Learning a language is one of those goals that often gets de-prioritised in our day-to-day lives, which is why the language-learning app Duolingo sends you reminders when you’re neglecting your regular practice sessions.
Duo, the little green owl mascot nudges you with push notifications that are meant to bring you back to the app.
Whatever it takes.
oh god oh fuck pic.twitter.com/JmrilYLl3n
— John @ Greece (@monadoboii) March 31, 2019
Technically, Duo’s reminders have always been friendly, if not a little sternly persistent. They highlight our own lack of diligence when it comes to working towards our personal goals, and that makes the owl feel truly horrifying.
Hence the Duolingo memes, in which the cartoon bird is portrayed as a somewhat sociopathic bully who will stop at nothing to make you learn a damn language. The memes have been around for a while, but since Duo’s recent redesign to be more emotionally evocative (read: manipulative), they’ve taken off in the last week.
jesus christ @duolingo that's one hardcore email campaign pic.twitter.com/ytoKE58uQW
— Henry Birdseye (@tehawesome) April 11, 2016
Duo the Duolingo owl playing the role of the severe anti-procrastinator officer that we all really need is the perfect metaphor.
— The Meme Book (@thememebookoc) March 28, 2019
the duolingo owl when you try to skip a day of spanish pic.twitter.com/nZonngFOIo
— ?. (@dcbrevs) March 28, 2019
Duo is fighting for the lofty aspirations we all have but rarely attend to, and he’s not afraid to use force where necessary.
The duolingo owl when you leave it alone for like 5 minutes pic.twitter.com/q5hQKVgZ7r
— Violet: wooloo time, aces/aros are valid af??? (@OnePrplGrl) March 29, 2019
Somebody needs to stop duolingo! pic.twitter.com/FcXLjoskNu
— Heart of Memes (@HeartofMemes) March 28, 2019
Therapist: Duolingo owl is just a silly internet meme, it can't hurt you.
Duolingo owl: pic.twitter.com/frkQBJkvvx
— ?️ ? ? ?️ ? (@orgeezuz) April 1, 2019
Duolingo is leaning into their status as a terrifying meme mascot, and now building their campaigns around the fear that Duo incites.
https://twitter.com/recircumcision/status/1110911246390489096?
They even put out a self-aware April Fools’ ad that is surprisingly funny for a corporate gag.
The moment you've all been d̶r̶e̶a̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ waiting for…
Introducing Duolingo Push! We're taking notifications out of your phone and into the real world. Yup: Duo the Owl will literally show up to remind you to practice so you never miss a lesson.
? https://t.co/UB8ld0pyiY pic.twitter.com/kHEQv2Winc
— Duolingo (@duolingo) April 1, 2019
The angry little cartoon owl represents to us the internal conflict caused by our inability to attend to all of our goals. His rage mirrors our own, because deep down, we know we could do more. Deep down, we know we could just put aside 10 minutes to do some f**king Duolingo.