Increasingly Convoluted Rules for Ordering a Philly Cheesesteak Like a Local

1. If you want onions on your steak, you must say “whiz wit.” But to play it safe, don’t pronounce any “h” in any word while ordering. For example,... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 2 years ago

Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof, Now a Rich Man, Receives a Letter from His HOA

Dear Tevye,This letter is to inform you that you are in gross violation of the rules of this Homeowners’ Association (HOA). Please note the follow... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 2 years ago

A Health Screening Questionnaire for Teachers

1. Are you a teacher?☐ Yes✅ You are cleared to enter the building.☐ Wait, what? Aren’t you going to ask whether I’ve tested positive for COVID-1... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 2 years ago

Collective Nouns for Parenting

A group of toddlers is called a chaos.A group of kindergartners is a “Why can’t I be the line leader?”A collection of salt is called a lot. A col... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 2 years ago

Two Years of This Pandemic Is Long Enough: It’s Time to Enter the Metaverse

“Personally, I don’t need an immediate license to party like it’s February 2020, but I want some indication from lawmakers and medical experts tha... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 2 years ago

Here’s How Time Works in 2022

Here at Time, we have made a number of changes over the last couple years. Now that 2022 is here, we’re announcing several major updates.A Minute... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

What Your Favorite Sad Dad Band Says About You

The War on DrugsYou make your own paella and take super long naps on Saturday. Like over two hours, consistently. You prefer the smallest possible... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

FAQ for Omicron’s Emergency Spring Rush

Yo, bros! Think you’ve got what it takes to be one of our Omicronies? Find out why our brand-new, hotly talked about squad is on everyone’s minds (... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

I Can’t Help but Notice That This is the Thirteenth Month in a Row I’ve Been Featured as HR’s Commitment to Diversity

So I just wanted to take a minute to touch base with everyone regarding the recent announcement by Human Resources that I would be featured in thei... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Please Listen Carefully, As Our School’s COVID-Reporting Menu Options Have Not Changed

Thank you for calling East Hill Elementary’s absentee reporting and contact tracing hotline. Please listen carefully, because our menu options have... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Introducing Horrible Purple, Pantone’s Color of the Year Inspired by COVID-19 Heat Maps

Inspired by the surge in COVID-19 cases across the United States, we at Pantone are disappointed to introduce our 2022 color of the year: Horrible ... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Ho There! I Am a Nineteenth-Century Iron Worker and I Await the Day This Factory Is Refurbished into an Up-Market Food Hall

Ho there! I am a humble laborer at Cooper & Watson Ironworks, and though my life is filled with sweat and toil, I await the day this factory wi... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Insurance Providers Are Now Required to Cover the Costs of At-Home COVID Tests for Any American Clever Enough to Navigate the Labyrinth of Terrors

“Private insurers will soon have to cover the cost of eight at-home coronavirus tests per member per month, the Biden administration said Monday. ... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

The Safest Place for Your Kids Right Now Is Inside the Scorpion Pit

Americans are locked in a heated debate: Should we close public schools due to this new wave of deadly scorpions? And while some might beg to diffe... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Please, World, in a Time of Infinite Darkness, Just Let Us Have Wordle

“If you’ve spent much time on Twitter in recent weeks, you’ve doubtless seen the grids of green, yellow, and gray squares that have swept across t... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

How We Will Separate You from Any Lingering Hope and Other Important Topics of Today’s Faculty Meeting

Dear Teachers,As we continue to grapple with unavoidable disruptions caused by the pandemic, it’s important that we remain prepared and flexible f... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Questions for the CDC in Light of the Omicron Variant from Concerned Parents, for the Love of Christ

In light of the recent Omicron wave and the skyrocketing pediatric hospital admissions, we’ve compiled a list of questions from concerned parents. ... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Teaching Your Parents How to FaceTime

If you’re anything like me, this past couple of years has given you a lot of jobs you never asked for: I became a therapist to my burned-out cowork... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Here’s Why You’re Wrong for Supporting Either In-Person or Virtual School

Use this guide to understand why your opinion about mid-pandemic schooling policy is wrong. If you believe kids should attend school in-person, rea... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

We Do Traditional Macchiatos Here

Hello! Welcome to the Lyon Street Coffeehouse and Drip-Bar. We’re serving a special coconut-infused matcha latte today. It’s not for me, but you lo... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Low-Skilled, Easily Replaceable Employees Must Return to Work Immediately, Otherwise Our Society Will Collapse

“My low-skilled workers, my cooks, my dishwashers, my messengers, my shoe-shine people, those who work at Dunkin’ Donuts — They don’t have the aca... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

If This Post is Not Allowed, Mods, Please Take My Firstborn Child

Hey everyone! I hope this link is okay to post. If not, mods, please accept my sincere apologies. I’ll take it down so fast. My hand is vibrating o... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

A Note of Reassurance from Your School District Regarding Our Updated Omicron Policies

Dear Parents,Hope you had a wonderful, relaxing break with family and friends. We’re delighted to welcome you back to school as we celebrate a ret... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Everything We Currently Know About Birds

Birds. Most people just know them as those loud things that are always flapping around the sky like jackasses, but there’s actually much more to th... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Gloria Estefan Emerges from the Miami Sound Machine to Warn Humanity That a New Variant of Rhythm Is Gonna Get You

Esteemed colleagues, musicology scholars, delegates from the CDC and C+C Music Factory, thank you for joining me today. As you are aware, I, Doctor... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Toddler Dissertations

1. “Watch Your Step, Mr. Frumble”: Banana Peel as Dilemmatic Cipher for Urban Decay in Scarry’s Busy Busy PeopleDepartment: Literature Advisor: M... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

I’m HBO Max, and Oh My God, What Is It Now?

Jesus, man. What? I swear to God. I don’t think you even want to watch the show. If you didn’t have a complete meltdown when I started the show fro... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Public Health Terminology, Explained

Despite the efforts of scientists and science journalists to define and contextualize public health information, the exhausting and rapidly changin... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

The Oregon Trail Updated for Millennial Moms

You head out from Plymouth Rock in your covered minivan. You stock up on provisions: one side of beef, a pallet of goldfish, and three hundred bent... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Short Conversations with Poets: Raúl Zurita

The Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, blind, dared to say anything that happens to an artist that does not destroy them is a gift. I don’t know... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

I, Raskolnikov, Take the Men’s Health New Year Reboot Challenge

PrefaceI have undertaken the horrendous thing: the Men’s Health New Year Reboot Challenge.There, I have said it! You will laugh at me, as you wou... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Our 21 Most-Read Articles of 2021

Thanks to all our readers, writers, and supporters for sticking with us this year. Onward to 2022!- - -1. OH MY FUCKING GOD, GET THE FUCKING VAC... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Job Posting: Assistant Professor of Robotics and Animal Husbandry with a Specialization in Dance

Our 21st most-read article of 2021.- - -Originally published March 22, 2021.- - -The Engineering School at Central University seeks a qualified ... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Ayn Rand Writes Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph laughed.He laughed at the outdated traditions, the belief that the greatest achievement in any reindeer’s life was to serve Santa’s whims.... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Short Conversations with Poets: Chet’la Sebree

The problem with poetry is the poem. The problem with the novel is the novel, with music music, and so on. Any form is, in a certain light, limited... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Tips from the Blessed Virgin Mary for Using Childbirth to Advance Your Personal Brand

Each December 25, two billion people celebrate the anniversary of my most successful act of personal branding: the birth of my son, Jesus Christ, o... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Sophocles’s A Christmas Story

TIME AND SCENE. A modest suburban home in Hohman, Indiana. The patriarch’s Leg Lamp—a major award for besting his opponents in a contest of words—d... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

McSweeney’s Needs You

Together, we made it. It’s hard to imagine a more challenging set of circumstances than those we all faced this last year: the ongoing pandemic, ev... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Ten Things to Say Instead of “No Thanks, I Don’t Drink”

’Tis the season for drinking red cocktails and devouring things wrapped in bacon while wearing chunky-knit sweaters. Holiday parties and booze go t... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

The Villain Who Plans to Demolish the Toy Shop in a Hallmark Christmas Movie Sets the Record Straight

Holiday greetings. It is I, Winston George Higgensbooth Sr., real estate tycoon and hater of children and Christmas cookies… or at least that’s wha... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Common App Essays by Shakespeare Characters

The personal essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voic... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Me and Jesus, Single Icons

Jesus: Single in his thirties Me: Single in her thirtiesJesus: No known kids Me: No known kidsJesus: Gospel included messages from Matthew, Mar... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Short Conversations with Poets: Jonathan Galassi and Robyn Creswell

Jean Valentine, Federico García Lorca, Adam Zagajewski, Vinícius de Moraes, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Po Chü-i, Mahmoud Darwish, C. K. Williams, Derek W... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

The Nutcracker Came to Life and Is Using Dad’s Razor

Mom! Mom, psst! Mom!! Come here! Look, look at that! The new decorative figurine previously placed on our mantel is in the bathroom.Mom, mom! He’s... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Rankin and Bass’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Stephen King’s Carrie?

1. Your magical powers can light up a room.2. Everyone laughs at you and calls you names.3. A red biological emission is the source of deep shame... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Online Discourse Every Time a Famous Awful Person Does More Awful Things

“Disgraced comedian [Louis CK] ran an ad for his latest comedy special during ‘Saturday Night Live,’ sending social media into a flurry.” — Yahoo, ... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

“It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like March 2020”

It’s beginning to look a lot like March 2020Everywhere you goTake a look at testing lines and then notice they’re long againWith healthcare work... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

We Are Fully Committed to Building Affordable Housing in a Location of Our Choosing

We have an opportunity to build desperately needed housing in our neighborhood to address racial inequality, increase class mobility, lift barriers... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago