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.

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[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.

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[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?

[Mel Fulks]

Seems like making the extra effort to be obtuse....

[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

[John Coloccia]

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

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See, like that.

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/y-u-no-guy

It's easier to simply give some examples and background than it is to define what an internet meme is.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Oooops - wrong thread - I thought this was a Mimes thread.

Like from from Shakes the Clown.

Can;t link to it, comfortably, but goog Shakes the Clown - Mimes

"MIMES!!!!!"

[John Coloccia]

Oooops - wrong thread - I thought this was a Mimes thread.

Like from from Shakes the Clown.

Can;t link to it, comfortably, but goog Shakes the Clown - Mimes

"MIMES!!!!!"

I don't know how I ever made it through life having missed that. :)

[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., ..---... ...-.....---!

[Dave Zellers]

Political activists today on both sides attempt to create memes by repeating the same message over and over trying to instill it into receptive minds and hoping it will get repeated, on and on and on and then become accepted as truth.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

A bit of overthink going on here. Tried renaming to "post a funny picture" but I can't edit it now. I just wanted some funny pics- that's all. 307431

[Bill Orbine]

A bit of overthink going on here. Tried renaming to "post a funny picture" but I can't edit it now. I just wanted some funny pics- that's all. 307431

Your second meme makes much more sense. Laughed right away. The Harbor Freight meme is difficult to understand though I get it now, I think..... it's a meme humoring memecrunch.com because the HF sign appears crunched. Took me too long to laugh. A little bit.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I thought the Harbor Freight would be easy. They sell cheap tools. Their sign is broken. I'm out.

[Scott Shepherd]

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[Malcolm Schweizer]

Scott gets it! I like the vegetarian one best.

[Scott Shepherd]

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[Dave Zellers]

Scott gets it! I like the vegetarian one best.
Me too! Took a few seconds...

[ken masoumi]

I didn't know what meme was until Today,would these 2 pics qualify?lol.
http://www.engrish.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/08/made-in-chian.jpghttp://www.engrish.com/wp-content/uploads//2014/07/happy-hacking.jpg

[Mel Fulks]

I think everyone understands the concept of adding a funny caption to a photograph. But the definitions of "meme" found on
line describing how they spread ,morph,etc without that simple explanation are "obtuse".

[Doug W Swanson]

Here's one of my favorites...

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[Bruce Page]

Not to start a debate LOL.

[Jim Koepke]

Here's one of my favorites...

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Here is my favorite Brian Williams captioning:

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Sad though it is that a major news caster felt he had to embellish his reports on a network that doesn't want false news.

jtk

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Love it. The last one is epic.

[Scott Shepherd]

Back on topic guys, let's not make this a Brian Williams thread. The last one didn't go well. Let's just stick to silly meme's for Malcolm :)

[Jim Koepke]

Back on topic guys, let's not make this a Brian Williams thread. The last one didn't go well. Let's just stick to silly meme's for Malcolm

Okay, how about an obvious meme?

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jtk

[Rich Harkrader]

I'm a fan of the success kid meme.
http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/36/36dbaea8e4c6483c54ba48783f64801f550c64a844c85e5efd e3a0c9978ea8d1.jpg

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Here you go. ... the question is, which one isn't "right"? :D
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[Kent A Bathurst]

I don't know how I ever made it through life having missed that. :)


THen you've gotta watch the movie - opening sequence w/Florence Henderson is hilarious............and the movie just rolls on from there.

[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/2013-06/20/richard-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]

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Sorry.....couldn't resist ;)

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I believe this is what you meant:

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[Malcolm Schweizer]

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

Pull up the image, right click, click "save as" and select how/where to save. OR... on an iPhone click and hold, it will ask if you want to save the image.

[Dan Hintz]

Angry Cat is probably one of the most well-known (and easy to understand definition of) memes.

Plenty of pictures to choose from, but they're all of an angry looking cat. The idea behind memes is you repurpose those "generic" images to your own purpose, so long as you stick with the overall theme... in this case, anger, hate, etc. So, angry cat can be used to show discontent with another human (the slacker at the end of the hall), an object (objects that break on first use), a thought (annoying do-gooders who smile all of the time), an action (someone sneezing in their hand before shaking yours), etc.

Some have been posted already.

[Kent A Bathurst]

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Sorry.....couldn't resist ;)

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

[Chris Padilla]

How is 'meme' pronounced?

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

[Jim Matthews]

https://imgflip.com/memegenerator

[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?

[Greg Portland]

The idea behind memes is you repurpose those "generic" images to your own purpose, so long as you stick with the overall theme...The idea is that the image (without any caption) invokes a certain feeling or thought about the person or object (e.g. the "awkward Brian" Sawstop example... you look at the picture and see a kid who is unlikely to catch a break). To make it a meme, the original picture and idea have to go viral. For example, below is my example of "satisfied seal":


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... but the original image was posted on reddit (which is where most of these memes start): http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/2mgqgh/this_is_the_most_satisfied_seal_ive_ever_seen/

[Bruce Page]

How is 'meme' pronounced?

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

Or is it meme or mimi?

[Mel Fulks]

When I was looking at definitions the other day I didn't see anything about " has to go viral" to be a meme. How many people have to be there for the falling tree in the woods to make a noise?.....used to be just one.

[Chris Padilla]

or is it meme or mimi?

lolololol!

[Scott Shepherd]

Why is making fun of a TV personality off limits?

Art, it's not off limits by any means. The problem is that someone posted something and then that started down the path of let's rehash the news business thread that was shut down.

[Art Mann]

Sometimes I think the board would be better off if absolutely nothing but woodworking subjects were permitted.