We might have Charlie Chaplin to thank for that 'distracted boyfriend' meme

Whenever a new meme goes viral on the internet, it's easy to assume the idea popped up that day. But when it comes to the "distracted boyfriend" meme, we might as well go back in time to the the Roaring Twenties and thank Charlie Chaplin. 

Remember the 2017 photo-turned-meme of a guy walking with his girlfriend and then turning to leer at a passing woman? His girlfriend looks insulted by his actions.

Well, it's similar to a scene in a 1922 short movie called Pay Day in which the famous silent movie actor and filmmaker plays a construction worker. 

Chaplin's character tries to hide his paycheck from his wife who wants all the money. 

He manages to keep enough money, after his wife takes her cut, to go out drinking. He returns home in the nick of time to pretend he has just woken up to go to work.

Filmmaker Peter Goldberg originally alerted everyone on Sunday to the idea that Chaplin was to thank for the meme, when he tweeted a screenshot of the scene in the film where Chaplin's character walks alongside his wife while turning to look at another woman walking by.

Of course, others of Twitter had a few things to say about the Chaplin origins of the meme.