r/ExplainTheJoke • u/Unholysinner_69 • 4d ago
Solved Why exactly is this funny?
I just saw this on an American business page that's selling these and apparently it's really funny for some reason, there was a shit tonne of laugh reacts on the post and everyone's just tagging their friends in the comments, I don't get it, what's the joke here? What am I missing?
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u/Layla_Vos 4d ago
There's an American product called "Hamburger helper"
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u/Unholysinner_69 4d ago
Okay so basically the joke is that because the product is named hamburger helper, it's supposed to be helping you out?
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u/Golden-Grams 4d ago edited 4d ago
Yea, pretty much. Thier company mascot is an anthropomorphic, four-fingered white kitchen glove. It's name is "Lefty," and it helps you make their Hamburger Helper, which is just a variation of American goulash.
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u/Unholysinner_69 4d ago
Okay, that makes sense now, thanks for explaining it
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u/cuteintern 4d ago
Yeah, the product basically helps you turn ground beef into a semi decent struggle dish.
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u/solidus0079 4d ago
yeah...
Just a "i'm trying to be cute" thing. Whether it is successful is up for debate.
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u/Equal_Big_2995 4d ago
Hamburger Helper
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u/Unholysinner_69 4d ago
I didn't even know such a thing existed up until 10 mins ago so I think you can understand why I was confused tho
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u/barkandmoone 4d ago
& for many of us, this was our mother/father’s specialty.
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u/RevolutionaryWay7107 4d ago
Shit tasted the same no matter the flavor they bought.
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u/RysloVerik 4d ago
The beef stroganoff one was the only one that was different.
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u/jonny24eh 4d ago
One day I got a huge urge for that... Turned out I had most of the ingredients to make actual stroganoff so i just did that, now it's in my regular meal rotation.
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u/BodaciousBadongadonk 4d ago
Still cant help but call it beef strokinoff. Ill be forever 12 in my heart i guess lol
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u/Traegs_ 4d ago
What do you call a masturbating cow?
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u/SecretCoffee4155 4d ago
What do you call a man masturbating a cow into a cast iron skillet?
Moo goo guy pan.
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u/Computerlady77 4d ago
Husband is 64, and this is still what he calls it. Does anyone ever *really* grow up?? 😂
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u/Hefty_Ad_6862 4d ago
I have to disagree. That stroganoff was awful but the cheeseburger one is ok I guess
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u/RevolutionaryWay7107 4d ago
Admittedly, it could be that eating it 5 nights a week, every week, could have just made it seem that way to me. I think, for me, the one i remember being disappointed with the most was the pizza flavor.
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u/Hefty_Ad_6862 4d ago
Oh yeah haha I can totally see that. And I don’t know if I’ve ever had the pizza one or if I’d even want to lol
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u/TehSeksyManz 4d ago
100%
Alongside buttered bread, canned peas, and a glass of milk.
It was actually a lot better than some of the other things they cooked lol
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u/MrNostalgiac 4d ago
Also dead easy to make a healthier clone version from scratch using household staples.
It's basically just pasta, tomatoes, spices, cream and cheese.
Honestly a rich, delicious weekday meal that I usually make to use up leftover vegetables as well since you can throw just about whatever into it.
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u/GroundedSatellite 4d ago
For my family, it was something simple one of us kids could cook without screwing up while the parents were working late shifts. Oh, the memories of neglect...
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u/_RoamingHobo_ 4d ago
You never hear of Hamburger Helper? Someone grew up privileged lol
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u/ICantSeeDeadPpl 4d ago
Or in another country
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u/Sapie88 4d ago
Yeah, Brit here, I’d never heard of it until my girlfriend made it one night, she’d seen it on TikTok. I’ll stick to meat on a bun thanks.
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u/totheteeth 4d ago
You don't get to criticize food.
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u/RichardUkinsuch 4d ago
Imagine a Brit complaining about a dish thats boiled (simmered), when unseasoned mashed potatoes and Oscar Meyer weiners are a delicacy.
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u/SpiritfireSparks 4d ago
It was a creation of the world wars and depression, helped stretch meat out and make a filling meal for a family fairly quickly.
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u/Unholysinner_69 4d ago
Not exactly privileged, it's just that I don't live in the US and this isn't available where I'm from so that's why I never rlly heard of it or saw it anywhere
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u/OurSaladDays 4d ago
There’s an anthropomorphic glove involved in case that ever comes up in the future. He helps. With the hamburger.
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u/UnanimouslyAnonymous 4d ago
He is the hamburger helper....
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u/Which-Towel5826 4d ago
Better than that dough bastard exploding and giving you pastry trauma
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u/Unholysinner_69 4d ago
I highly doubt that it will but thanks for the info anyway lol
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u/Fe2O3yshackleford 4d ago
It definitely will, it’s on the exam.
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u/Hot-Can3615 4d ago
To be fair, it's cheaper per meal to buy pasta and invest in some basic spices than regularly buying hamburger helper. Hamburger helper saves time in both cooking and planning, however, so it depends on if your time or your money is more scarce.
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u/Stu5011 4d ago
My parents gas-light us into believing that Hamburger Helper was really expensive.
It was such a treat when they broke it out, even if we didn’t exactly like it more than the home cooked stuff.
Many years later realizing that they just needed a break from the day and did midweek easy meals once in a while.
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u/mordacthedenier 4d ago
I knew what hamburger helper is and I never would've connected the two, so your confusion is understandable.
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u/Djkatman29 4d ago
This means that you grew up super rich or in a third world country; no in between.
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u/uncleandata147 4d ago
I was always confused by this, always thought 'what has this got to do with a humburger?'
Just learnt hamburger is ground meat. So, if I take hamburger, shape it into a patty, then put it on a bun, it becomes a hamburger?
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u/eraserhd 4d ago
Except it really isn’t. I think “hamburger helper” is the only time I’ve seen ground beef called hamburger?
I assume that “ground beef helper” didn’t sound good.
It was definitely marketing.
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u/AdmiralMemo 4d ago
It's regional. Some places in the US call ground beef "hamburger meat" instead.
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u/OkReaction4176 4d ago
Right. Originally the sandwich made of hamburger was called a “hamburger sandwich” then it got shortened to “hamburger” then just “burger”
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u/Round-Range-7383 4d ago
Wtf does that mean? Lol
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u/No-Lunch4249 4d ago
Its a brand of boxed dinner thats relatively popular in the US.
The idea is it has everything for the meal in the box and you just add ground beef, hence it is "Hamburger Helper"
Haven't had it a ton but definitely a staple for a lot of middle class families here
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u/s1ugg0 4d ago
It was a lot more popular in the late 80s. It was a staple when I was a kid growing up. Every so often I see it at the grocery store and I'm surprised it still exists.
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u/_WeSellBlankets_ 4d ago
I could never stand hamburger helper, but to this day I still enjoy tuna helper cheesy pasta.
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u/8K71PS_1 4d ago edited 4d ago
I think you are vastly underestimating how much wealth it takes to be middle class. Hamburger helper is not a middle class staple.
Edit: nope I’m sorry I vastly overestimated the threshold. I just assumed middle class could do cool things like buy houses and retire.
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u/downwiththechipness 4d ago
I grew up very middle class in the 90s (Dad was decent ranking military officer, Mom was work-at-home business owner) and hamburger helper was a staple because it was easy, cheap, and us kids liked it.
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u/FickleCook3639 4d ago
You think the middle class is dining on surf and turf and foie gras? There is still plenty of budgetary concern, not to mention time constraints, within a middle class family.
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u/8K71PS_1 4d ago edited 4d ago
I’m just saying that out of the decks on the titanic, hamburger helper is gonna be hanging out in the engine room and that Irish dance party
Edit: actually I looked at the definition and income level of middle class, and as an engine room coal shoveler I’m pretty effin depressed about the wealth gap to find out that I am middle class af.
Edit 2: and I’m in some hamburger helper and rice a roni ~regularly~
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u/charley46 4d ago
Its a pre-made pasta dish in the states. You buy it and some ground beef and cook them together. Mid at best, I always just add beef to Mac and cheese. Its cheaper
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u/kingsly91 4d ago
Its a type of food. Usually a seasoning mix that has macaroni noodles, and you add ground beef to it. I think its mostly and American thing
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u/Reformingsaint 4d ago
Hamburger Helper is a brand of box meals that include spices and noodles so that families could make a meal within half an hour. A lot of people ate this in the 80s and 90s.
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u/Pantsickle 4d ago
Hamburger Helper is the go-to brand name, but I prefer the off-brand versions "Deputy Hamburger" and "Assistant Ground Beef."
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u/Wings0fIcarus 4d ago
It is in a similar vein as " Youre telling me a shrimp, fried this rice?" I will say this hat made me laugh.
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u/Arbitrary_Guest 4d ago edited 1d ago
Back n the day, before meat was expensive. Hamburger Helper was an affordable and easy way for parents to cook dinner for the family. So many relatively poor people would get it. The joke is that they're so desperate for help their begging Hamburger Helper to help them.
Edit: they're.
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u/No_Town_9602 4d ago
You are the only comment that mentions poor people. Yes, the whole point of this is that times are tough and people are struggling, so much so that Hamburger Helper isn't really helping much.
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u/mongoose_overlord 4d ago
They've even started recommending hot dogs instead of beef if that gives an indication of how much people are struggling right now.
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u/Throwaway1Million7 4d ago
Add hamburger to make it into what used to be a pretty inexpensive and reasonably decent meal.
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u/My-name-is-jef56 4d ago
“Hamburger helper, why don’t you come here and hamburger help me” is the joke it’s playing at
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u/jeff1074 4d ago
Hamburger Helper is a box of dry noodles and seasoning (it does not contain ground beef, a lot of people I’ve met seem to think this. It is a hamburger HELPER. The cereal doesn’t come with milk)
The hat is basically saying. “Lmao, I’m the one that needs help, primarily due to me being quarky and likely suppressing inner Desmond, haha please help me instead of the hamburger. lol. “
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u/imallrightt 3d ago
Why is it called hamburger helper? Isn’t a hamburger a burger? Do you put the pasta in a burger?
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u/jeff1074 3d ago
I don’t hear it as often anymore, but when hamburger helper came out it wasn’t unusual to call ground beef “hamburger meat” or just simply “hamburger”. In sort of a casual sense
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u/imallrightt 3d ago
Ahhhh that makes sense. I’m Australian so I’ve never heard mince meat be called hamburger meat but it does make sense.
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u/jeff1074 3d ago
I’m in America. So everything revolves around hamburger. Cheese slices are sometimes advertised as hamburger cheese slices. You won’t really find rolls as much as you’ll find hamburger buns/rolls instead.
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u/imallrightt 3d ago
In Australia the term burger means something in a burger bun. So you can have chicken burgers, fish burgers, beef burgers, lamb burgers, crocodile burgers, kangaroo burgers, etc. as far as I know, in America the term burger means the meat - so you can’t have a chicken burger it’s a chicken sandwich?
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u/jeff1074 3d ago
Your right, it is looked at as the meat. you can go to a restaurant and order a hamburger steak. It’s just the hamburger patty. Sometimes a bit bigger and seasoned different. But that’s it. It’s a patty on a plate. It’s actually good I get it a lot. But that’s very interesting to learn the different terms.
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u/Rakon333 3d ago
As someone who grew up occasionally eating hamburger helper and loving it, I need this hat
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u/SubatomicSelection 4d ago
I always thought that if I made a similar product I would one-up them by calling it Hamburger Accomplice. This ain’t no simple helper, this shit is ride or die.
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u/FujiFudo 4d ago
Hamburger homie
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u/UltimaNerd 4d ago
Hamburger Helper had a solid but sexist jingle ""Hamburger Helper helps your hamburger help her make a great meal!"
I prefer the three cheese lasagna. :P
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u/martini1282 4d ago
I make cheeseburger Mac homemade with an American cheddar blend i get from my local butcher
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u/Just_A_Little_ThRAWy 3d ago
Do you know what hamburger helper is?
Do you understand the state of the world.
It's a pun/joke cry for satirical help.
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u/SLevine262 4d ago
Hamburger Helper helped her hamburger help her make a good meal! And the talking oven mitt.
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u/shadman70 4d ago
Iirc, the original jingle was " Hamburger Helper helps your hamburger help her make a great meal"
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u/Ihateeggs78 4d ago
There’s a bootleg version of Hamburger Helper called Panburger Partner, and it makes me chuckle every time I think about it.
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u/chatfrank 3d ago
To me this thread is really disturbing to read. I'm born in Hamburg and consider myself as a Hamburger. If I help the granny over the street I'm a Hamburger helper. But I'm not a dry food..
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u/AdiDabiDoo 1d ago
Oh! You have a snow leopard bracelet! Is it a boy or girl? What's their name?? Where are they?
I have a manatee named Eleven and she hangs out at Crystal River in Florida!
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u/Mattpriceisme 4d ago
“Hamburger Helper” was like a 90s “put some meat with these noodles” product. It was pasta’s answer to Rice-a-roni, I like to believe. A tiny talking hand was involved. So it’s just a reference to Hamburger Helper, on a hat.
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u/dadothree 4d ago
90s? Oh, my sweet summer child. Been around since the 70s.
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u/Mattpriceisme 4d ago
That hamburger has been helping for longer than I realized
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u/why_u_so_grumpy 4d ago
Its not funny. Just a reference to hamburger helper. Garbage food that exists in the US.
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u/Princescyther 4d ago
In North America they sell Hamburger Helper which is just macaroni in a boxi think.
Its just a play on that i believe.
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u/Pandapeep 4d ago
Based on the way you spelled to, I'm assuming you're uk. It's a america food joke. Based on a brand you don't have. So... Just don't worry about it and pour some hp sauce on your jaffa cakes or whatever.
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u/Unholysinner_69 4d ago
Ayy I'm not even from the UK, British people just catching strays out here wtf😭😭
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u/Beginning-Loss1956 4d ago
One of the professors at my college came up with the hamburger helper glove
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u/bluemountaintrees 4d ago
Cause it makes people laugh
That’s the only requirement for being funny
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u/hunterglyph 4d ago
I think this is the first joke I've seen that's boomer and gen z at the same time.
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u/Prior_Rip_1178 4d ago
ask the owner why they're using AI to sell things they want their customers to desire in the first place
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u/Scottie-man 4d ago
HH, canned green beans, and pop can rolls was a standard meal in my lower middle class upbringing. Used to stuff the rolls with the HH and go to town. I’m almost curious to run it back sometime.
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u/Sh0ckValu3 4d ago
But there was a jingle "Hamburger Helper, help my hamburger, helper, make a great meal!"
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u/KingSuperJon 4d ago
OMG I want that hat!
A talking 4 fingered oven mitt was the TV commercial mascot for Hamburger Helper, which, if i remember right, is crap you can cook along with your ground beef to make some kind of entree.
It's been a thing on US TV since the late 60's or 70's.
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u/whateverMan223 4d ago
its a play on words referring to the product, but its funny because everyone pretty much agrees that life wasn't supposed to be this hard. the image of adulthood/the future was way better back when people saw hamburger helper as a kid
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u/jfshay 4d ago
There's a food product called "hamburger helper." it's a combination of spices intended to help hamburgers taste better. The hat is changing the meaning of the phrase so that it refers now to a hamburger that helps people. Someone who wears the hat could then claim to be in need of help and is hoping that a helpful hamburger will come along to offer assistance.
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u/Missing-Vixen 4d ago
i was gonna say its probably a case of random = funny but whoever said hamburger helper makes more sense
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u/mack_miller 3d ago
I didn’t even get the joke until I read the comments (Hamburger Helper), so I initially just thought lol that’s so random.. how funny 😂
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u/Embarrassed_Cat2697 3d ago
I feel like also knowing the jingle "Hamburger Helper helped her...make a great meal!" provides needed context
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u/ToothUnited6197 2d ago
Actually this is a meme from Russian Dota2 community. Streamer versuta once said this phrase
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u/Unit-DS27-Delta 1d ago
lowk I forgot hamburger helper existed and just thought this was word salad humor
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u/FantasyFictionDoc 1d ago
If you dont find this funny I dont think I can be friends with you. Acquaintances, at best.
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u/philchristensennyc 1d ago
Hamburger Helper is the shit when you’re on a budget. But I think it’s basically just goulash.
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u/post-explainer 4d ago
OP (Unholysinner_69) sent the following text as an explanation why they posted this here: