Gone are the days when a simple Facebook status update was all that you needed to let the world know you were in a relationship. There's a much sneakier (and way more confusing) way to tell people about your love life: with fruit. If you've been wondering why people are posting "cherry" on their Snapchat story, it's because they're using a code that both secretly announces a person's relationship status and drives people who are not well-versed in Gen Z emoji speak absolutely bonkers. If that wasn't enough to confuse you, this trend actually started in 2016. Let me explain.
The rules of the Snapchat fruit game are actually pretty easy, once you get the hang of it. A different fruit is associated with a different type of relationship status, which you then post to your Snapchat story. For example, "blueberry" means you're single. Pineapple means it's complicated. As for cherry? It means you are in a relationship... though it's up to you whether or not you choose to divulge with whom. It's simple enough, if you happen to know what each of the different fruit codes mean. But if you have absolutely no idea why people are sharing seemingly innocent fruit posts to their Snapchat stories instead of dog filter selfies, then you're probably going to be more than a little frustrated.
Then again, confusion is kind of the whole point. According to Wojdylo Social Media, the Snapchat fruit "game" seems to have started shortly after Christmas 2016 by an unknown group of teenage girls with too much time on their hands and a mission to "confuse boys." Luckily, it didn't take people too long to decipher the code. On an entire Reddit thread dedicated to figuring out what the ambiguous fruit symbols stood for (no one just posts a pineapple to Snapchat without an ulterior motive, obviously), Reddit user marimbruhh shared an Imgur link that seemingly showed a screenshot of a Snapchat post being shared by girls that explained the rules.
Cherries and blueberries seem to be the most popular fruits shared, but they definitely aren't the only options. Here's a breakdown of which fruits correspond to which relationship status:
- Blueberry: Single
- Pineapple: It's complicated.
- Raspberry: I don't want to commit.
- Apple: Engaged
- Cherry: In a relationship
- Banana: Married
- Avocado: I'm the better half.
- Strawberry: Can't find Mr. Right
- Lemon: I want to be single.
- Raisin: I want to get married to my partner.
So, in case you weren't fluent in fruit before, now you are. Personally, I'm just happy that an avocado got included in this roundup, but it seems like, by now, even people who know the Snapchat rules are getting a little tired of the game.
Let's just hope that the fruit game stays on Snapchat. I honestly don't know what I'll do if I see this weird trend migrate over to Instagram stories, too.
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This article was originally published on Dec. 30, 2016
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