fifty famous memes and what they mean

Merriam-Webster defines "meme" as "an thought, beliefs, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a civilization" or "an amusing or interesting item (such equally a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online specially through social media." That definition hasn't been effectually forever—it hasn't fifty-fifty been around for v years. The lexicon editors officially added the entry along with "emoji" and "clickbait" to the formal dictionary in May 2015.

Memes have e'er come with an air of mystery, intriguing and confusing fifty-fifty the most calculator literate. Where did they come from? More than chiefly, what do they hateful? Even modern science is hopping on the meme train. A squad of scientific researchers from University College London, Republic of cyprus University of Technology, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Male monarch's College London came together in September 2018 to research the internet's most popular memes. Autonomously from assembling a definitive listing of the world's favorite memes, the academic written report likewise explored the influences (both positive and negative) that memes accept on different communities. Some memes are created just for fun past artistic or bored internet users, but others are fabricated with the explicit intention of going viral to promote political ideas.

With the infinite number of memes scattered across the internet, it's hard to continue track. Only when yous've grasped the meaning of one hilarious meme, it has already get old news and replaced past something every bit every bit enigmatic. Online forums like Tumblr, Twitter, 4chan, and Reddit are responsible for a majority of meme infections, and with the constant posting and sharing, finding the source of an original meme is easier said than done. Stacker hunted through net resources, pop culture publications, and databases like Know Your Meme to find l unlike memes and what they mean. While the almost self-replicating nature of these vague symbols can become exhausting, memes in their essence tin as well bring people closer together—equally long equally they have net access.

You might besides like: What "woke" and 50 other millennial sayings mean

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Danganronpamemer // imgflp

Expanding encephalon

In 2017, when a number of posters on Tumblr and 4chan started bragging about their encephalon sizes, it quickly turned into a meme. Photos of different sized brains are paired with "smart" sounding words until they expand into a fully enlightened phase. One of the first manifestations of the "expanding brain" meme came from the who-whom-whomst progression of words that seemingly makes one sound smarter.

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Immature Thug at reckoner

Back in 2018 a photo surfaced of the rappers Immature Thug and Lil Durk staring at a computer screen while working on new music in the studio. The internet quickly began finding humorous (and fabricated) explanations for what the 2 were so intently concentrating on, everything from the rappers planning an elaborate heist to playing quondam school games like minesweeper.

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First World problems

While the "First World" terminology has been effectually for a while, the hashtag #firstworldproblems reached its tiptop in popularity on Twitter in 2011 after Buzzfeed posted a series of memes about problems experienced by privileged people from wealthy countries. The meme near always depicts an attractive person looking sad, with a caption explaining his or her First World frustrations.

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Modify my listen

After Steven Crowder, a conservative podcaster, posted a photo of himself in 2018 sitting at a desk with a sign proverb "Male privilege is a myth: Change my listen," it was almost too like shooting fish in a barrel for the internet to begin making fun of him with memes of their own. Memes ranged from simply changing the words on the sign to elaborate photoshops.

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Drake

Drake has been the subject of several different memes throughout his long career. His 2015 single "Hotline Bling" was 1 of the biggest songs of the year, and when the music video came out featuring Drake dancing in a brightly lit cube construction the memes began to accumulate even more. Since so the internet has memed everything from his Twitter posts to school portraits.

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Is this a...?

The "is this a pigeon" meme first rose to popularity in 2011 after Tumblr posted a photo from a Japanese animated show of an android mistaking a butterfly for a pigeon. Almost of the memes derived from the photo apply the subjects to limited modern confusions or paranoia.

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Existent name Google searches

"Real proper noun Google searches" is a meme that gained popularity in 2018 using the generic google template to describe fabricated-upwardly names for popular celebrities (normally those who go past aliases). Co-ordinate to Know Your Meme, it get-go appeared showing the rapper Lil Pump's name equally "Lilliam Pumpernickel" and only got more ridiculous from there.

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Futurama Fry

"Futurama Fry" is one of the most relatable memes on the spider web. One pop meme, which began in 2011, shows the graphic symbol Fry from the animated prove "Futurama" with eyes narrowed thinking about contradicting questions usually referring to modern times or sarcasm. Another is a generic photo with the same character holding cash yelling "shut up and take my money," used for when someone finds the description of a product on the internet particularly appealing.

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Weird flex but OK

The phrase "weird flex but OK" is used when someone brags about something that others would find awkward or just manifestly irrelevant. The phrase began showing up on the internet in 2017 and has continued to exist used in response to awkward boasts. One of the most pop uses of the meme was during the contempo Brett Kavanaugh hearings later he used his high school virginity every bit an argument.

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Evieliam // Wikimedia Commons

This is fine

Taken out of a 2013 webcomic strip chosen "On Fire," this image showing a human-like dog enjoying his java while his house is burning downwardly has seemingly get more than and more relatable every year. The image is rarely altered, simply attached to troubling or hard-to-grasp news.

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Unsplash / Bence Boros and Twitter / @joshwillhall

FBI agent

Jokes well-nigh "big brother watching" are onetime, but in early 2018 the internet was more paranoid than always before thanks to the net-fueled idea of FBI agents watching people through their webcams. The memes aren't always critical, either; most of them depict the agents either protecting or existence friendly with their subjects.

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Kermit

The iconic light-green boob has stolen the hearts of millions on the "Muppet Bear witness" since the 1950s, just the cyberspace meme awareness didn't begin until 2014. Near notable memes include Kermit sipping on some tea with passive aggressive text followed past "only that'south none of my business," likewise equally another with a hooded Kermit formatted to evidence expert vs. evil thoughts.

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Cats

From "I need dis" to "Nyan Cat," there really isn't one subject field that emcompasses the net'southward honey of memes better than cats. Since the early 2000s when "Keyboard Cat" offset fabricated an advent on YouTube, people accept been posting funny images of felines paired with hilarious text.

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Squinting adult female

Also known as the "squat and squint" meme, the photo showing a squinting woman staring at something in the altitude actually came from an outtake of a Instagram shot that went viral in March 2018. Since then, the picture has been applied to any circumstance that the poster finds unbelievable.

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A Star is Built-in

When the first trailer for the highly predictable film starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga came out in 2018, excited fans took screenshots and made them into memes. The most popular ones came from funny adaptations of Cooper's line "I simply wanted to take some other look at you lot" and Gaga's belted solo from the song "Shallow."

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AndreDThompson // Twitter

Angry Patrick

Also known as "evil Patrick" or "savage Patrick," this meme takes a still of the graphic symbol Patrick from "Spongebob Squarepants" with a menacing await in his eyes from a 1999 episode. Twitter got a hold of information technology effectually Feb 2018 and started using the image along with an explanation of bad behavior or motives.

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PaulFaire/TheThings // TheThings.com

Past age 35...

Post-obit a 2018 MarketWatch article that unsaid an unrealistic amount of savings one should have in their 30s, people on Twitter began responding to the article past sharing all the other things you lot should ideally have by age 35 (from the hilariously true to the ridiculous). Advice on avocado toast, Pokemon, and drawers full of miscellaneous chargers followed.

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Don't say information technology

The "don't say it" meme details the relatable conversations people accept between themselves and their brains, from bringing up awkward conversations topics to resisting "that'southward what she said" jokes. The commencement tweet with the meme showed up in 2010, but later resurfaced in 2017 and showed an inner struggle betwixt whether or not to start a conversation with a taxi driver.

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MILOSLAVvonRANDA // WW Interweb

Handshakes

The 1987 film "Predator" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers contained within it what could be the manliest handshake of all time, and in 2007 it began gaining traction on YouTube. After multiple videos and fan art paying tribute to the handshake became pop in the following years, object labeling memes using the handshake as a background to agreements began to arise in 2018.

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Elon Musk

There have been several memes revolving around the tech entrepreneur Elon Musk throughout the years, peculiarly following his Twitter request for "dank memes" in Oct 2018. I of the most popular Musk memes uses an epitome of the billionaire smoking during a podcast interview.

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Mocking Spongebob

"Mocking Spongebob" uses an prototype from a 2012 episode of Spongebob Squarepants to make fun of some other person's opinion on the internet. The earliest uses of this meme came in 2017 on Twitter, speedily gaining traction and becoming i of the most popular (and effective) ways to insult someone online.

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Roll Rubber

In 2016 a British mockumentary starring thespian Kayode Ewumi chosen "Hood Documentary" was uploaded onto YouTube by BBC. Soon after, people on the net began using a screen-grabbed image of Ewumi pointing to his temple like he had a good idea to reversely joke near bad decisions and poor thinking.

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Kyle MacLachlan // Twitter

Thank u, side by side

When Ariana Grande released her unmarried "Thank U, Adjacent" almost her ex-boyfriends in early 2019, fans quickly began creating memes out of the lyrics. Aside from but using the title phrase to demonstrate being over something and moving on, the internet also used the lyrics to compare three things that taught them love, patience, and hurting to mimic the chorus.

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Let's get this bread

People on the cyberspace use the "Allow'south get this bread" meme ironically (unremarkably it is slang for earning coin) to make fun of people or themselves for trying too hard to earn money. In 2018 the meme exploded into everything from mockeries of the gluten-intolerant to references to Olive Garden.

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Surprised pikachu

A screen-grabbed paradigm of Pikachu looking surprised from an episode of "Pokemon" caught the attention of Twitter in late 2018. For the next few months, the paradigm blew up when people started using it every bit a meme for doing something with an obvious result.

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Warren Baker // The Blogging Bakery

Cavalier Willy Wonka

The meme uses an image of Cistron Wilder's 1971 Willy Wonka grapheme to say something patronizing or mock someone. Starting time used on Gizmodo and Tumblr as early equally 2011, the image has become a common condescending response online.

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Pink Diamond // Pinterest

Jason Momoa sneaking upward on Henry Cavill

Jason Momoa and Henry Cavill began a friendship while filming "Justice League" in 2016, and when a photo was taken of Momoa sneaking up on Cavill on the red carpeting the same year, information technology apace went viral. On the last 24-hour interval of 2017, a Facebook account posted a meme using the image, labeling Momoa as "2018." The meme gained popularity throughout the following months every bit people labeled the 2 equally different things creeping up on each other.

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Exhausted Spongebob

In yet another Spongebob Squarepants meme, "exhausted Spongebob" uses an image from a 1999 episode where the graphic symbol is leaning against a stone, naked and out of breath. Twitter began using the screengrab as an attachment to tweets around March 2018 almost existence tired.

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Classical art memes

There is a lot of unique classical art out there, and so of grade the internet has to detect the nearly hilarious and wacky pieces to turn into memes. While art-related videos and other online art parodies tin can be traced dorsum to 2004, the more recognizable memes gained popularity starting in 2013.

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World's most interesting man

Most people will recognize the "world's near interesting homo" (played past actor Jonathan Goldsmith) from the Dos Equis beer commercials that began in 2008. The meme commonly uses the image of Goldsmith equally a well-dressed gentleman with an adaptation of his catchphrase "I don't always X, but when I do, I Y" and began to gain popularity every bit early as 2010.

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Guy blinking nervously

One of the most popular memes of 2017, "guy blinking nervously" is normally used in GIF grade to demonstrate bafflement and being caught unaware. The GIF initially came from a clip of a video producer when his co-worker said something inappropriate accidentally.

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Difficult to swallow pills

The "difficult to eat pills" meme uses 2 stock photos from WikiHow that were beginning posted to the internet in August 2017. It didn't take long for a Redditor to photoshop the image of the pill bottle to read "hard to consume pills" and use it as a meme to illustrate a difficult truth.

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Who would win?

The internet has taken the babyhood game of "who would win" to a whole new level with this meme. Used to pose hypothetical battles between 2 opposing subjects, the "who would win" meme is said to have begun in 2014 when a 4chan user posted the meme using two video games every bit opponents.

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How I slumber knowing...

The classic rhetorical question "How do you slumber at night?" was the inspiration for this meme. The more modern rendition shows a motion-picture show of a person or animal sleeping soundly with different versions of the words: "How I sleep knowing..." This normally refers to something that well-nigh people experience guilty well-nigh or worry about (and therefore lose sleep over).

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Kardashians

Always since the testify "Keeping Upwards with the Kardashians" offset aired in 2007, people fell in dear with watching the family's antics. They take all been the subject of a huge number of memes, with some of the nigh popular ones using screen shots from the testify (usually of a meltdown or overreaction).

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"Today" days old

"Today days quondam" is used as a response to any random realization. Information technology first came from posts asking "How old were you when you realized Ten?" with someone responding: "I was today years old." This can be a fact both well-known or more obscure.

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Pepe

Pepe the frog is a fictional character that get-go appeared in a 2005 comic, and has gone through multiple transformations since then. Starting out as a positive meme known every bit "feel proficient frog" in 2008, Pepe was edited into a more than sad or aroused meme a few years later. By 2015, what was initially intended to symbolize a peaceful mode of life by the creative person became twisted by several hate groups causing the image to be added to the Anti-Defamation League's database of hate symbols in 2016.

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Crying Michael Jordan

Taken from an image of the famous athlete's emotional spoken language during his 2009 induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, this meme is usually used to convey a fan's disappointment when his detail team loses or performs poorly. The meme has been around since first actualization on MemeCrunch in 2012 and gained an official fan page on Tumblr in 2015. Hashemite kingdom of jordan has reportedly institute the unabridged fad pretty funny.

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*Slaps roof of car*

"Slaps roof of automobile" can be traced back to a 2014 tweet of a ridiculous car salesmen chat overheard and started blowing up in 2018 afterward being paired with an illustrated stock epitome of a auto salesman showing off a car. The meme has seen many photoshopped variations, but unremarkably utilizes the phrase "This bad boy can fit then much X in it."

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Awkward fiddling daughter

Also known equally "Side Eyeing Chloe," this meme can be used in pretty much any awkward situation. The original photo came from a video of a lilliputian girl giving an unimpressed and hesitant wait after beingness told about a surprise trip to Disneyland in 2013.

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Krusty Krab vs. Chum Saucepan

Just almost every "Spongebob Squarepants" fan knows nearly the intense rivalry between the Krusty Krab and the Chum Saucepan restaurants, but the former commonly reigns supreme. The meme uses photoshopped images of both cartoon restaurants in order to project 2 rivals, such every bit sports teams and TV shows.

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Havokimin // College Humour

Elf on the shelf rhyming

The "Elf on the Shelf" tradition began when parents would put an elf doll in the drapery during the holiday season and tell their children that it was watching them be naughty or overnice. Toward the end of 2017, it became popular to post images of funny things that rhyme sitting on summit of other things that rhyme using the phrase "You lot've heard of elf on the shelf, now get ready for X."

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One does not simply...

Fans of "Lord of the Rings" won't need an caption for this meme. Actor Sean Bean played Boromir in the movies, and one of his famous lines, "One does not merely walk into Mordor," became the inspiration for a meme that plays on the phrase. Bean himself even admitted to seeing a big influx of the memes online during a 2015 interview.

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I am a man/woman looking for....

Afterward a 2017 tweet that posed a questionnaire using the classic dating template "I am a man/woman looking for a man/woman" about Carly Rae Jepsen, a meme was born. Since then, it has get pop to utilize the format to make funny declarations.

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Success kid

One of the nigh popular memes of all time, "success kid" uses a 2007 photograph taken of a trivial boy with a clenched fist and determined expression. It is almost e'er used to display minor successful moments or "wins" that happen to someone throughout a normal day like getting an extra chicken nugget in a fast-food meal.

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OverlyAttachedGirlfriend.com

Overly attached girlfriend

"Overly fastened girlfriend" began in 2012 when a Redditor took a screenshot of an image he establish comical from a video of a girl singing a rendition of Justin Bieber's song "Boyfriend." It rapidly began making its rounds on the net, using captions portraying her equally a stereotypical overly fastened girlfriend.

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Donald Trump yelling at lawnmower boy

The internet just couldn't assistance itself after images surfaced of a petty boy mowing the backyard at the White House completely ignoring Trump. The kid was evidently so focused on the chore that he didn't find Trump when he came out to greet him, forcing Trump to yell loudly over the sound of the lawnmower and making for some dandy meme fuel.

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Left exit 12

The "Left exit 12" meme uses a series of screen grabs from a 2013 YouTube video showing a machine globe-trotting dangerously into an exit ramp. People began photoshopping the get out sign (get out 12) to say comical things that one might swerve off the highway in order to get to.

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