![The Trees Speak in Vietnamese The Trees Speak in Vietnamese](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/028/133/Screen_Shot_2019-01-11_at_2.43.46_PM.jpg)
The Trees Speak in Vietnamese
Part of a series on War Flashback Parodies. [View Related Entries]
About
The Trees Speak in Vietnamese is a catchphrase referring to how in the Vietnam War, Americans struggled with the guerilla warfare of the Viet Cong who would often fight in dense jungle, leading to the anxious phrase "The trees speak in Vietnamese." In late 2018, it became a catchphrase in memes about the Vietnam War.
Origin
The phrase refers to a tactic used by Vietnamese soldiers in the Vietnam War wherein they would use the dense forests of Vietnam to their advantage, perhaps by tying themselves to high tree branches to ambush American soldiers.[1] The phrase was referenced in comments sections of War Flashback Parodies. An early iteration of the meme featured Mrs. Puff from Spongebob Squarepants saying "Oh, Neptune." It appeared on Imgur on May 13th, 2016 (shown below).
![The Dead of Night Hear somebody scream "tấn công!" in the tree line and flares begin to fly up](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/448/439/8f7.jpg)
Spread
The specific phrase "The trees speak in Vietnamese" did not become used in memes until several years later. On December 11th, 2018, the same image of Mrs. Puff was posted to /r/historymemes with the phrase in the caption, gaining over 29,000 points (shown below, left). This led to a surge of such jokes on Reddit. A post on /r/dankmemes from the same day gained over 16,000 points (shown below, right).
![Mrs. Puff When you are on patrol duty and one of the trees starts speaking vietnamese](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/448/441/a81.jpg)
![Nam When you are a viet cong warrior and the bushes starts speaking capitalist](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/448/443/4ed.jpg)
The trend also saw many variations in the I Am the Lorax and I Speak for the Trees meme. Posts include two edits that appeared in /r/historymemes (shown below). The meme was inquired about in /r/Teenagers[1] on December 15th, 2018.
![Lorax i am the lorax hd i speak for the trees the trees say something in Vietnamese](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/448/444/a0b.jpg)
![Charlie I am the Lorax And I speak for the trees The trees speak vietnamese](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/448/445/478.png)
Various Examples
![Up to Something American soldiers after the trees start speaking in vietnamese Those trees are up to something](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/448/446/0bc.jpg)
![Screaming Cat americans when the trees start speaking vietnamese russians when the snow starts speaking finnish french when the belgian border starts speaking german](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/448/447/8ab.jpg)
![Vietnam Vietnam ppl: "all white ppl look the same" also vietnamese ppl: umanity.gone26](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/448/449/e33.jpg)
![The time has come When you're an American soldier and you here the trees speak Vietnamese My time has come.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/448/450/f22.jpg)
![Lonk When the trees start speaking vietnamese](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/448/451/998.jpg)
![Jake When you're decorating the christmas tree and it starts speaking vietnamese](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/448/453/e6f.jpg)
Search Interest
Unavailable
External References
[1] Reddit – /r/teenagers
Recent Videos
There are no videos currently available.
Top Comments
Winday, Furries Pirate
Jan 12, 2019 at 12:29AM EST in reply to
JConlisk
Jan 11, 2019 at 03:09PM EST