Say That Again Meme
The say that again meme is the Say it Again, Dexter template, built from a 1996 cartoon episode. The top box is a delighted demand to hear something repeated; the bottom box is what actually gets repeated.
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Where the say that again meme comes from
The source is a single eleven-minute cartoon segment, and it is a good one. The Big Cheese aired on 4 December 1996 as segment 9c of the first season of Dexter’s Laboratory, the Cartoon Network series created by Genndy Tartakovsky. The plot is simple: Dexter builds a machine to learn French in his sleep before a test. The record it plays gets scratched, so instead of a language course he absorbs one phrase repeated all night — omelette du fromage. He wakes up physically unable to say anything else.
What follows is the joke the meme inherits. The phrase works. It gets him the answer marked correct, it gets him popularity, and it gets him fawned over by classmates who have no idea he is saying cheese omelette at them. The template still is taken from that stretch of the episode: Dexter mid-phrase with an audience hanging on every syllable.
An honest note on the name. The template is universally listed as Say it Again, Dexter on generator sites, and the meme community treats that as a quotation. We could not confirm the line word for word against a transcript or the episode itself, and a template site describes the scene as everyone loving his faked accent, which is not quite what happens in the plot — the accent is not faked, it is a machine error. So: the episode and its date are firm, the exact wording of the line is not, and the template name is best read as the label the internet gave the still rather than a verified quotation.
The still became a reaction image long after the fact. Secondary write-ups place the surge in social media use around 2015, roughly two decades after broadcast — the familiar pattern of nineties cartoon frames being mined once the children who watched them started making memes.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1996 | Dexter’s Laboratory begins its run on Cartoon Network, created by Genndy Tartakovsky. |
| 4 December 1996 | The Big Cheese airs as segment 9c of season one. A scratched sleep-learning record leaves Dexter able to say one French phrase. |
| Late 1990s onward | Omelette du fromage becomes one of the most quoted lines in the series. |
| Around 2015 | Secondary sources date the surge in reaction-image use of the still to this period. |
| 2015 onward | The still settles into a standard two box image macro on generator sites under the name Say it Again, Dexter. |
One clarification for anyone searching the phrase rather than the picture. Say that again is also just a thing people type, and the search brings up several unrelated reaction images. This page covers the Dexter template specifically, which is the one that has an editable layout behind it.
What it means and when to use it
The format asks for a repeat, and the humour lives in what the repeat turns out to be. There are two clean registers and they pull in opposite directions.
The sincere one is a small celebration. Somebody has said something so welcome that you want to hear it a second time — the meeting is cancelled, the refund went through, the test came back clear. Here the bottom box delivers exactly what the top box asked for and the joke is pure relief.
The ironic one is a trap. The top box demands the repeat with real enthusiasm, and the bottom box supplies something deflating, mundane or entirely different. The gap between the eagerness of the request and the flatness of the answer is where the laugh sits.
Either way, the mechanism is call and response. The two boxes have to be in dialogue. This is not a comparison template and it is not a ranking template — box two is a reply to box one, and if it does not read as a reply the image collapses into two unrelated lines.
| Situation | Right use | Wrong use |
|---|---|---|
| Box one | A request to hear it again. Eager, short, uncomplicated. | The punchline. Putting the joke first leaves box two with nothing to do. |
| Box two | The thing being repeated, quoted plainly. | A commentary on the thing. The format wants the line itself, not a description of it. |
| Relationship | Call and response. Box two answers box one. | Two parallel observations. That is a different template entirely. |
| Literal versus ironic | Either, as long as one is committed to. Sincere relief or a deflating swerve. | Both at once. A half-ironic version reads as a mistake rather than a joke. |
| Audience | Anyone. The image reads as enthusiasm even to people who do not know the cartoon. | Relying on recognition of the episode for the joke to work. Most viewers will not have it. |
Captions that work
Two boxes. Box one is the ask, box two is the line. Keep box one under six words — the eagerness has to feel immediate — and let box two be the thing you would genuinely want said twice.
- techSay the thing that fixed it I turned the wifi off and on again
- moneySay it again, slower The refund has already been processed
- workSay the line that makes my week The meeting is cancelled
- One more time for the people at the back Nobody has to present on Friday
- devSay it again The build passed on the first try
- workRepeat that for the room You do not need to be on this call
- Tell me the good part again There is a second bag of crisps in the cupboard
- healthSay that again No cavities
- Say it one more time Free parking, all weekend
- travelRepeat that The train is running on time
- foodSay it again please The recipe only needs one pan
- Say it again Actually, I misread the email
Variants and close relatives
| Format | Source | How it differs |
|---|---|---|
| Omelette du fromage | The same 1996 episode | The catchphrase on its own, usually with no template. A quotation rather than a layout. |
| Once again asking | A 2019 campaign photograph | Also a request, but a weary repeated one. This template is delighted; that one is resigned. |
| Chef kiss | A hand gesture reaction | Approval with no repeat. Use it when you want to praise a line rather than hear it twice. |
| Blinking man | A 2013 video clip | The opposite response. Confusion at what was said instead of appetite for more of it. |
| Four panel confirmation layout | A 2002 film still | Asks for something to be repeated in order to check it, with dread rather than delight. |
Common mistakes
- Box two that is not actually a repeat. The commonest failure. If the second box does not answer the first, the call and response mechanism never fires.
- Front-loading the joke. Box one is a setup, not a gag. A funny request makes the answer feel like an afterthought.
- Describing instead of quoting. Box two should be the line, in the words it was said in. Paraphrase kills it.
- Overlong box one. Eagerness reads as instant. Anything past a short clause and the enthusiasm drains out of it.
- Assuming the reference lands. The episode is from 1996. Write the joke so it works for someone who has never seen the cartoon, because most people have not.
- Confusing it with the catchphrase. Omelette du fromage is a quotation from the same episode and a different joke. Stacking both in one image dilutes each.
- Half-committing to the tone. Sincere relief or deflating swerve. A version that is not sure which it is reads as a botched caption.
Limits and etiquette
The main honest limit is generational reach. This is a still from a cartoon segment that aired in December 1996, and its recognition is concentrated among people who watched Cartoon Network as children. That is a large group, but it is a group. The good news is that the image works without the reference: two figures leaning in eagerly reads as enthusiasm to anyone, so the format survives the audience not getting the source.
Second limit: it is a narrow tool. Call and response with a repeat is one joke shape, and unlike a comparison template it does not stretch. If your idea is not literally somebody wanting to hear a thing twice, you are forcing it.
Third, and worth saying plainly: the origin details here are thinner than on most of these pages. The episode and its broadcast date are firmly documented. The precise wording behind the template name is not, and this page says so rather than inventing a quotation to fill the gap.
The template frame reproduced here is third-party material, hosted for captioning only; rights holders can use the takedown policy at /dmca/.
Frequently asked questions
What is the say that again meme?
It is a two box template where the first box eagerly asks for something to be repeated and the second box supplies the line being repeated.
What cartoon is the say that again meme from?
It comes from The Big Cheese, a segment of a Cartoon Network series created by Genndy Tartakovsky, first broadcast on 4 December 1996.
What happens in that episode?
A machine meant to teach French while the boy genius sleeps plays a scratched record all night, leaving him able to say only one phrase the next day.
Is Say it Again, Dexter an exact quote?
Unclear. It is the name generator sites use for the still, but we could not confirm the wording against a transcript. Treat it as the label the internet gave the image.
How many text boxes does the template have?
Two. The top box makes the request and the bottom box delivers the repeated line.
Is the meme sincere or sarcastic?
Both versions exist. Sincere ones repeat genuinely good news. Sarcastic ones set up eager anticipation and then deliver something flat.
What is omelette du fromage?
It is the French phrase the character is stuck repeating in the same episode. It is a separate running joke rather than part of this template.
Does the joke work if people do not know the cartoon?
Yes. The image reads as eager enthusiasm on its own, so write the caption to stand without the reference.