Awkward turtle

A demonstration of the placement of the hands to perform this gesture.

The awkward turtle is a cultural phenomenon and internet meme, including a hand gesture and a phrase which are popularly used to defuse awkward social situations. The Awkward Turtle hand gesture is a two handed gesture used to mark a moment as awkward. One hand is placed flat atop the other with both palms facing down, fingers extended outward from the hand and thumbs stuck out to the sides. The thumbs are rotated to symbolize flippers. The phrase Awkward Turtle is used as a substitution to the hand gesture, and can be used as a noun or an adjective, such as in the sentence: "Oh my God, so i was talking to Becky about STDs and I forgot she had syphilis. It was a mad awkward turtle."

Squidoo explains that the Awkward Turtle is a way or getting out of an awkward situation or embarrassment through humour. It is "a special move that will distract your friends and make them laugh so they forget why they felt awkward in the first place", i.e., to diffuse the awkward situation and restart the conversation. It can also be used in code, to secretly acknowledge between two peple (who understand the awkward turtle signal) that a third party has created an awkward moment, without them finding out.

In real American Sign Language, the action means Platypus.

T-shirts have been created with an awkward turtle design on them, which allows users the option to "point at [their] shirt" rather than making the action.

"Mo' Urban Dictionary: Ridonkulous Street Slang Defined" describes the Awkward Turtle as "the animal mascot for the awkward moment".

The "Awkward Turtle" android app supplies users with "150 random facts to get that conversation right back on its feet", if you are in a "conversation without any idea what to say next".

An article on this subject was deleted on Wikipedia: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/ Awkward turtle WP administrators can restore the edit history of this page upon request

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The article "How the Awkward Turtle Swam into the Oceans of our Lives" on ArticlesBase explains, "Many trace the rapid spread of the awkward turtle to urbandictionary.com. The website, which defines itself as a dictionary for slang and allows users to post their own definitions and pop-culture terms, first posted a definition for the word on September 6, 2005 – thus officially documenting the revered existence of "the animal mascot of the awkward moment"". In analysing the impact of the awkward turtle, the article continues by saying, "it has caused the revolutionary births of hundreds of other "awkward" objects and creatures including the awkward balloon, the awkward whale, the awkward palm tree and the awkward kitten". The Awkward Turtle has had an impact on the way youth speak, and also how they respond to situations. The meme "sprouted a nationwide obsession with everything awkward". Many internet sensations related to the meme have spouted up, such as the website fmylife.com which "encourages many to post their often-hilarious awkward situations for millions to see". The awkward turtle is symbolic of the modern era, along with other phenomena such as the Middle Easterns riots, in that "something unexpected and seemingly insignificant can make an unbelievable impact".