Do you use the term “struggle-bussing” or “riding the struggle-bus” ? Where does this term originate from?

45 comments

1. I’ve heard it, not sure I’ve ever used it. I don’t know the origin.

2. First I’ve ever heard it before.

3. My wife says it and that’s the only time I ever hear it. It’s just a random quirky idiom as far as I can tell, and I’m not really sure where it comes from.

4. Sounds like something I might have said 15 years ago in high-school or middle school.

5. I think it’s from the early 2010s. Out of style now, but I heard it a lot back then.

6. I’ve heard “riding the struggle bus” (in the PNW), but not its gerund form.

7. Yes. I have heard it and use it occasionally. I think it’s generational. I’ve mostly heard it from younger millennials and older gen Z. (People in their mid 20s- early 30s)

8. Sure, I know I’ve said it

   Not sure where I learned it or picked it up from.

9. I use it. I even used it way before I lived in Michigan.

   We used it to describe someone who was as really, really fucked up.

   Did you eat too much ecstasy and now your eyes are barely open and it looks like your trying to chew your ear? You’re struggling.

   Get too drunk, throw up, and pass out in the driveway right next to or in your own puke? You’e on the struggle bus my friend.

   Smoke too much pot and now you’re trying to explain to us how your orange soda tastes like grape soda that’s been made with oranges instead of grapes? Yup, struggling.

10. I do not use this term myself but I have heard it

11. It’s new to me. I know the soul train, the yellow submarine, big old jet airliner, but not the struggle bus

12. Never used it

13. Still like the expression, driving the porcelain bus

14. It was at least popular enough to have made it relatively mainstream when a student changed the banner on their bus to read “struggle” during finals week when I was still in school

    https://www.reddit.com/r/UCONN/comments/24pd13/the_finals_struggle_bus_is_so_real_right_now/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

15. I am struggle bussing to remember where I first heard it.

16. I’ve heard it a lot lately. Someone must’ve said it on sone TikTok or something and it’s getting picked up again.

17. I’m 33 and I’ve used it.

18. Not sure of the origin but it could be a less offensive adaptation of “the short bus” as a reference to smaller busses and vans used for differently abled students. I have used the term.

19. https://www.slanglang.net/memes/struggle-bus/

    According to Dictionary.com, “struggle bus” was first recorded in the beginning of the millenium, somewhere between 2000 and 2005.

    It is called struggle “bus” because a bus goes through multiple bus stops on its way, each bus stop representing a new, ridiculous struggle you have to go through.

    When you are on the Struggle Bus, life is just going against you.

    If someone says they are riding the “struggle bus” or they’re on the “struggle bus”, they are humorously indicating that they are struggling with some tasks or challenges in their life at the moment.

    It especially refers to tests that are originally pretty simple to handle, but of some reason they seem particularly hard at the time.

    Maybe you are struggling with these easy tasks because you have a lot on your plate, or because you have a lack of sleep – it doesn’t matter, you are on the “struggle bus”.

    If you spill your morning coffee, then can’t find your car keys, followed by repeatedly turning back because you forget something, consequently being late for work – you’re riding the “struggle bus”!

20. Never heard this in NYC.

21. I’ve heard and say it. I think it’s kinda like crazy train, or hot mess express. I don’t know where any of them come from, but it’s kinda the same territory.

22. >struggle-bussing **or “riding the struggle-bus”**

    Never heard that term before today TBH

23. Never heard of the terms.

24. Usually just “struggle bus” in a whiny tone for me, but yes. It probably originated on the internet in the early 2000s and picked up popularity in the 2010s. Saw a lot of “rave totems” of the struggle bus back in the day. That was always fun

25. Obligatory “I’m not American”, but I’ve heard/used this expression frequently. I’m not a native speaker, but my English is totally fluent and heavily Canadian-influenced after living in BC for several years.

    As some people have said, it might be part of a zeitgeist rather than a regional thing, as I heard it most in the mid-00s to the 2010s.

26. I’ve never heard it used as a verb, but definitely heard the noun form

27. My twin brother once used the phrase “taking the struggle bus to Fuckitopolis” and I love that. (He really was. Things got better.)

28. I’ve heard of the term “struggle bus” but only ever on the internet. A quick search showed it started in the early/mid 2000s or so, I’m going to assume it was millennials starting out on the internet and creating terms to type quickly which described the super crappy situation many of us were/are living through. I’ve never heard anyone say it out loud though (but I’ve never been to Michigan).

29. Yeah I am a frequent rider of the struggle bus haha. I use it when I am not on my a game at work or after a late night.

30. We used the term a few years ago as a name for our World of Warcraft raid team. We were “Team Struggle Bus”. Other teams were Atlas or Omega implying great strength or great ability. But we were Team Struggle Bus and we were proud to be licking those windows.

31. Never heard of that. Best I know is the term Struggle Buggy, which is used to denote old 70s panel vans that are stereotypical used by serial rapists/paedophiles. It’s definitely not a nice term.

32. I don’t use it, but it’s relatively common.

33. I’m trying hard but I don’t remember ever hearing that phrase.

34. In college in 2013 I knew one guy from New Jersey who used it a lot, but honestly it always just seemed like a weird thing he said. He had a lot of those.

35. I grew up in Colorado and currently live in Ohio and in my experience it seems to be ubiquitous. It’s a pretty common phrase everywhere I’ve ever been. That said I think the phrase skews younger. I would be surprised if someone over 40 said this.

36. I don’t use it but I’ve heard it. I have no idea where it came from

37. We joke about “all aboard the struggle bus” at work regularly here in Utah.

    I think I first heard it in middle school

38. I’ve heard it and may have used “on the struggle bus” but not riding or bussing.

39. That’s some stuff I heard in high school and on Tumblr in the early 2010s, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard anyone say that

40. “Struggle Bus” stems from people being bussed in for [Struggle sessions.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denunciation_rally)

41. This was used occasionally to describe a series of badnesses (or even terribads) at a small SaaS startup I used to work for in Seattle about a decade ago…

    There was a also the animated GIF of the “struggle bug” (a small beetle-like creature that was shown as upside down and struggling to upright itself).

42. I’ve heard it said several times here in southern Indiana.

43. I’ve never heard it.

44. I would have assumed that it were a civil rights-related phrase referencing the Freedom Riders if I had to hazard a guess, but it’s a brand-new phrase to me.

45. Never heard of it before.