Folks Are Blessing Their Friends With "Fanum Tax" Status — Here's Why That's a Good Thing

In the age of TikTok and viral sensations, the latest trends can catch fire before you even realize it. Whether folks are stuck on a new dance craze, an online urban legend, or a new bit of slang, these things can become wildly popular overnight to the point where not even our resources for new trends and phrases can keep up all the time. Lately, TikTokers have been blessing each other with "Fanum tax" status.

If you're not quite sure what it means right off the bat, you're probably in the same boat as literally anyone from before Gen Z. The phrase came about during late 2022 and has been widely used on TikTok as part of one of the weirdest and most absurd-sounding love songs of this generation. You'd be excused if you had no idea what being called Fanum tax means, but we've got you covered. Here's why it's considered to be a good thing.

You might have heard this weird but cute love song (at least, we think it's a love song) circulating on TikTok. It first originated from @papaboy020 and appears on a short video in which the song is set to their Roblox gameplay.

The small snippet of the song goes "Sticking your gyatt for the rizzler / you're so skibidi, you're so Fanum tax / I just wanna be your sigma"

If you're a millennial or older, your head is probably spinning from all the Gen Z lingo that occupies every single bit of this 11-second segment. Nevertheless, the song itself has already been making the rounds with lip-sync videos and parodies. But if you're completely lost on what any of it means, we've got you covered.

As far as "Fanum tax" goes, this seems to be a pre-existing term. According to an article on Know Your Meme, the "Fanum" portion of the phrase refers to a popular streamer on Twitch and originated back in 2022. During his gaming streams, Fanum can often be seen imposing a "tax" on his teammates by taking a small part of their meal for himself seemingly without question or struggle. The Fanum tax trend quickly began spreading on social media platforms until it ended up stuck in your head in @papaboy020's song.

Essentially, granting someone Fanum tax status means that you'd let them have some of your food without them necessarily having to ask. It's kind of like when a romantic couple isn't exactly sharing a meal with their significant other, but they are subtly entitled to a small part of whatever it is they're eating at the time. It's a romantic gesture! At least, we're pretty sure.

It's safe to say that Gen Z and Gen Alpha terms will continue to baffle other generations for years to come, but evidently, they've started working on their romantic slang that we can just roll with.