'Merry Chrysler' Started as a Viral Video and Took on a Life of It's Own

The Gist:

• "Merry Chrysler" is a joke phrase that was first coined by comedian Christine Sydelko in a Vine posted in 2015.
• The phrase has taken on a life of its own in the years since and is now confusing people all over the U.S.
• The original video is still available, even though Vine is no longer available.

During the holiday season, most people offer either a "Merry Christmas" or a "Happy Holidays" to one another as a greeting. Some, though, use a rarer and more confusing phrase, "Merry Chrysler," to greet one another. As the phrase has gained wider circulation in recent years, many want to better understand where it comes from.

As it turns out, the phrase was first created by a single woman in a video that was posted almost a decade ago. In the years since, the phrase has become more popular, even though the original video has become less well-known.

The phrase originated in a Vine posted in 2015 by Christine Sydelko. Like many Vines, the video itself is relatively simple, with Christine saying a series of Christmas-adjacent phrases that are all broken in some way. She says "Merry Crimmas," "Merry Crisis," and "Merry Chrysler."

Of the phrases, "Merry Chrysler" is the one that ultimately took off and it's now widely used.

When the video was first posted on Vine in 2015, it was viewed more than 100 million times, and even after Vine ceased the exist, the video continued to have a long cultural legacy. If you've ever seen a compilation of great vines, odds are that Vine was included. The platform may not have had a strong financial footing, but it still has a hold on the sense of humor for an entire generation.

As sometimes happens with funny phrases, "Merry Chrysler" has become a little bit separated from the video that first coined the phrase. As a result, some people may use the phrase without fully understanding why they're doing so.

It has become a seasonal meme of sorts — one that shows up once a year during the holidays and confuses an entire group of people who have never seen the video it comes from.

Christine Sydelko has continued to find success in the years since Vine, and has more than 1 million subscribers on YouTube. While the phrase "Merry Chrysler" may always be her biggest contribution to the broader culture, she has continued to make comedy videos and has a loyal following.

She built that following in large part through Vine, a platform that was well known for its emphasis on clever jokes, and a precursor to TikTok that had a much narrower appeal and focus. Vine videos could only be six seconds long, which meant that you had to think of a joke that could work in that fairly narrow timespan. Thankfully, "Merry Chrysler" was exactly that.