But It's Honest Work
Contents
What makes a good meme work is its ability to apply to so many aspects of modern life. One good example is “It ain't much but it's honest work.”
About
The Honest Work meme is considered a reactionary image macro. This means it is a captioned image that was created in response to an action. The image is a farmer in overalls and the caption is “It ain't much but it's honest work.”
Origin
This image macro was created in response to the a 2014 article titled Soil Health Campaign Turns Two: Seek to Unlock Benefits on- and off-the-Farm. The article was posted by the United States Department of Agriculture. It featured a photo of Ohio farmer David Brandt.
In 2018, Reddit user pettergra posted the image under /r/MemeEconomy. It is pettergra who added the caption. The post was upvoted more than 18,000 times and eventually spread. Users such as yothisisyo used the meme and added the caption “When your teacher asks you why you have submitted only one of 20 paper homework.”
Meaning
Since then the image and caption have been revamped to relate to any situation where the action—or work—even if it is less than adequate for the situation, is at least done with honest and good intentions/spirit. Think of it like this: you asked your parents for a new ipad for Christmas but they couldn't afford it. Instead, they worked extra hours and got you the model from the year before, but made sure it was new (still cheaper than the newest model). They didn't get the iPad you wanted exactly, but they earned enough money and got you a good one as best as they could.
Examples
