The “Meanwhile in… ” meme started, as so many do, on the 4chan /b bbs boards where in February 2010 someone posted a picture of an upside down car in Australia with the caption “Meanwhile in Australia…”. This played on the idea that Australia is on the bottom of the world so everything there must be upside down compared to the Northern countries.

The phrase “Meanwhile….” has been used for a very long time in movies and books when the writer wished to change locations without a proper segue. The most common method was seen in cowboy movies where you would be watching something taking place in a far away area and then it would say “Meanwhile, back on the ranch…” and the video would change to show the hero’s ranch where somethign else was happening.

The upside down car created a massive outpouring of other images, all based on some stereotypical and well known idea about a cultural group and usually using an funny or strange image to as the background. Many of these images can be seen below and very few cultural groups were spared the ridicule of these images.