What if I told you that your post isn’t a meme, that memes are supposed to have banner text or footer text. Just having a picture with text on isn’t a meme, so your post doesn’t belong in !memes@lemmy.world?
Yeah I’m not going to let the English language be shaped or solidified by people who have dedicated their lives to studying and deeply understanding language!
They could find a meme if it were glued to a telephone pole. They’d just need a team of undergraduates, semanticians, and a box of jelly babies to fully assess the nature of the item before declaring it a meme or not.
meme
noun
/miːm/
an idea that is passed from one member of society to another, not in the genes but often by people copying it
(Oxford learner’s dictionaries)
I’d argue memes are in fact memes.
The Oxford dictionary is made by a bunch of old English nerds. They couldn’t find a meme if it was glued to a telephone pole
That’s basically straight from Richard Dawkins, who literally invented the term like 50 years ago.
A meme is to
informationideas what a gene is to genetic information.Edit: my word choice was bugging me.
50 years ago the internet wasn’t even a thing. Also that dude is yet another old guy.
It is lazy to just post a screenshot. At least convert it into a actual meme. There are plenty of templates that would work.
So you’re just a troll, cool.
Aren’t we using that old guy’s term?
See where you’re coming from, this is easy to defend:
Temba, his arms wide.
What if I told you that your post isn’t a meme, that memes are supposed to have banner text or footer text. Just having a picture with text on isn’t a meme, so your post doesn’t belong in !memes@lemmy.world?
Yeah I’m not going to let the English language be shaped or solidified by people who have dedicated their lives to studying and deeply understanding language!
To your credit, language is indeed an ever-evolving thing and what words mean what is not a constant, particularly in this age of internet.
Point against you, is that means that a ‘meme’ is largely whatever the majority of people think it is.
You’re totally wrong!
They could find a meme if it were glued to a telephone pole. They’d just need a team of undergraduates, semanticians, and a box of jelly babies to fully assess the nature of the item before declaring it a meme or not.
As told by our Lord an Saviour, Richard Dawkins