What Does 'Scuba' Mean on TikTok, and Where Did the Viral Term Originate?

Social media really does have its own language, as our way of communicating changes depending on the platform. Well, TikTok is no exception, as people have started referring to 'scuba' on the app.

Obviously, those who don't frequent TikTok have absolutely no idea what the term is referring to. So, what does "scuba" mean, and how did it become a part of our culture?

Rather than an actual thing, "scuba" is a verb. It's short-hand for the "Scuba Dance," also sometimes called the "Scuba Juke." The move involves holding your nose with one hand while waving the other hand in front of your face, which results in looking somewhat like you're underwater.

The move is often used as a celebration or to express excitement. For example, some NFL players have celebrated touchdowns via the scuba dance, boosting the trend's popularity.

A quick scroll through TikTok showed other uses of the scuba dance include announcing an upcoming birthday and sharing that someone did well in a competition.

Like any other TikTok dance trend, people often add their own unique variations to the scuba dance. In fact, some influencers will incorporate the move into a larger, choreographed routine.

While clips of the dance are absolutely everywhere, one of the most famous variations is an AI video of Nick Wilde from the animated film Zootopia participating in the trend.

For those who can't relate to younger generations' love of the scuba dance, think back to when the Soulja Boy dance was surging in popularity. The move, by the artist of the same name, was trending after the rapper performed the dance in his music video titled "Crank That Dance."

Interestingly, the scuba dance has similar origins.

The scuba dance went viral thanks to Desean Hawk Logan-Russell, aka h5wk, and his song "Scuba Juke." In fact, it's that very tune that's often heard in the background of TikTokers' scuba dance clips.

Just a heads up that ever since Desean's scuba success, he's been posting a myriad of other fun and simple dance moves on his social media. Surely, the influencer is hoping to replicate scuba's popularity with some updated choreography.

So far, nothing else has taken off on TikTok the way scuba has. That said, if you want to be ahead of upcoming trends, we recommend keeping an eye on his page.

At this point, it seems like everyone is either doing the scuba dance or at least talking about it. So, what is the latter group saying? In order to find out, we turned to a place no one actually doing the scuba dance would ever go — Reddit.

In a clip showing some pop stars performing the scuba dance onstage, one person commented, "They were so goofy at this show, it was so fun." However, someone else lamented, "I'm definitely too old to understand what this is. Is TikTok just 100% useless videos??" Well, yes, but they're fun, useless videos!