From a Mock Essay to Comedy Gold: the Complete Evolution of the 'Perchance' Meme
By Elena Rostova
While the single word "perchance" seized the headline, the surrounding text houses some of the sharpest parodic writing of modern internet humor history. Consider the phrasing used to describe Mario’s primary gameplay loop: "crushing turts." Shortening "turtles" (Koopa Troopas) into the harsh, monosyllabic "turts" strips all whimsical Nintendo branding from the action. It renders the beloved mascot as an unhinged, violent drifter.
Jamesson followed this with an even more bizarre line: "Keep it up, baby!" The fictional student openly encourages the violence while pretending to conduct a formal ethical inquiry. The comedy derives from the juxtaposition of lowbrow video game trivia and high-minded academic registers. The text treats the Mushroom Kingdom not as commercial intellectual property, but as a bleak existential landscape worthy of Jean-Paul Sartre or Friedrich Nietzsche.
The red pen serves as the reader's surrogate. Without the corrective margin notes, the essay would read as surreal nonsense. With them, it becomes a miniature three-act comedy. The educator's notes decline in patience from gentle grammatical correction to genuine alarm, culminating in a simple request for the student to stop writing altogether.
Elena Rostova holds a Master's degree in Public Health Journalism. She covers groundbreaking medical research, holistic wellness trends, mental health awareness, and nutritional science.
