ERMAGHAARD. GERSBERMS.
What would it be like to become a meme? Pretty damn weird according to Maggie Goldenberger, aka ‘Berks’.
The 23-year-old is probably best known to you as the ‘GERSBERMS – MAV FAVRIT BERKS’ meme girl – the girl who, when she was 11, posed for a picture of her clutching a set of Goosebumps books and grinning like a total maniac.
The picture was uploaded to Reddit in 2012 and quickly became an internet sensation, the Goosebumps books in Maggie’s hands were replaced by Photoshopped images of flip flops (‘FLERP FLERPS’), a Nintendo 64 (‘NINTERNDER SIXSTRE FUUUUUR!}) and mashed potatos (‘MASHED PERDERDERS’). The picture and use of ‘ermagherd’ appeared on everything from T-shirts to cross stitches, to playing cards (‘plin cerds’) to nail polish (‘ermaghard perlish’).
Maggie herself was travelling when she found out about her newfound fame. ‘I had no idea how widespread it was,’ she told Vanity Fair.Maggie was in India with limited internet access, so it was only when a friend drew her attention to her image being used on Facebook that she took notice.
The picture was of Maggie playing a character she and her friends made up called ‘Pervy Dale’. According to the VF article, the polaroid stayed on Maggie’s fridge for years before she uploaded it to MySpace and Facebook. How it made the transition from there to the man that uploaded it to Reddit, is unknown.
People did try to find Maggie IRL; a bikini picture was uploaded that she says got some nasty comments, but mainly she’s been left confused by the whole thing. ‘It was a middle schooler’s perspective of what funny is, so I’m always suprised when adults are such fans.’
Now, three years later, Maggie is a nurse and still gets people talking to her about the meme. ‘There'll be a 30-minute session of them looking at every single version of it. I have to fake laugh as if I haven’t seen them all before!’
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.