What Does "Biting the Curb" Mean? How a Brutal Execution Method Became a Meme

If you have ever watched the 1998 film American History X, you know it opens on a brutal note. The movie, which chronicles how Derek Vinyard (played by Edward Norton) became a violent Neo Nazi, opens up with a gruesome scene. And if anyone has ever had questions about what the term "biting the curb" means, this film explains it in brutal fashion.

The film opens up with Derek in bed with his girlfriend (Fairuza Balk), when his younger brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), alerts him that someone is breaking into his car. Derek springs into action, grabbing a gun from his bedside.

Following this, he looks through the peephole of the home's door, and indeed, there's a young man holding a gun, waiting on his porch. Derek then flings the door open and fires several rounds into the individual, who falls to the ground. Upon doing so, the camera shows the thief's accomplice, who runs from Derek's vehicle and tries to get away.

However, Derek doesn't allow him to do so, firing off more shots in the man's direction. A third thief in another vehicle begins driving away, and the skinhead rattles off more shots at the ride, hitting several windows in the process.

Frustrated that he wasn't able to stop the third person, Derek then makes a beeline toward the second man he shot, grabbing him by his jacket. He forces the man to put his mouth on the curb of the street, prompting Danny to scream and implore Derek not to go through with it.

Derek doesn't listen. He stomps the back of the thief's head, killing him.

Almost immediately after, the police show up. Upon seeing Derek with a gun in his hand, the Neo Nazi smiles, accepting his fate with a grin as he goes down on his knees and stares at his brother, who looks right back at him in shock.

While the movie introduced the disturbing act to more people, the act of curb stomping in this particular fashion appears to have originated in Nazi Germany. This is fitting, considering American History X's subject matter. English Grammar Lessons writes that the act was also utilized in mob- and gang-style killings.

And in 2002, the BBC published an article stating that a Neo Nazi group in Eastern Germany purportedly killed a 16-year-old boy just for looking Jewish in the same fashion shown in the film.

Today, TikTok content creators have made light of this execution method with a series of memes.

One such instance includes a Mario Bros. comic where Mario asks a Koopa to bite a brick. The Bowser turtle soldier does so, with a tear in his eye. Others have utilized the phrase to indicate that someone is taking a massive, public defeat online for everyone else to see.

Another popular meme format involving the phrase "bite the curb" shows several individuals pantomiming themselves as victims of gang violence. A text overlay in these videos will say something to the effect of "When you're getting jumped and hear one of them say, 'Yo make them bite the curb.'"