MEME TERMINOLOGY

By now I bet you're starting to feel comfortable with some of the terminology. But it never hurts to have a quick refresher before we start, to make sure we're all on the same page. Memeiphorically speaking.

• Meme: Well, I'd hope you remember what a meme is. Memes are easily repeatable and modifiable jokes. They can be sorted into various groupings, and each subdivision has its own applications, standards, and references. Not all memes are created equal: some have had influence long after they've faded, while others are "over" as soon as they start. This web site will mostly deal with classic memes, from the previous decade, though we will cover more contemporary memes as well.



• Viral: "Viral" is a word that's often used to describe content on the web that has become popular. The word has, in recent years, become devaluated as it has become mainstream--whereas the term "viral video" used to be only applied to videos that dominated Internet conversation, it is now used for anything that has a view count higher than average. Part of this effect can be traced to the fact that a growing number of Internet users has led to the fracturing of online social groups, so a video may be said to go "viral" upon experiencing immense popularity on one site--for example, Tumblr--without ever being posted on other sites. Another part is that people use hyperbole all the time and it always ends up devaluing whatever word we've fixated upon. That ALWAYS happens.



• Image Macro: An image macro is simply a picture with overlaid text. Famous varieties of image macros include "LOLcats" and "Advice Animals."



• Trolling: Trolling is an activity undertaken by trolls. Originally, this consisted of attempting to decieve victims and goad them into a reaction. In recent years, the term has become conflated with "flaming," which consists solely of straightforward harrassment.



• 4chan: 4chan is one of the most influential meme-creators of the era we'll be talking about. Simply put, 4chan is a type of forum called a "chan." Like other forums, chans permit people to discuss topics that they find interesting. However, they typically emphasize anonymity. There aren't "respected members of the community," because it's usually very difficult to tell if two users are the same person or not. Other features of chan posting often find themselves worked into memes--"reaction images," for example, which are posted to express an emotion about a person's comment, are emphasized because of the highly visual nature of chan imageboards; furthermore, post identifiers like the "post number" are often used or referenced.



• SomethingAwful: Something Awful is a more traditional forum that is also responsible for a great number of memes. In stark contrast to 4chan's "anything goes" sensibility, members at Something Awful (often abbreviated SA) must pay a one-time fee to even create an account. Both 4chan and Something Awful maintain user traditions and have a strong cultural identity, though 4chan's tend to be more dynamic and vulgar, owing to its anonymity. SA users are often called "goons."



• The Cheezburger Network: A more recent meme powerhouse, the Cheezburger Network is a portfolio of sites that each have memes tailored to specific audiences. Some of the more infamous Cheezburger blogs feature "LOLcats," "fails," and the "memebase." These sites differ from previous meme-spawning communities in that their sole purpose was the production of memes, rather than having them arise organically. The web site "Know Your Meme" was acquired by the Cheezburger Network in 2011.

Now that we're all up to speed on basic meme terminology, let's begin by sinking our teeth into our first kind of meme: links.

Click here to continue. Click here to return to the previous page

Or, click here to go back to the main page.