touch grass

What does touch grass mean?

Touch grass is an intervention disguised as an insult. Aimed at someone who is too deep in an argument, a fandom or a conspiracy, it says: the screen has eaten your sense of proportion, the lawn wants a word. It survives because it is almost always used half-jokingly, and because the target is, occasionally, oneself.

Where does touch grass come from?

The phrase grew out of the idea that some people forget the physical world exists, an old forum complaint that hardened into a stock line around 2019 and 2020. Now it gets deployed after fights over video games and elections alike, and there are running jokes about how the grass feels about being dragged into all of this.

How to use touch grass

• We argued about a cartoon for two hours and then told each other to touch grass.
• I closed the laptop, went outside and actually touched grass. It helped.