| Synonyms: | Cutie |
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Cinnamon Roll is a fannish term for a cutie, a character or person who is perceived as being sweet and lovable. The term derives from an article called Beautiful Cinnamon Roll Too Good For This World, Too Pure in The Onion from January 23, 2014.[1] According to Know Your Meme, a screenshot of this headline was posted by Tumblr user renmorris next to a picture of Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks on January 24, 2014.[2]
The meme quickly spread and the headline has been used by Tumblr to describe characters and persons who are generally adorable, lovable, charismatic, or otherwise sympathetic, including Misha Collins, Felicity Smoak, Sansa Stark, and Chris Evans. The meme is now so widespread that simply "Cinnamon Roll" generally conveys the concept, and the whole headline doesn't need to be repeated.
After prolonged use of the meme, opinion on it has shifted somewhat. Many consider the label cringey when it is used for evil characters.
American Gods actor Omid Abtahi on Twitter in June 2017
Variations
Looks Like A Cinnamon Roll
The meme was later developed into four phrases to be applied to characters:
- looks like a cinnamon roll but could actually kill you,
- looks like they could kill you but is actually a cinnamon roll,
- looks like a cinnamon roll and is actually a cinnamon roll, and
- looks like they could kill you and could actually kill you.
Sometimes sinnamon roll is a fifth option. The first post using this format in the "cinnamon roll" tag on Tumblr was on July 24, 2015.[3]
Examples:
- Harry Potter Cinnamon Roll Meme, Archived version by imaginesharrypotter (December 4, 2015)
- Cinnamon roll meme, egyptian mythology edition, Archived version by ambrena (September 23, 2015)
- Walking Dead Cinnamon Roll Meme, Archived version by daryil
- Merlin Cinnamon Roll Meme, Archived version
- Assassin’s Creed Syndicate + Cinnamon Roll meme, Archived version
- The Holy Trinity of Cinnamon Rolls (Star Wars), Archived version
- The Stark Children by lepidus (December 13, 2017) [4]
Sinnamon Roll
A sinnamon roll is a person who appears to be a Cinnamon Roll but who is not in fact innocent. The first use of the "sinnamon roll" tag on Tumblr is from January 2015, but the tag didn't pick up until late May/early June.[5]
Examples:
- Cinnamon roll vs. Sinnamon roll by notanyaonlyzuul (October 21, 2015)
Burnt Cinnamon Roll
A burnt cinnamon roll is a person who began as a cinnamon roll, but lost that quality later on. Sometimes also called a stale cinnamon roll.[6]
Examples
- Tumblr reblog by notsothinlizzy (March 24, 2015)
- Kurt + being a beautiful cinnamon roll by colfersco*ke (November 12, 2015)
- Omid Abtahi's Twitter, June 6 2017, retrieved 2017-07-04
- accurate description of Kara by supercanaries (May 23, 2015)
- accurate description of Emma Swan by emilysbluntz, previously known as jenmrrison (June 1st, 2015)
Archives & Resources
- Cinnamon Roll tag on the Ao3 [7]
- Cinnamon Roll on FF.net
- The Cutie on TV Tropes
References
- ^ Beautiful Cinnamon Roll Too Good For This World, Too Pure, Archived version
- ^ renmorris, my beautiful son, Archived version, Tumblr post on January 24, 2014
- ^ post on July 24, 2015. Note that this only has two categories. The first post with all four categories appears to have been on July 28: halfamo
- ^ As of February 13, 2020, the post has 6,072 notes on tumblr. archive link
- ^ aatyo, Tumblr post on January 10, 2015
- ^ Tumblr search tag, December 26, 2018
- ^ As of July 30 2021, this tag has not been marked common and can't be filtered on the Ao3.
