The 2017-2023 internet baby-talk dialect used to caption animal photos/videos—particularly reptiles and amphibians—featuring intentional misspellings like “cronchy” (crunchy) and “monch” (munch) that evolved into wholesome meme language.

Origins

Tumblr animal posting (2017):

• “Snek” speak: Snake memes with baby talk
• “Cronch”: Sound of reptile eating
• “Monch”: Chewing/eating
• Wholesome tone: Cute, non-threatening animal content

The dialect made animals seem gentle, childlike, approachable.

Core Vocabulary

Common cronchy-speak terms:

• Cronch/cronchy: Crunchy, eating crunchy food
• Monch: Munch, eat
• Snek: Snake
• Boop: Touch nose/snoot
• Snoot: Snout
• Danger noodle: Snake
• Nope rope: Snake
• Murder mittens: Cat claws

The vocabulary expanded into full dialect.

Reddit r/ProperAnimalNames

Community centralized language (2017+):

• Creative animal renaming
• “Trash panda” (raccoon)
• “Sea flap flap” (stingray)
• “Chonky boi” (large animal)

The subreddit systematized wholesome animal nicknames.

Grammatical Rules

Consistent patterns:

• Replace “u” with “o”: hungry → hongry
• Add extra letters: big → bigg
• Simplify spellings: through → thru
• Remove articles: “the cronch” → “cronch”

The rules created recognizable dialect.

”Chonky” Phenomenon

Weight descriptor evolution:

• Chonk: Pleasantly fat animal
• Chonky boi: Affectionate large animal
• Heckin chonker: Very large
• OH LAWD HE COMIN: Chonk chart meme

The chonk terminology became its own subculture.

Animal-Specific Dialects

Different species, different speak:

• Snakes: Snek speak (danger noodle)
• Dogs: Doggo speak (pupper, floof)
• Cats: Cat speak (smol, void)
• Frogs: Frog speak (boi, it is Wednesday my dudes)

Each animal had linguistic variations.

Wholesome Internet

The vibe:

• Non-controversial
• Pure joy
• Universal appeal
• Safe content

Cronchy speak represented internet’s wholesome side.

Criticism

Some pushback:

• “Baby talk is infantilizing”
• “Just say the word correctly”
• “This hurts my brain”
• Generational divide

Not everyone appreciated the dialect.

Staying Power

Cronchy maintained relevance:

• 420 million+ uses (2017-2023+)
• Active in animal communities
• Still evolving
• Wholesome internet staple

By 2023, cronchy speak was established internet dialect for cute animal content.

Legacy

Cronchy/snek speak demonstrated internet’s creation of wholesome linguistic communities and how baby-talk could become sophisticated shared language for expressing joy about animals.

Sources:

• Know Your Meme: “Snek” (2015)
• r/ProperAnimalNames subreddit (2017+)
• Tumblr animal posting archives (2017-2023)