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‘Quiet On The Creek’ Is Taking Over The Internet – Here’s What It Means

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The phrase originates from a viral video of American rapper Saucy Santana who was eating a fish dish, and recalled “I used to go fishing when I was a little girl, you gotta be real quiet on the creek.”

The phrase went viral and within weeks had inspired a song by the rapper, spawning a wave of reaction videos online.

Some people can be seen bouncing up and down covering their mouths with their hands (which Saucy does in his videos), others make a ‘shh’ sound while putting their index finger to their lips.

What does it mean?

Teacher and content creator Mr Philip Lindsay said even though school is out for summer, he’s getting direct messages about ‘quiet on the creek’ being a new trending meme – and he suggested it might even make its way into classrooms in the next school term.

“One of the ways it is being used is people are just saying it to say it,” admitted the teacher. “Like a typical meme, people aren’t really using it to mean much of anything. It’s just catchy, it’s trending, and so they just say it.”

You might remember this is how the viral phrase ‘six-seven’ took off last year.

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Mr Lindsay added: “There is another way that people are using it and it’s pretty logical. The original poster said you’ve got to be quiet on the creek, so that you don’t scare the fish away. So, some people are using the phrase … to insinuate ‘hey, keep it down, keep it on the down-low, keep it low-key, keep it secret’.”

Santana’s lyrics might have had something to do with this evolution in meaning. One line reads: “Know he got a main, you the side, he gotta sneak. But you can’t get shit ’cause you ain’t quiet on the creek.”

Some have gleaned from the lyrics that the phrase might actually hold a deeper meaning about “DL men” (according to Grindr, these are “gay and bisexual men who live their lives pretending to be straight”) – a theory Santana has addressed himself on social media.

Madeline Enos, spokesperson for language learning app Preply, suggested the phrase means to ‘be quiet’ or ‘keep it to yourself’ as it “directly draws from the idea that if somebody is too loud while fishing, they’ll scare the fish away”.

She added that as the meaning has evolved, people have “come to interpret the phrase as meaning to keep their plans, achievements, or relationships private, rather than public”.

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