Elon Musk Says He Has "Chipmunk Cheeks." Here's What That Means

Elon Musk says he has too much on his plate, and more work may just result in his brain 'exploding'. In a Twitter exchange, Mr Musk said he already has “way too much on his plate” and any more workload will crash his brain. Yet, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO added, he is “dying to” launch a supersonic vertical take-off and landing electric aircraft. His response came when Mr Musk was asked whether he would accept a challenge to build a solar-powered aircraft like the Solar Impulse 2, which circumnavigated the Earth in 2016.

This is how it began. The “World Of Engineering” tweeted an image of Solar Impulse 2 to mark the anniversary of the aircraft achieving the milestone five years ago. A user then asked Mr Musk whether he would like to do something like that, given his push for using green energy. Elon Musk's company Tesla is one of the world's largest manufacturer of electric cars.

Fancy this challenge @elonmusk?

— Sam Kelly (@SamTwits) July 27, 2021

Then another user jumped into the conversation. “Come on, it's only a little more glass to chew,” the other user said. Elon Musk had once said that running a start-up is like "chewing glass."

"A friend of mine says, starting a company is like staring into the abyss and eating glass. And there's some truth to that... the eating glass part is that you got to work on the problems that the company needs you to work on, not the problems you want to work on," he said in an interview with Khan Academy.

Come on it's only a little more glass to chew

— He Ðoge more than you. (@TroyRubert) July 27, 2021

At this point some people expected Mr Musk to accept the challenge, but he downplayed the request by indulging in self-deprecating humour. He said he was already chewing so much that he has developed “chipmunk cheeks”.

I am already chewing on so much glass that I have chipmunk cheeks!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 27, 2021

Chipmunks are a type of squirrel found mostly in North America. The phrase chipmunk cheeks is often used to describe the swollen full cheeks like they have been filled with food. Usually, the cause behind such an appearance is excess buccal fat.

Mr Musk's comment about his face drew several more reactions from Internet users, one of whom feared it may start a “chipmusk” meme riot online.

Chipmusk meme in 1...2...3...

— Dan Aloni (@DanAloni) July 27, 2021

Some others appeared to sympathize with the tycoon handling so many projects and offered their suggestions on how he should manage his workload.

One of them asked him to delegate some of his work to his colleagues.

Delegate more

— Omins (@Ominsey) July 27, 2021

Another suggested Mr Musk should make his clone to maintain productivity.

Time to clone yourself

— Owen Sparks ???? (@OwenSparks_) July 27, 2021

A user said he appreciates Mr Musk's focus and there would be other engineers who could tackle the problem.

We appreciate your focus. I'm sure there are other clever engineers out there who can also tackle the problem.

— AMuchBetterFace (@AMuchBetterFace) July 27, 2021

The entrepreneur has set his eyes, for now, on colonising Mars and making humans a multi-planetary species. He also often tweets his support for some cryptocurrencies.