Eat my shorts is one of Bart Simpson's signature catchphrases from The Simpsons, the animated sitcom that first aired as a full series in 1989. Bart, the show's rebellious ten-year-old eldest child, used the line to dismiss teachers, parents and other authority figures, and it quickly became part of his image on T-shirts and in popular culture. Decades later, the short phrase survives online because it is instantly recognisable, easy to drop into a meme, and still captures the same cheeky refusal to back down.