50 famous memes and what they mean

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

Memes have ever come up with an air of mystery, intriguing and disruptive even the virtually computer literate. Where did they come from? More importantly, what do they mean? Even mod scientific discipline is hopping on the meme train. A squad of scientific researchers from University College London, Republic of cyprus Academy of Technology, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and King'south Higher London came together in September 2018 to research the net'south most popular memes. Autonomously from assembling a definitive list of the world's favorite memes, the academic report also explored the influences (both positive and negative) that memes have on dissimilar communities. Some memes are created just for fun past creative 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 net, information technology's hard to keep rail. Just when y'all've grasped the meaning of one hilarious meme, it has already become old news and replaced by something equally as enigmatic. Online forums similar Tumblr, Twitter, 4chan, and Reddit are responsible for a bulk of meme infections, and with the abiding posting and sharing, finding the source of an original meme is easier said than washed. Stacker hunted through net resource, pop culture publications, and databases similar Know Your Meme to detect fifty different memes and what they mean. While the well-nigh self-replicating nature of these vague symbols can get exhausting, memes in their essence can also bring people closer together—equally long as they have internet access.

Yous might as well like: What "woke" and 50 other millennial sayings mean

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Danganronpamemer // imgflp

Expanding brain

In 2017, when a number of posters on Tumblr and 4chan started bragging near their brain 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 starting time 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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Young Thug at calculator

Back in 2018 a photo surfaced of the rappers Young Thug and Lil Durk staring at a computer screen while working on new music in the studio. The cyberspace apace 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 one-time school games similar minesweeper.

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Showtime Globe problems

While the "Offset World" terminology has been around for a while, the hashtag #firstworldproblems reached its acme in popularity on Twitter in 2011 afterwards Buzzfeed posted a series of memes near bug experienced by privileged people from wealthy countries. The meme almost always depicts an attractive person looking sad, with a explanation explaining his or her First World frustrations.

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Change my mind

After Steven Crowder, a conservative podcaster, posted a photograph of himself in 2018 sitting at a desk with a sign saying "Male privilege is a myth: Alter my mind," it was almost too easy for the cyberspace to begin making fun of him with memes of their own. Memes ranged from simply irresolute 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 one of the biggest songs of the year, and when the music video came out featuring Drake dancing in a brightly lit cube structure the memes began to accumulate fifty-fifty more than. Since and so the net has memed everything from his Twitter posts to school portraits.

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Is this a...?

The "is this a pigeon" meme starting time rose to popularity in 2011 after Tumblr posted a photograph from a Japanese blithe prove of an android mistaking a butterfly for a pigeon. Almost of the memes derived from the photo utilize the subjects to express modern confusions or paranoia.

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Real name Google searches

"Real proper noun Google searches" is a meme that gained popularity in 2018 using the generic google template to depict made-up names for popular celebrities (usually those who go by aliases). According to Know Your Meme, information technology start appeared showing the rapper Lil Pump'southward name as "Lilliam Pumpernickel" and only got more ridiculous from there.

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Futurama Fry

"Futurama Fry" is ane of the most relatable memes on the web. I popular meme, which began in 2011, shows the character Fry from the animated prove "Futurama" with optics narrowed thinking virtually contradicting questions usually referring to modern times or sarcasm. Some other is a generic photograph with the same character holding cash yelling "close up and accept my money," used for when someone finds the description of a product on the internet specially appealing.

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Weird flex but OK

The phrase "weird flex but OK" is used when someone brags almost something that others would find awkward or just obviously irrelevant. The phrase began showing up on the internet in 2017 and has continued to be used in response to bad-mannered boasts. 1 of the most popular uses of the meme was during the recent Brett Kavanaugh hearings after 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 called "On Burn," this image showing a human-like dog enjoying his coffee while his house is burning downward has seemingly go more 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 amanuensis

Jokes about "big brother watching" are erstwhile, only in early 2018 the net was more paranoid than e'er before thank you to the internet-fueled idea of FBI agents watching people through their webcams. The memes aren't ever critical, either; most of them describe the agents either protecting or being friendly with their subjects.

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Kermit

The iconic green boob has stolen the hearts of millions on the "Muppet Show" since the 1950s, but the internet meme sensation didn't brainstorm until 2014. Near notable memes include Kermit sipping on some tea with passive aggressive text followed by "but that's none of my business," as well every bit some other with a hooded Kermit formatted to show good vs. evil thoughts.

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Cats

From "I need dis" to "Nyan Cat," there really isn't one discipline that emcompasses the internet'southward honey of memes improve than cats. Since the early 2000s when "Keyboard Cat" kickoff made an appearance on YouTube, people accept been posting funny images of felines paired with hilarious text.

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Squinting woman

As well known as the "squat and squint" meme, the photograph showing a squinting woman staring at something in the distance actually came from an outtake of a Instagram shot that went viral in March 2018. Since then, the picture has been applied to whatever circumstance that the affiche finds unbelievable.

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A Star is Born

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

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AndreDThompson // Twitter

Angry Patrick

Also known every bit "evil Patrick" or "roughshod Patrick," this meme takes a still of the character Patrick from "Spongebob Squarepants" with a menacing look in his optics from a 1999 episode. Twitter got a agree of it around Feb 2018 and started using the prototype along with an explanation of bad beliefs or motives.

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PaulFaire/TheThings // TheThings.com

Past historic period 35...

Following a 2018 MarketWatch commodity that implied an unrealistic amount of savings ane should have in their 30s, people on Twitter began responding to the article by sharing all the other things you should ideally have by age 35 (from the hilariously truthful to the ridiculous). Advice on avocado toast, Pokemon, and drawers full of miscellaneous chargers followed.

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Don't say it

The "don't say it" meme details the relatable conversations people have between themselves and their brains, from bringing up bad-mannered conversations topics to resisting "that's what she said" jokes. The outset tweet with the meme showed up in 2010, simply after resurfaced in 2017 and showed an inner struggle between whether or not to first a conversation with a taxi driver.

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MILOSLAVvonRANDA // WW Interweb

Handshakes

The 1987 movie "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. Afterward multiple videos and fan art paying tribute to the handshake became pop in the post-obit years, object labeling memes using the handshake as a background to agreements began to arise in 2018.

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Elon Musk

There take been several memes revolving around the tech entrepreneur Elon Musk throughout the years, especially following his Twitter asking for "dank memes" in Oct 2018. One of the about pop Musk memes uses an image of the billionaire smoking during a podcast interview.

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Mocking Spongebob

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

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Roll Safety

In 2016 a British mockumentary starring thespian Kayode Ewumi called "Hood Documentary" was uploaded onto YouTube past BBC. Soon afterwards, people on the cyberspace began using a screen-grabbed prototype of Ewumi pointing to his temple like he had a expert thought to reversely joke nearly bad decisions and poor thinking.

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Kyle MacLachlan // Twitter

Give thanks u, next

When Ariana Grande released her single "Give thanks U, Next" nearly her ex-boyfriends in early 2019, fans quickly began creating memes out of the lyrics. Aside from just using the title phrase to demonstrate beingness over something and moving on, the net too used the lyrics to compare three things that taught them love, patience, and pain to mimic the chorus.

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Let's go this bread

People on the internet utilise the "Let'south get this staff of life" meme ironically (unremarkably it is slang for earning money) 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 prototype of Pikachu looking surprised from an episode of "Pokemon" caught the attention of Twitter in belatedly 2018. For the next few months, the image blew upwards when people started using it as a meme for doing something with an obvious upshot.

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Warren Baker // The Blogging Baker

Condescending Willy Wonka

The meme uses an prototype of Gene Wilder's 1971 Willy Wonka character to say something patronizing or mock someone. First used on Gizmodo and Tumblr as early on as 2011, the image has get a common condescending response online.

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Pink Diamond // Pinterest

Jason Momoa sneaking up 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 upward on Cavill on the crimson carpet the aforementioned yr, it chop-chop went viral. On the last day of 2017, a Facebook account posted a meme using the image, labeling Momoa equally "2018." The meme gained popularity throughout the post-obit months every bit people labeled the 2 every bit different things creeping up on each other.

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Exhausted Spongebob

In yet another Spongebob Squarepants meme, "exhausted Spongebob" uses an prototype from a 1999 episode where the character is leaning confronting a rock, naked and out of breath. Twitter began using the screengrab equally an zipper to tweets around March 2018 about being tired.

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Classical art memes

There is a lot of unique classical art out in that location, and so of grade the cyberspace has to find the most hilarious and wacky pieces to turn into memes. While fine art-related videos and other online fine art parodies tin be traced back to 2004, the more than recognizable memes gained popularity starting in 2013.

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Globe's most interesting man

Virtually people will recognize the "world's most interesting man" (played by thespian Jonathan Goldsmith) from the Dos Equis beer commercials that began in 2008. The meme normally uses the image of Goldsmith as a well-dressed gentleman with an adaptation of his catchphrase "I don't always X, simply when I do, I Y" and began to proceeds popularity as early as 2010.

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Guy blinking nervously

One of the most popular memes of 2017, "guy blinking nervously" is usually used in GIF form to demonstrate bafflement and existence 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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Hard to swallow pills

The "hard to swallow pills" meme uses ii stock photos from WikiHow that were first posted to the internet in August 2017. It didn't have long for a Redditor to photoshop the prototype of the pill canteen to read "difficult to eat pills" and utilise it equally a meme to illustrate a difficult truth.

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Who would win?

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

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How I slumber knowing...

The classic rhetorical question "How do you sleep at nighttime?" was the inspiration for this meme. The more than mod rendition shows a picture of a person or creature sleeping soundly with unlike versions of the words: "How I sleep knowing..." This usually refers to something that most people feel guilty about or worry about (and therefore lose sleep over).

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Kardashians

Ever since the testify "Keeping Upwardly with the Kardashians" first aired in 2007, people fell in love with watching the family unit'south antics. They accept all been the subject of a huge number of memes, with some of the well-nigh pop ones using screen shots from the show (usually of a meltdown or overreaction).

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"Today" days old

"Today days old" is used every bit a response to any random realization. It first came from posts asking "How old were you when you lot realized 10?" with someone responding: "I was today years quondam." This can be a fact both well-known or more obscure.

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Pepe

Pepe the frog is a fictional character that offset appeared in a 2005 comic, and has gone through multiple transformations since so. Starting out as a positive meme known as "feel good frog" in 2008, Pepe was edited into a more sad or angry meme a few years later. Past 2015, what was initially intended to symbolize a peaceful way of life by the artist 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 Hashemite kingdom of jordan

Taken from an paradigm of the famous athlete'southward emotional speech communication during his 2009 induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, this meme is ordinarily used to convey a fan's thwarting when his particular team loses or performs poorly. The meme has been around since commencement actualization on MemeCrunch in 2012 and gained an official fan page on Tumblr in 2015. Jordan has reportedly constitute the entire fad pretty funny.

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*Slaps roof of machine*

"Slaps roof of automobile" can be traced back to a 2014 tweet of a ridiculous car salesmen conversation overheard and started blowing up in 2018 afterward existence paired with an illustrated stock image of a car salesman showing off a car. The meme has seen many photoshopped variations, but usually utilizes the phrase "This bad boy tin can fit then much 10 in information technology."

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Bad-mannered trivial girl

Too known as "Side Eyeing Chloe," this meme tin can be used in pretty much any awkward situation. The original photo came from a video of a little girl giving an unimpressed and hesitant look later being told about a surprise trip to Disneyland in 2013.

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Krusty Krab vs. Chum Bucket

Just about every "Spongebob Squarepants" fan knows nigh the intense rivalry between the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket restaurants, only the former usually reigns supreme. The meme uses photoshopped images of both drawing restaurants in order to project two rivals, such equally sports teams and TV shows.

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Havokimin // Higher Humor

Elf on the shelf rhyming

The "Elf on the Shelf" tradition began when parents would put an elf doll in the mantle during the holiday flavour and tell their children that it was watching them exist naughty or prissy. Toward the end of 2017, it became pop to mail images of funny things that rhyme sitting on top of other things that rhyme using the phrase "You'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 explanation for this meme. Thespian Sean Bean played Boromir in the movies, and i 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....

After a 2017 tweet that posed a questionnaire using the classic dating template "I am a man/woman looking for a man/adult female" nearly Carly Rae Jepsen, a meme was born. Since then, it has become popular to use the format to brand funny declarations.

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Success kid

Ane of the most pop memes of all time, "success kid" uses a 2007 photo taken of a piddling boy with a clenched fist and determined expression. It is almost always used to display small-scale successful moments or "wins" that happen to someone throughout a normal twenty-four hour period like getting an extra chicken nugget in a fast-nutrient repast.

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OverlyAttachedGirlfriend.com

Overly attached girlfriend

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

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Donald Trump yelling at lawnmower boy

The cyberspace just couldn't assist itself after images surfaced of a little male child mowing the lawn at the White House completely ignoring Trump. The kid was patently and then focused on the job that he didn't detect Trump when he came out to greet him, forcing Trump to yell loudly over the sound of the lawnmower and making for some great meme fuel.

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Left exit 12

The "Left exit 12" meme uses a serial of screen grabs from a 2013 YouTube video showing a car drifting dangerously into an exit ramp. People began photoshopping the exit sign (exit 12) to say comical things that one might swerve off the highway in lodge to get to.

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