[ezkcdude]

From the hampster dance to lolcat to simply "meh" to being Rick Rolled, I think I've had enough of internet memes. So much so, that I would like to start a world-wide internet meme boycott. Only problem is that anything I come up with will simply become another meme. Argh.

[tomoe]

A boycott? Meh.

*sorry, couldn't resist.

[FFL]

U kan haez boykot if I can haez cheezburger.

[psmith2.0]

Please don't blast me for this, but I'm not always so hip to the jive...what is a "meme", exactly? I think I kinda know, based on the above (and how I've seen it used in other places).

But what's a tight, succinct definition/example, just so I know for sure?

I Googled (and read the Wiki entry), but it's pretty bloated and scholarly, and I have the patience and attention span of a caffeinated monkey with the wrong eyeglass prescription, so...

[709]

A cultural virus. (actually, that's kind of wrong, since it's not exclusively passed on by physical contact). Ummm....I don't have a good analogy.

Kind of a global acceptance? Mass brainwashing? Digital osmosis? There's a link between LOLcats and organized religion here...I just can't get it to come out.

Actually, I'm going to stick with a cultural virus.

[FFL]

Originally Posted by 709 There's a link between LOLcats and organized religion here...I just can't get it to come out..

Meh - it's been done....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=znMlKFaZnTQ

[ezkcdude]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Please don't blast me for this, but I'm not always so hip to the jive...what is a "meme", exactly? I think I kinda know, based on the above (and how I've seen it used in other places). But what's a tight, succinct definition/example, just so I know for sure? I Googled (and read the Wiki entry), but it's pretty bloated and scholarly, and I have the patience and attention span of a caffeinated monkey with the wrong eyeglass prescription, so...

Memes are like genes for learned behavior. Richard Dawkins coined the term. In other words, these behaviors are not passed through our genes but from person to person, generation to generation.

[Luca]

Richard Dawkins coined the term "meme." A very simple definition of the term would be a sort of chunk of the collective consciousness of society. Something that resonates with a lot of people in the same way. Religion is a meme. So is basic human morality. They are often intertwined, but the presence of one does not necessitate the other.

EDIT: ezkcdude explained it better than me. "Memetics" is the meme equivalent to genetics. Knowledge that is passed from person to person and is, like I said, sort of a part of a collective consciousness.

Milhouse, however, is not a meme.

[Brad]

Boycott internet memes?

I suggest starting a petition. I hear petitiononline.com gets lots of useful stuff accomplished through completely anonymous internet-based petitions.

heh heh

[psmith2.0]

Okay, but how does that connect with ezkcdude's opening post? What's an "Internet meme"? All those faddish things that get passed around and played out (I'm assuming that's the case)...the "all your base" and the cats and the Star Wars kid and that dancing guy, etc.? All that kind of stuff?

Am I in the ballpark? Hell, am I even in the parking lot outside?

[ezkcdude]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Okay, but how does that connect with ezkcdude's opening post? What's an "Internet meme"? All those faddish things that get passed around and played out (I'm assuming that's the case)...the "all your base" and the cats and the Star Wars kid and that dancing guy, etc.? All that kind of stuff? Am I in the ballpark? Hell, am I even in the parking lot outside?

Yeah, all this crap. I just have this feeling now that we're like the Romans during the pax romana being entertained by these internet memes. Maybe it's a government conspiracy. In the end, everything we do will be memes. And memingless. I meme meaningless. Oh, crap. It's starting...

[Xaqtly]

Yeah that's pretty much it. I think "All your base" was the first one to really push the internet meme over the top. Rickrolls, chocolate rain, the 'lions in Kenya" flash, LEEEEEROY ( a WoW meme!), etc.

[709]

Originally Posted by Luca Milhouse, however, is not a meme.

^ But that is.

If that doesn't make pscates' head asplode (<meme), I don't know what will.

[Moogs]

SRSLY?

I mean... RLY?

Oh noz!



It is pretty annoying and juvenile when you think about it but it goes from being a sarcastic way to respond to something, to the point you don't even mind it when people do that. Or at least you don't mind enough to expend calories telling them to shut up.

I saw a "RLY" on a sitcom (!) the other day and I thought to myself: I want to try hard never to say that word, in that way, ever again.

[Xaqtly]

Oh and one of the earliest internet-related meme-type things I can remember seeing is "pwn". It sprung from people mistyping "own", and it was adopted as the new way of telling somebody they got owned. Or pwned. Whatever.

[709]

Yeah, the whole thing gets pretty saturated when mainstream media gets a hold of it. Though, I thought Weezer's video for Pork And Beans was pretty fantastic.

[curiousuburb]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Okay, but how does that connect with ezkcdude's opening post? What's an "Internet meme"? All those faddish things that get passed around and played out (I'm assuming that's the case)...the "all your base" and the cats and the Star Wars kid and that dancing guy, etc.? All that kind of stuff? Am I in the ballpark? Hell, am I even in the parking lot outside?

</Cookie>

Not quite a trend, or a fad, perhaps, but in the continuum somewhere.

[ezkcdude]

Originally Posted by Xaqtly Oh and one of the earliest internet-related meme-type things I can remember seeing is "pwn". It sprung from people mistyping "own", and it was adopted as the new way of telling somebody they got owned. Or pwned. Whatever.

I hate that one with a passion.

[curiousuburb]

Originally Posted by Xaqtly Oh and one of the earliest internet-related meme-type things I can remember seeing is "pwn". It sprung from people mistyping "own", and it was adopted as the new way of telling somebody they got owned. Or pwned. Whatever.

alt.oldsckool.kicks.your.memes.ass.sucka.org

[Bryson]

I think it's fun that Applenova has it very own memes:

Thread for what?

Hello, the

My computer asploded!

and so on.

[Luca]

brad is corupt

[Bryson]

Does mail hide at startup?

The point being, that any gathering of personalities anywhere will create a set of memes, spontaneously through their interactions. There's no escaping it - it's part of how we communicate. Sorry!

[709]

In other words, I know what you meme.

[Banana]

Originally Posted by Bryson The point being, that any gathering of personalities anywhere will create a set of memes, spontaneously through their interactions. There's no escaping it - it's part of how we communicate. Sorry!

This is true enough.

I do think it's only unusual in respect that memes spreads far more than it used to pre-Internet time and as a consequence, it spreads to groups who normally wouldn't make up such memes if left to their own devices. I'd bet that in such cases, some members (e.g. the OP, and admittedly myself) can feel a bit exasperated at being flooded with memes for which they have no or little (for lack of better word) empathy for.

[faramirtook]

does steve jobs shave his balls? does brad?

[Luca]

Originally Posted by Bryson Does mail hide at startup?

Mail will hide at startup once they remove the debug code. And then OS X will be truly Snappy!

[Moogs]

Mail cannot hide at startup until Apple does a Cocoa re-write. Then when it does hide, it will do it maybe 7x faster than Carbon Mail and also feed your dog.

[Kraetos]

Best thread evar.

I especially enjoyed this:

Originally Posted by ezkcdude I would like to start a world-wide internet meme boycott. Only problem is that anything I come up with will simply become another meme. Argh.

Which is hilarious because it's true.

[turbulentfurball]

Not a Rick Roll. Honestly.

[709]

^ WIN.

^(meme)