
Also known as: They Crave That Mineral
"I Crave That Mineral" is a catchphrase meme born on Tumblr in late October 2014, built around a photograph of an Alpine ibex licking salt deposits off the side of a near-vertical mountainside2. The original post by Tumblr user sixpenceee captioned "They crave that mineral" picked up over 283,000 notes within two months and triggered a wave of remixes, photoshops, and jokes that made it one of the most talked-about memes at the tail end of 20141.
TL;DR
"I Crave That Mineral" is a catchphrase meme born on Tumblr in late October 2014, built around a photograph of an Alpine ibex licking salt deposits off the side of a near-vertical mountainside.
Overview
Origin & Background
How It Spread
How to Use This Meme
The phrase works as a punchline for any situation where someone (or something) is drawn to an object or goal with irrational, single-minded intensity. Common formats include:
- Pairing "I crave that mineral" with images of people, animals, or characters reaching for, climbing toward, or fixating on something - Using the first-person "I crave that mineral" as a caption for personal desire or compulsion - Swapping the ibex image with other subjects in similarly precarious or absurd positions - Applying "they crave that mineral" as a third-person observation on obsessive behavior
The humor typically comes from the contrast between the calm, matter-of-fact tone of the phrase and the extreme lengths someone is going to in the image.
Fun Facts
Alpine ibexes really do scale near-vertical dam walls and cliff faces to lick mineral salt deposits. The behavior is well-documented by wildlife researchers.
The meme went from zero to one of the biggest Tumblr posts of late 2014 in under two months, with the original post hitting 283,000+ notes.
The Wikipedia deletion debate itself became part of the joke, with Tumblr users sharing screenshots of the page's rapid creation and removal.
Derivatives & Variations
"Crave That Mineral" song parody
— YouTuber Suicide Balloons released a One Direction parody set to "What Makes You Beautiful" on December 15, 2014[2].
Attack on Titan edit
— Tumblr user Mikasa-Ackerman captioned an anime screenshot "she craves that mineral," gaining 9,400+ notes[2].
Pepe/Feels Guy photoshop
— Tumblr user santakuroo edited the original ibex photo to feature That Feel Guy and Sad Frog, collecting 21,300+ notes[2].
Wikipedia article (deleted)
— A Wikipedia page was created on December 16, 2014 and promptly nominated for deletion[2].
Frequently Asked Questions
References (4)
- 1Melanie Tech Blogarticle
- 2I Crave That Mineral - Know Your Memeencyclopedia
- 3Second presidency of Donald Trumpencyclopedia
- 4I Crave That Mineral - Urban Dictionarydictionary