Memes

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I love memes. There are some pretty clever ones out there. What are your favorites? (Keep it clean) Here's a good one.

image.jpg

[Mike Henderson]

Okay, I'll bite. What's a meme? And what makes them clever? And why is the picture a meme?

Mike

[Malcolm Schweizer]

It's when you take a picture- often an iconic picture, movie screenshot, celebrity, or just a funny picture, and add a (usually sarcastic) comment to it. It's kind of like a photographic oxymoron. Sometimes the image may in context not go with the comment, but taken out of context and added to the comment it's hilarious.

Since we we have a few Jeep owners here, myself included, this is a good one.

image.jpg

[Bruce Pratt]

A meme, a concept originally named by the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, is a mental concept or idea which can be transmitted/spread throughout a culture from one person to another. A meme can evolve or "mutate" on transmission, somewhat like the game of "telephone". A meme can be considered the mental or cultural equivalent to a gene in biology. Just as the "goal" of a gene is to propagate and spread throughout a species, the "goal" of a meme is to become widespread within a culture.

The concept of "going viral" on the internet encompasses some aspects of a meme, in that it becomes widespread, but the content of the meme usually does not change. A better example might be urban legends, which also spread on the 'net, and also "mutate" to become more interesting/scary/believable, thereby increasing the probability of further spread.

Not sure, however, how the OP's picture is a meme; perhaps it represents the perception (meme) that Harbor Freight does not represent the highest quality within its commercial space?

[Mike Henderson]

A meme, a concept originally named by the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, is a mental concept or idea which can be transmitted/spread throughout a culture from one person to another. A meme can evolve or "mutate" on transmission, somewhat like the game of "telephone". A meme can be considered the mental or cultural equivalent to a gene in biology. Just as the "goal" of a gene is to propagate and spread throughout a species, the "goal" of a meme is to become widespread within a culture.

The concept of "going viral" on the internet encompasses some aspects of a meme, in that it becomes widespread, but the content of the meme usually does not change. A better example might be urban legends, which also spread on the 'net, and also "mutate" to become more interesting/scary/believable, thereby increasing the probability of further spread.

Not sure, however, how the OP's picture is a meme; perhaps it represents the perception (meme) that Harbor Freight does not represent the highest quality within its commercial space?

I went to Wikipedia and read the same text. I still had no idea what a meme was after reading it.

Mike

[Mel Fulks]

I guess it's harmless enough. But kinda like using a computor to "text" a picture of a Morse code message...perversely
humorous in its overstated pointlessness. P.S., ..---... ...-.....---!

[Jim Matthews]

It's one of those terms that gets adopted in a context other than original,
where it becomes more widely distributed. At a certain point,
the usage is broader in the unrelated field, and the source is forgotten.

In this case, it was Richard Dawkins discussing the notion that some ideas self-replicate,
like genes do in the genome. They do so without regard to the host, so long
as the meme is propagated and passed on.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/...-dawkins-memes

Bruce beat me to this, on the 20th.

[Mel Fulks]

That is correct,Jim. Dawkins figured it out as a young boy while playing the game "telephone".

[Kent A Bathurst]

Help me out here - if I want to copy some of those posted here and send them to friends, how can I do that?

[Scott Shepherd]

monkey.jpg

Sorry.....couldn't resist

[Kent A Bathurst]

monkey.jpg

Sorry.....couldn't resist

Ouch................. That is gonna leave a mark...............

[Chris Padilla]

How is 'meme' pronounced?

Is it like 'meeeem' or is it like 'mem' ??

[Jim Matthews]

Meeymtaco.

(The taco is silent.)

[Scott Shepherd]

Meeymtaco.

(The taco is silent.)

That's one of the funniest things I've read in a while, thanks Jim!

[Art Mann]

Why is making fun of a TV personality off limits?