You've surely seen the word meme in your travels around the internet. But if you lot're not well-versed in internet culture, it can exist difficult to notice a clear explanation of what exactly a meme is.

We're here to help. Let's go over the definition of memes, explore their usage, and look at some examples of both archetype memes and those that are popular right now.

What Is a Meme?

Y'all might be surprised to know that the word meme didn't originate online. In fact, writer Richard Dawkins first used the word in his 1976 piece of work The Selfish Gene. The volume looked at evolution and used meme to describe an idea or behavior that spreads across people in a culture.

When someone says meme present, they're probably referring to an net meme. This is the mutual usage nosotros'll talk over here and builds on Dawkins's employ of the term.

For a basic meme definition, we'll apply the post-obit:

A piece of media, oftentimes humorous, that spreads rapidly through the internet.

With the instant advice that services like Twitter, Reddit, and similar allow the states to perform online, it's no wonder that memes spread so quickly.

Oft, memes go through small alterations like the game of phone. Sometimes, memes even beget new memes. What's fascinating is that the nature of online memes means we can trace their origins, development, and changes in popularity.

At present that we have a unproblematic meme definition, nosotros'll look at some meme examples to help you better sympathise how memes originate and spread.

Meme vs. Image Macro

Before we go on, we should address a common wording mistake. Many people utilize the word meme to refer to any image that has text overlaid on it.

For example, here'south a random prototype of a guy using a reckoner with some text I added:

MakeUseOf Computer Guy Image Macro

The proper term for this is an prototype macro; this is not a meme. Why not? Because this hasn't spread across the net. It'southward just a silly image I made. If you posted this on Reddit, nobody would recognize the format.

Some image macros are memes, but non all memes are paradigm macros (every bit we'll discuss below). And someone creating an prototype macro and sharing it doesn't make it a meme.

Historical Meme Examples

Let's walk through some famous memes from years past.

1. LOLcats

LOLcat Meme

This classic meme plays on the internet's dear of cats. Its format is elementary: one or more cats, unremarkably in some ambrosial situation, with overlaid text. The wording is intentionally poor English that now has its own name: lolspeak.

2. Condescending Wonka

Condescending Wonka Meme

Hither's one of many examples of the Advice Animals subgenre of image macros. Advice Animals refers to an image macro template that revolves around some graphic symbol trait of the animal (or person) in the image.

In this example, Cavalier Wonka is exactly equally it sounds. It's an image of Factor Wilder as Willy Wonka, taken from the 1971 picture Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Manufactory. The meme features patronizing statements from Wonka.

3. Gangnam Manner

Gangnam Way is one of the net's all-time-known viral videos. It released in July 2012 and quickly spread like wildfire, racking up more than nine million views per day for two months during the height of its popularity. Anybody from mainstream news outlets to celebrities was talking nigh information technology before long.

Thousands of people created reaction videos, parodies, and more. Information technology was the kickoff YouTube video to hit both one billion and two billion views. In fact, it had and so many views that it surpassed the retention YouTube had for its view counter at the time. And it's still one of YouTube's well-nigh-watched videos.

Gangnam Style is an unforgettable miracle that perfectly illustrates how rapidly something tin can spread through the internet.

4. Chuck Norris Facts

Chuck Norris Fact Meme

Chuck Norris has been a martial artist, thespian, flick managing director, and more in his life. But online, he's not primarily known for any of that. Instead, he'due south become famous for "Chuck Norris Facts," a meme that chronicles absurd feats of Norris.

These facts exaggerate his toughness, claiming impossibilities such as his power to win a game of Connect Four in three moves. Norris has stated that he finds the facts funny, and has no doubt enjoyed renewed fame from the meme.

v. Exercise a Butt Roll

This is a quote from the 1997 infinite shooter game Star Play a trick on 64 that has enjoyed a long life on the internet. In the game, your wingmate Peppy advises you to do a barrel whorl to avoid enemy fire.

Due to the game's cheesy vocalisation interim, this became an oftentimes-repeated phrase online. Information technology's just i of many gaming memes that fabricated it into the mainstream. In fact, endeavor searching for exercise a barrel roll on Google and encounter what happens.

Contempo Examples of Memes

In net fourth dimension, the above memes are ancient history. Hither are some of the well-nigh pop memes from the past few years.

half dozen. Gonna Tell My Kids

This endlessly customizable meme became popular on Twitter. In it, you lot state that you plan to tell your kids near a famous person or group of people. However, instead of a motion-picture show of the actual entity in question, the tweet contains a photo of a dissimilar person or grouping that shares some characteristics with it.

At that place's a lot of potential here for comedic dissimilarity. The idea that someone would tell their kids a blatant lie about popular culture icons considering they wouldn't know any better is definitely good for a few laughs.

vii. Woman Yelling at a Cat

Woman Yelling at Cat Meme

One of the most popular memes of 2019 is a combination of two separate images. The left part shows a screencap of an upset woman from The Existent Housewives of Beverly Hills, while the correct shows a confused-looking cat sitting in front of a plate of vegetables.

As meme pair, both images ordinarily receive a label. The general theme is that the woman is upset about something for which the cat feels indignant about or has no control over.

8. Ight Imma Head Out

Imma Head Out Meme

This simple meme is based on a shot from the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants. The prototype shows SpongeBob getting out of a chair with a dismayed wait on his face up. Paired with its caption of "Ight Imma Head Out," this meme lets yous express your desire to leave a scenario.

If yous want to get more than creative with information technology, you tin edit SpongeBob into different situations than his chair at home.

If you like this meme, check out these hilarious Mr. Krabs memes.

9. Which Is the Best Seat?

Our adjacent meme is a good case of a phrase that starts out as an innocent question earlier being parodied into oblivion. It originated when a Twitter user posted a moving-picture show asking people which labeled seat on a New York Urban center subway was the best.

Before long, people started asking which seat was best in ridiculous scenarios, such as on board a spacecraft or in Congress. But if you lot ever wondered, now y'all can spark a contend on seating in all sorts of situations.

10. Me and the Boys

Me and the Boys Meme

This repeatable phrase meme evolved a bit over fourth dimension. Information technology started out as a caption you would place on seemingly random pictures of people involved in a strange activity.

Over time, the adjacent popular rendition combined the phrase with a grouping of villains from the Spider-Man cartoon from the '60s. The show is known for is unintentionally hilarious blitheness, and then the meme combines the cheesy looks on the villains' faces with captions almost juvenile behavior.

Larn More Well-nigh Memes

We've taken a tour of v classic and five modern memes, but this is only a tiny sampling. Memes are constantly emerging and dying off---what's insanely pop today is dried next week.

Many memes originate from corners of the net like 4chan and Reddit. Eventually, if they stay popular, they make their fashion to mainstream social networks. If you proceed an middle out, you'll eventually acquire to identify the latest meme trends.

For an all-around reference on memes, we highly recommend checking out Know Your Meme. This encyclopedic site is defended to cataloging the origins, employ, and examples of memes. Information technology's a dandy place to learn how a meme started or see what's pop recently.

For more resources, take a await at websites to notice new, trending, and weird memes, likewise as the all-time generators to make your ain memes. And if y'all'd like to make your own, hither's how to make a meme.

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