This is why I joined this community

  • MHanak@lemmy.world
    82·
    2 months ago

    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)

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
      11·
      2 months ago

      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

      • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
        22·
        2 months ago

        That’s basically straight from Richard Dawkins, who literally invented the term like 50 years ago.

        A meme is to information ideas what a gene is to genetic information.

        Edit: my word choice was bugging me.

      • andrew@lemmy.stuart.funEnglish
        10·
        2 months ago

        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!

      • other_cat@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        2 months ago

        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.

      • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
        3·
        2 months ago

        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.

  • yokonzo@lemmy.worldEnglish
    41·
    2 months ago

    That is actually a meme though, it’s an idea that spreads.

    It’s just a meme you don’t like

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      It is very much not a meme. If they added something to it like Obi wan or Shriek it would but just some random screenshot does not count

      • yokonzo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        2 months ago

        What im talking about is literally the definition of a meme, you’re talking about your idea of meme and you seem somewhat attached to it. That’s fine, but that is definitely not what a meme is, im sorry

  • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
    20·
    2 months ago

    A meme is just something funny that you share, so anything someone finds funny and posts online or shares with one friend is sharing memes.

    • owsei@programming.dev
      14·
      2 months ago

      A meme is just something funny that you share

      By the technical definition, it doesn’t even have to be funny, it only needs to be quickly sharable

      • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
        1·
        2 months ago

        Usually you wouldn’t share something that wasn’t funny/amusing though, there is that whole angle of sharing horrific stuff for shits and giggle though… so yeah it really doesn’t matter.

        • owsei@programming.dev
          1·
          2 months ago

          Usually yes, but, at least in programming, “data is code, code is data” is a meme, in the sense that it’s sharable. And it’s not exactly funny, it’s just an idea.

          But yeah, meme is used for intense-based jokes because it’s the norm

  • poorlytunedAstring@lemmy.world
    9·
    2 months ago

    Most of the memes come from communities where the typical user is way too comfortable with things like photoshop, so they can crank out a gag before it suddenly seems like a waste of time. Even the “slapped together” looking stuff takes longer than you think. This skill set - funny but also has casual graphic design skills - is narrow enough that even their throwaway jokes tend to get passed around and around and around for years.

    This community is more, uh, engineering focused, so they’re doing pretty good to find reasonably funny people to screenshot. For what it’s worth, I agree with you, but the internet always has some tiresome gotcha post to shut you down with, lest you set any boundaries for yourself, so everyone’s stuck with whatever people feel like calling a meme.

  • kubica@fedia.io
    8·
    2 months ago

    Screenshots of text comments are all over the internet though. I used to think about it before coming here, but now I just take it as a normal.

  • Gork@lemm.ee
    6·
    2 months ago

    Needs to be a picture of a monitor screen with the meme on it but taken with a potato so it’s all blurry and shit.

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      That’s good as that’s where it is suppost to go. It isn’t that the screenshot isn’t funny or useful. It just isn’t a meme