El Wey

About

El Wey refers to a meme mocking the son of English footballer Phil Foden in which Spanish speakers utilize the popular slang "el wey" (English: "the dude") to comment on the child's head size. The memes started on Facebook on May 2022, using an image macro of the boy with his father as a template.

Origin

On May 22nd, 2022, English footballer Phil Foden posted a picture with his son after he won the Premiere League championship. The image (seen below) was uploaded to his Instagram^[1] account, garnering 1.7 million likes in one year.

Soon after the image was posted by the footballer, on May 24th, 2022, Facebook^[2] user Ervey Wass uploaded a cropped version of the picture zooming on Foden's kid on a private shitposting meme page. The image (seen below) was paired with the Spanish text "El wey que sabe como funciona el sistema de ligas del futbol inglés," which translates as "The dude who knows how the English soccer league system works." The post garnered 1,500 likes and 108 comments in a year.

The term and nickname "El Wey" was then attached to Phil Foden's kid as an image macro meme related to his head size and scenarios describing him as a smart kid.

Spread

The Facebook post mocking Phil Foden's son's head size remained on the Premiere League Shitposting meme page until June 2023, when the term "el wey" started to trend on Twitter. For example, on June 13th, Twitter^[3] user @ivannn_sequeira uploaded a picture (seen below, left) of the kid declaring his support for him, which received 2,600 likes and 626 retweets in three days. Twittee^[4] user @EirenJr compared the kid to footballer Kylian Mbappé, garnering 10,500 likes and 584 retweets in four days (seen below, right).

The kid gained an ironic fandom of football enthusiasts, who cheered at every interaction they could have with him. For example, Twitter^[5] user @City_HQs uploaded an Instagram Story posted by Phil Foden after some people asked for more videos of "El Wey." The post (seen below) garnered 52,100 views and 1,400 likes in one day.

El Wey x Rodri chant 🤩💙 @PhilFoden pic.twitter.com/Yy3P6S6v9d

— City HQ (@City_HQs) June 14, 2023

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References