hawk tuah

{{Infobox phrase

| title = Hawk tuah

| image =

| caption =

| image_size =

| alt =

| origin = June 2024 vox pop YouTube interview with a young American woman in the Broadway district of Nashville, Tennessee; onomatopoeic catchphrase

| meaning = The sound of spitting on a penis as a form of fellatio

| context = “What’s one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?”
“You gotta give ‘em that ‘hawk tuah’ and spit on that thang”

}}

{{External media

| video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7tydu_erZo&t=592s Interview with Haliey Welch], by [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU9Dxji-LC0jtoknqbwoHFQ Tim & Dee TV], published June 24, 2024.

}}

Hawk tuah ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|h|ɔː|k|_|ˈ|t|uː|ə|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hawk tuah.wav}} {{respell|HAWK|_|TOO|ə}}){{efn|While the meme is usually pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˌ|h|ɔː|k|_|ˈ|t|uː|ə|}}, the actual noise Welch made is better represented as a narrow phonetic transcription by {{IPA|en|ˌhɔkʰ ˈtʼɤ̂ː|generic=yes|}}.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/shorts/msSrhYUrY8E |title=This is still funny #linguistics #language #phonology #hawktuah |date=October 3, 2024 |last=Aleksic |first=Adam |via=YouTube}}{{Better source needed|reason=Citation is a YouTube video not made by a necessarily reliable source.|date=January 2025}}}} is an internet meme originating from a viral YouTube video posted in 2024. During a vox pop street interview in Nashville, Tennessee, Haliey Welch used the catchphrase hawk tuah, an onomatopoeia for spitting or expectoration on a penis as a form of oral sex, specifically fellatio.

History

File:Haliey Welch at DreamHack Atlanta 2024.jpg in November 2024]]

On June 11, 2024, a vox pop YouTube channel, Tim & Dee TV owned by Tim Dickerson and DeArius Marlow, released a video featuring an interview with Haliey Welch in the Broadway district of Nashville, Tennessee, United States.{{Cite news |last=Bernstein |first=Joseph |date=July 3, 2024 |title=The Guys Behind 'Hawk Tuah Girl' Would Like a Little Credit |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/03/style/hawk-tuah-girl-video.html |access-date=July 26, 2024 |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726001240/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/03/style/hawk-tuah-girl-video.html |url-status=live }} Welch and another woman approached Dickerson and Marlow and asked to be interviewed.{{cite magazine | last=Bernstein | first=Jonathan | title=The Men Who Filmed 'Hawk Tuah' Think They Should Be Famous, Too | magazine=Rolling Stone | date=2024-07-04 | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/hawk-tuah-men-who-filmed-video-tim-dee-tv-1235053762/ | access-date=2024-12-07}} The interview began with what Dickerson and Marlow considered tamer questions, such as, "What makes you {{wikt-lang|en|wifey}} material?" Eventually, Dickerson and Marlow stated, Welch encouraged Marlow to "spice up the questions". Marlow responded by asking, "What's one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?" Welch's reply, in a strong Southern accent was, "You gotta give 'em that 'hawk tuah' and spit on that {{wikt-lang|en|thang}}", referring to spitting on someone's penis as a form of fellatio, for lubricatory purposes.{{cite web | last=Abad-Santos | first=Alex | title=Hawk Tuah Girl, explained by straight dudes | website=Vox | date=2024-06-28 | url=https://www.vox.com/internet-culture/357813/hawk-tuah-girl-meme-tiktok-explained | access-date=2024-12-12}}{{Cite magazine |last=Murphy |first=Chris |date=July 3, 2024 |title=The Hawk Tuah Girl: Everything You Need (and Absolutely Don't Need) to Know |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/the-hawk-tuah-girl-everything-you-need-and-absolutely-dont-need-to-know |access-date=July 5, 2024 |magazine=Vanity Fair |archive-date=July 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240705023301/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/the-hawk-tuah-girl-everything-you-need-and-absolutely-dont-need-to-know |url-status=live }}

Popularity

The next day, Marlow uploaded the clip to TikTok and almost immediately other accounts across social media began reposting the video after scrubbing off the "Tim and Dee TV" watermark. Dickerson and Marlow estimated that they filed at least fifty copyright claims in the days after they first published the clip. The original video had gone viral, receiving millions of views across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, spawning remixes and remakes of the original audio, and gaining Welch the nickname Hawk Tuah Girl.{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Cosine |date=June 28, 2024 |title=Who's the 'hawk tuah' girl Howard Stern calls 'every father's worst nightmare'? |url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3268290/who-hawk-tuah-girl-whos-taken-over-internet-viral-clip-has-spawned-merch-mention-howard-stern-and |access-date=July 3, 2024 |newspaper=South China Morning Post |archive-date=July 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706033007/https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3268290/who-hawk-tuah-girl-whos-taken-over-internet-viral-clip-has-spawned-merch-mention-howard-stern-and |url-status=live }} The video and the phrase turned into a meme.{{cite news |last1=Ellwood |first1=Mark |title='Hawk Tuah Girl' found a familiar path to viral fame. What happens now? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/of-interest/2024/07/08/hawk-tuah-girl-viral-fame/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=9 September 2024 |date=11 July 2024 |archive-date=July 16, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716185938/https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/of-interest/2024/07/08/hawk-tuah-girl-viral-fame/ |url-status=live }} Welch, who had been a minimum-wage worker at a factory, subsequently created an Instagram account and gained a sizable social media followership and media attention.{{cite web |authorlink=Brock Colyar |last1=Colyar |first1=Brock |title=Hawk Tuah Takes Long Island |url=https://www.thecut.com/article/haliey-welch-a-k-a-hawk-tuah-parties-in-long-island.html |website=The Cut |access-date=9 September 2024 |language=en |date=18 July 2024 |archive-date=September 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909211356/https://www.thecut.com/article/haliey-welch-a-k-a-hawk-tuah-parties-in-long-island.html |url-status=live }} She also founded a company under which she registered various trademarks, gained representation by an agent, and began selling merchandise themed on the phrase and making paid appearances. On August 15, 2024, she threw the ceremonial first pitch of a New York Mets game,{{Cite magazine |last=Blistein |first=Jon |date=2024-08-16 |title=Hawk Tuah Girl's First Pitch at a Mets Game Got Everyone Unnecessarily Mad |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/hawk-tuah-girl-first-pitch-mets-game-people-mad-1235081665/ |access-date=2024-09-10 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US |archive-date=September 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910164020/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/hawk-tuah-girl-first-pitch-mets-game-people-mad-1235081665/ |url-status=live }} and launched a podcast, Talk Tuah, under the Betr media company co-founded by Jake Paul.{{Cite news |last=Gajewski |first=Ryan |date=September 3, 2024 |title=Hawk Tuah Girl Haliey Welch to Launch Podcast 'Talk Tuah' From Jake Paul's Media Company |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/hawk-tuah-girl-haliey-welch-podcast-talk-tuah-1235989879/ |access-date=September 10, 2024 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |archive-date=September 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909121521/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/hawk-tuah-girl-haliey-welch-podcast-talk-tuah-1235989879/ |url-status=live }} Dickerson and Marlow indicated they were happy for Welch but were upset for not receiving credit for Welch's fame.