Summer Memes You May Have Missed : Meme Season

By Rachel Rosmarin , published on July 9, 2009 at 6:50 PM
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Once spring has sprung, all bets are off. Office workers and students around the country, distracted by warmer weather, can’t focus. It’s Internet meme season! You know memes, they’re those videos, catch-phrases, ideas and images that spread around the Internet like wildfire. Remember LOL Cats? That was a major meme of 2007. How about Rick Rolling? That one hit it big in 2008. But recognizing a meme requires some historical perspective. We only know a meme is a meme many months later. So, here are our picks for mid-2009 memes. Many of our picks are geek-themed, and others are just plain strange. Did we miss a good one? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Comments
Anonymous 07/10/2009 10:54 AM
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this is fail, Keyboard Cat, I am 12 what is this, 100$ serious

Tomsguiderachel 07/10/2009 6:42 PM
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FAIL :
this is fail, Keyboard Cat, I am 12 what is this, 100$ serious


Uh, what?

Jerther 07/10/2009 7:12 PM
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He meant: this is serious cat on 12 100$ keyboards, i'm fail

o_O

quantumrand 07/11/2009 9:00 PM
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You're asking for trouble Rachel...The real meme machine (whose name I dare not speek) might descend upon Tom's and wreak havoc.

hatemongeratf 07/12/2009 4:33 PM
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Meme. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. Failblog and FML count, the rest are just viral. "I am disappoint" is probably the only meme to actually originate in mid-2009, with the possible exceptions of Girugamesh Guy. Since things take time to filter out of quantumrand's accurately labeled "whose name I dare not speak", it's a crap shoot on what'll actually stick. Maybe "The New Battletoads". Or "a pretty cool guy" might enter popular lexicon.

Tomsguiderachel 07/12/2009 6:19 PM
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It does mean what I think it means: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme

I also said that, "We only know a meme is a meme many months later. So, here are our picks for mid-2009 memes."

I know what you're trying to say though. You're saying that a video of a cat sitting on a bed is not currently a meme. You're right! But I've seen enough signs of the video going viral that I'm predicting we'll see various "copycat" videos with other animals, maybe even a blog, perhaps even avatars, etc. If I'm right, then cat sitting on a bed will indeed be a meme.

I would also add that the 3 Wolf Moon is already a meme, as well. It is everywhere, not just in the Amazon user reviews. It is referenced in many parts of Internet culture, you just have to recognize it ;)

Tomsguiderachel 07/12/2009 6:21 PM
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quantumrand :
You're asking for trouble Rachel...The real meme machine (whose name I dare not speek) might descend upon Tom's and wreak havoc.


Oooh, that sounds exciting.

Tomsguiderachel 07/12/2009 6:27 PM
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hatemongeratf :
Meme. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. Failblog and FML count, the rest are just viral. "I am disappoint" is probably the only meme to actually originate in mid-2009, with the possible exceptions of Girugamesh Guy. Since things take time to filter out of quantumrand's accurately labeled "whose name I dare not speak", it's a crap shoot on what'll actually stick. Maybe "The New Battletoads". Or "a pretty cool guy" might enter popular lexicon.


Good call on "Son, I am disappoint." Do you know when the 4chan comic started? I definitely missed that one on my list!

Tomsguiderachel 07/12/2009 6:30 PM
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FAIL :
this is fail, Keyboard Cat, I am 12 what is this, 100$ serious


Oh! I think I understand what you are trying to say, finally. You were trying to list what you think are different memes. Well, we already included fail. "I am 12 what is this" might be up for consideration. Keyboard cat is way too old. I'm not familiar with "100$ serious" but I'll look around for it.

hatemongeratf 07/12/2009 8:41 PM
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Tomsguiderachel :
Good call on "Son, I am disappoint." Do you know when the 4chan comic started? I definitely missed that one on my list!



March, apparently.

hatemongeratf 07/12/2009 8:55 PM
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Tomsguiderachel :
It does mean what I think it means: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_memeI also said that, "We only know a meme is a meme many months later. So, here are our picks for mid-2009 memes."I know what you're trying to say though. You're saying that a video of a cat sitting on a bed is not currently a meme. You're right! But I've seen enough signs of the video going viral that I'm predicting we'll see various "copycat" videos with other animals, maybe even a blog, perhaps even avatars, etc. If I'm right, then cat sitting on a bed will indeed be a meme.I would also add that the 3 Wolf Moon is already a meme, as well. It is everywhere, not just in the Amazon user reviews. It is referenced in many parts of Internet culture, you just have to recognize it



We'll have to agree to disagree on some of these. No matter how funny or clever, I don't think much of anything from collegehumor is worthy of the meme title. But it's ridiculously hard it is to predict memes of the future. I'll cede 3 wolf moon after remembering the music video.

Anonymous 07/14/2009 9:12 AM
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Great article, reminded me of this website called prankdialer.com that lets you send a bunch of these internet memes out over the phone. I've used it a bunch of times, the keyboard cat one is great for when your friend fails at something, hah!

Anonymous 07/24/2009 12:00 PM
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Never hear of any of these, but that's the good thing about living as far away from the USA as possible...

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