Where does deal with it come from?

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While the verb phrase deal with, meaning “handle or cope with” something, has been in use since the 15th century, the modern catchphrase deal with it was popularized in the early 2000s. Internet cartoonist Matt Furie, who created Pepe the Frog, included deal with it as the punch line of a webcomic posted in 2005, one of the earliest introductions of the phrase into meme culture.

The phrase then spread as a popular GIF posted in online forums and discussions. The first GIF featured the “smugdog” smiley from the website Something Awful. It depicted a smirking dog with pixelated sunglasses descending down onto its head along with the caption deal with it. The sunglasses are meant to suggest the quality of being cool, that is, dealing with it. By 2010, internet-culture website Urlesque published a list of 9 deal with it GIFS in its “New Trend” category, crediting meme-sharing site Dump.fm. Many GIFS punned on deal (“Dill with it,” with the original animated sunglass dropping onto an image of dill plant), referenced popular culture (“What the deal with it,” including a picture of comedian Jerry Seinfeld), or played on “cool” (with “deal with it” and the sunglasses appearing on top a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos). Many other variations have since spread online, though they tend to feature some form of sunglasses and the text deal with it. A special website was even created to allow users to easily make their own deal with it memes with sunglasses.