This is 20-year-old Salvador Perez Jr. from Imperial, California. Over the weekend, his mom was cleaning a drawer out and discovered an old worksheet from when Perez was in preschool.
(Here was lil' Salvador Perez Jr.)
Perez told BuzzFeed News his mom immediately went to show everyone in their family because the worksheet — which had him draw different shapes and name them — "was extremely funny," he said.
Perez, who must have been no older than 4 or 5 years old, had hilariously and phonetically tried to spell out some of these shapes: "SgR," "Srko," "SDr," "Dimn," "Ritigo," ChRiego" (this one destroyed me 💀).
"I was surprised that she had something this old," he said of his mom holding on to this for so long.
"I guess she had also had it laminated a long time ago to save it because of how funny it was."
Perez Jr., laughing at himself, then tweeted it out and wrote, "Bro I had to be the dumbest preschooler out there." He said he did not expect at all for it to go viral. His spellings have now been retweeted over 80,000 times.
Bro I had to be the dumbest preschooler out there😐
People were very amused, and they could tell young Perez "was really trying."
@Sal_Perez4 I laughed, but part of me is like "Aww, little-you was really trying, though" 💔😥
Lmao you were just sounding it out, ain't no shame 😂 https://t.co/1Er3c4DQsS
Someone else then joked back, "He was chrieg his best."
@mara__iara @Sal_Perez4 He was chrieg his best.
People felt a hilarious kind of kinship with him and shared their own childhood worksheets.
@Sal_Perez4 Me and u both, friend
@Sal_Perez4 same bro
Which just caused everyone to start ragging on each other.
@xoTOXXIC @clariteezion @ogbrownbitch @DMcLain24 @darthkori @ZuriCanales @Sal_Perez4 FOR HOW
@darthkori @Sal_Perez4 Lmao you put the name on the date jaja that made me laugh 😭
"I once spelled 'of' as 'uv,'" one person admitted.
@Sal_Perez4 @_reallyrocky I once spelled "of" as "uv"
Some were brave enough to cop to pretty recent fails.
@helllsangell @_reallyrocky @Sal_Perez4 In 10th grade I sat at my desk for almost 5 minutes trying to spell counter, Bc I pronounce it like most as “cowner”. I wrote cowner in my AP English class.
The jokes inspired by Perez and about Perez just kept coming. "You know what they say, be there or he SgR."
@Sal_Perez4 @jeffthrow1more You know what they say, be there or he SgR
"IT'S THE SRKO OF LIFE."
@_tamariaaa @Sal_Perez4 🗣 IT'S THE SRKO OF LIFE
"Shine bright like a Dimn."
@Sal_Perez4 @leileibabyg Shine bright like a Dimn
"Twinkle twinkle little sdr."
twinkle twinkle little sdr https://t.co/iCWVKstbTe
It's even become a sort-of meme.
@Sal_Perez4 When you’re at a function you don’t wanna be at
@Sal_Perez4
Some people (including those who identified themselves as teachers) chimed in to say this actually indicated that he was a pretty brilliant preschooler.
@Sal_Perez4 @MrBrewerr Are you serious? This is amazing for a pre-schooler. Even the handwriting is pretty good. Now if that were a 2nd grader I'd be concerned, but holy heck, "chriego" is an awesome spelling for "triangle".
@Sal_Perez4 listen, as someone certified to teach elementary school, i can tell you that this actually demonstrates really good phonemic awareness for a pre-k kid. kids who spell words phonetically, even if they're wrong, tend to have much higher success with reading and writing later on.
"I'm happy I could make all these people laugh and enjoy it," Perez said. He couldn't even pick a favorite 'cause they've all made him crack up so much, he said.
@Sal_Perez4 don’t let the kardashians see this, they’ll be using it as a baby names list
He does have a pretty earnest message for kids who were or are "struggling" in some aspects of school. "They should know that they are important and not to give up because they are the future. It's OK to struggle because we learn from those struggles and they make us who we are," Perez said.
