What does 'mother is mothering' mean? The Taylor Swift meme explained

Taylor Swift is known for keeping tabs on fans along with their online discourse, and at a recent concert shouted out a meme used by Swifties.

At her show in Philadelphia, Swift cracked a Mother's Day joke (with the holiday recently taking place on Sunday) and made an amusing internet reference in the process.

“Something that you guys are always saying online is ‘mother is mothering!’ Which I think you mean in a totally different context than Mother’s Day…" she said while sat at her piano as part of the 'Folklore' era of the show.

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This acknowledgement was much to the amusement of Swifties.

Here is a breakdown of how the "mother is mothering," became a TS meme.

The term "mothering," is a slang term used by the LGBTQ+ community, as an alternative to other expressions such as "slay" and "yass queen."

But it is also used by fans to describe their favourite artist as "mother."

Flashback to 2014, and according to Know Your Meme, the earliest usage of the expression came from a tweet by @Iikedaylight, a Taylor Swift fan account.

The tweet is "I love when my mother is mothering," and was posted alongside a photo selfie between American Actress Aisha Tyler and Taylor.

Over the years the term "mother is mothering" has been used to describe various celebrities from Adele, Lady Gaga, Cardi B, Rihanna, Beyoncé and Rina Sawayama.

Since Swift kicked off her Eras Tour back in March, Swifties have flooded social media with mothering meme using footage they have taken when attending one of her shows.

Elsewhere, Taylor Swift fan reveals what singer did after stopping security from harassing them.

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