Go Memes

[DrStraw]

meme
[ mēm ]
noun

an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation.

The oldest example of a meme I can think of is "Where's the beef"
"Calling shotgun" or playing "Slug Bug/Punch Buggy" are other examples of pre-internet memes

It's a phrase that for some reason spreads like wildfire beyond the status of inside joke among your friends.
And more like an inside joke among the community.

If you understand what "going viral" means when referring to a video.
A meme is a phrase or image that has "gone viral"

The internet and Memes
So with the internet phrases catch on more easily and spread more quickly.
I suppose technically the following can be considered memes:
"lol"
"a/s/l"

Thanks for the explanation. But the quote below leaves me totally lost. I dont have a clue what any of those phrases are.

The following are examples that would definitely be considered memes:
“I put on my robe and wizard hat"
"copypasta"
"Sauce"
"Millhouse is not a meme"

And as for the following, I know what facebook is, although I have never gone to it (at least not deliberately - some people misrepresent their facebook pages as a home page) and I don't have a clue what tumblr is.

A New Definition

Images are the most popular version of a meme.
So when image memes exploded in popularity because of social media like facebook and tumblr and etc. people needed something to call them.
The previous term for an image with words on it was an Image Macro.
But Meme caught on and sort of changed the whole definition.
That is why these images with words are called "meme"s

tl;dr (The short version): A meme is an inside joke shared among a community (In this case the internet)

tl;dr?

[hyperpape]

Aside from the generation gap, I could picture you only communicating in memes, DrStraw.

[DrStraw]

Aside from the generation gap, I could picture you only communicating in memes, DrStraw.

Now I am really confused.

As an aside, I ask for feedback from my students. One of the questions yesterday was "What is the best think about this course?" One student's reply: the instructor looks like Einstein. So would Einstein communicate in memes? (I don't think I do look like him, by the way.)

[Jujube]

To those people who do not know what memes are...

Memes are phrases, images or short video clips, that through the Internet's capability to allow millions of people to connect easily and widely to millions of other people, become very popular and well-known for a short time. Due to this, they are often referencing popular culture, and are sometimes satirical, intentionally rude, or just weird. They are often shared or viewed through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or media websites.

The following will give you a good grounding in the video side of memes. (Warning - explicit language).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOfxTGI9DIk

Related topics that you can search Google about: Txtspk, lolcats, emoticons, trolling, imageboards, anime...

Oh and Tumblr, as mentioned in another post, is an image site where people post pictures of things that interest them. It is probably about 50% pornography.

[Unusedname]

Thanks for the explanation. But the quote below leaves me totally lost. I dont have a clue what any of those phrases are.

The following are examples that would definitely be considered memes:
“I put on my robe and wizard hat"
"copypasta"
"Sauce"
"Millhouse is not a meme"

These are just other examples of memes.

"copypasta" Doesn't mean anything to you.

But to me it means a story that either isn't true or doesn't belong to the person who shared it.
It also tells me not to get too excited while reading because at the end of the story I will probably be "Bel-air'd" (Another word that means nothing to you but something to me)

And as for the following, I know what facebook is, although I have never gone to it (at least not deliberately - some people misrepresent their facebook pages as a home page) and I don't have a clue what tumblr is.

A New Definition

Images are the most popular version of a meme.
So when image memes exploded in popularity because of social media like facebook and tumblr and etc. people needed something to call them.
The previous term for an image with words on it was an Image Macro.
But Meme caught on and sort of changed the whole definition.
That is why these images with words are called "meme"s

tl;dr (The short version): A meme is an inside joke shared among a community (In this case the internet)

tl;dr?

tl;dr means: Too long, Didn't read.

In case a reader were to see this brick of text and think "That's too long, I'm not going to read all that, I offered a short version of the entire post. Kinda like how we write ps instead of Post Script

[Aidoneus]

I had to look up the meaning of meme in Wikipedia. And I am just as confused by this thread as I was at the start. Can someone please explain to me why these pictures are called memes.

I second that motion.
I wonder if this is a generation gap thing.

PS>
While at it, can somebody explain wearing pants that hang down to your crotch? I see it all the time, and find it even more baffling than memes.

According to Bill Cosby, lack of belts in jail: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/meet-the-p ... 4#21293174

[PeterHB]

I had to look up the meaning of meme in Wikipedia. And I am just as confused by this thread as I was at the start. Can someone please explain to me why these pictures are called memes.

The Wikipedia page agrees with my recollection of first coming across the word in Richard Dawkin's "The Selfish Gene", a seminal popular science book about evolution. Its major theme is that DNA just wants to replicate and survive into the future, by what ever mechanism it chances upon. By rolling its dice extremely large numbers of times it gets lucky very occasionally. The evolutionary mechanism as described is 'never mind the aesthetic quality of the mechanism, if it happens to work, thats fine'.

Then, mainly as an exercise in playfully thinking about his theme, he mused about making an analogy with how some things in human cultural thought also have a tendency to self replicate. It isn't an exact analogy. There isn't a DNA equivalent. It was just a fun thought. So catchy pop songs that have a 'hook' so that some people can't help humming them, flared trousers, or words like 'fab' (60s) or 'Doh!' (90s) are a concept he proposed the word 'meme' for.

So nothing to do with the internet. Things that rattle around the culture by jumping from mind to mind, with no judgement about aesthetic quality, just if it happens to replicate, that's fine.

Then the internet came along and some people deliberately tried to create these things that people will copy to each other. Mostly intended as fun. A clear example is the Captain Picard facepalm. People would copy that picture to each other with a comment about something foolish that someone has done. They would imitate the pose in the office when a colleague has said something that is wrong in so many ways that you don't know where to start, or even whether to try to correct them. So a moment of popular culture that spread both by person to person and by internet mechanisms, such as email, youtube, discussion boards with images. Again, its not a judgement about aesthetic quality, or the replication mechanism, just if it happens to replicate, that's fine, its a meme.

[DrStraw]

At this point I raise a white flag and retire to DGS.

[judicata]

/effort

This cracked me up. I can't tell you how many times I've thought of the "Y U NO" guy when watching game reviews. Sorry to anyone who finds it even mildly offensive.

[Bantari]

At this point I raise a white flag and retire to DGS.

...while I am still trying to figure out what all this has to do with culture. Somehow when explaining memes the word "culture" is used a lot, and I really don't get the connection...

[DrStraw]

At this point I raise a white flag and retire to DGS.

...while I am still trying to figure out what all this has to do with culture. Somehow when explaining memes the word "culture" is used a lot, and I really don't get the connection...

Probably something to do with yogurt. It turns sour if you don't keep it on ice.

[Bill Spight]

At this point I raise a white flag and retire to DGS.

...while I am still trying to figure out what all this has to do with culture. Somehow when explaining memes the word "culture" is used a lot, and I really don't get the connection...

Internet memes are usually not actual memes, in the original sense of units of culture or of cultural transmission.

[judicata]

I'm getting the sense that some people on this thread are aware of the related concept of trolling.

[Bonobo]

/effort

This cracked me up. I can't tell you how many times I've thought of the "Y U NO" guy when watching game reviews. Sorry to anyone who finds it even mildly offensive.

Heh, this is one of my favourites, and as two folks on FB pointed out, it has two sides:

• a stronger player watching the 20k guy not extending when in Atari,
• a 20k player watching a stronger player not extending when in Atari,

thus making this sort of a flip-flop image/picture puzzle.

<edit>
BTW, when I got up today I was quite shocked about how many notifications I got on FB and G+ … all about people liking, plussing, and sharing these memes. To everybody who contributed Go memes here and elsewhere on L19 — prepare to see them out there in the wild
</edit>

<edit 2>
A little bit surprised about the meme/internet meme discussion — was my link to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme that badly hidden?
</edit 2>

<edit 3>
Public Go Memes albums on FB and G+, thanks to all of you!
Go Memes on Facebook (this one I could make a shared album if more people want to contribute … it would be our album then and not just mine.)
Go Memes on Google+
</edit>

Greetings, and thanks to all of you!

Tom

[HermanHiddema]