fifty famous memes and what they hateful

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

Memes have always come with an air of mystery, intriguing and confusing fifty-fifty the nigh computer literate. Where did they come from? More importantly, what do they mean? Fifty-fifty mod science is hopping on the meme train. A team of scientific researchers from University College London, Republic of cyprus University of Technology, the Academy of Alabama at Birmingham, and Male monarch's College London came together in September 2018 to research the internet'southward most popular memes. Autonomously from assembling a definitive list of the world's favorite memes, the academic written report also explored the influences (both positive and negative) that memes have on unlike communities. Some memes are created merely 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 difficult to proceed rail. Simply when you've grasped the meaning of i hilarious meme, it has already become onetime news and replaced by something equally equally enigmatic. Online forums like Tumblr, Twitter, 4chan, and Reddit are responsible for a bulk 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 cyberspace resources, pop civilisation publications, and databases like Know Your Meme to discover l different memes and what they mean. While the almost self-replicating nature of these vague symbols can get exhausting, memes in their essence can also bring people closer together—as long every bit they have internet access.

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Danganronpamemer // imgflp

Expanding encephalon

In 2017, when a number of posters on Tumblr and 4chan started bragging about their brain sizes, it chop-chop turned into a meme. Photos of dissimilar sized brains are paired with "smart" sounding words until they expand into a fully enlightened stage. One of the kickoff 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 computer

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

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Outset World problems

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

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Change my listen

Subsequently Steven Crowder, a bourgeois podcaster, posted a photograph of himself in 2018 sitting at a desk with a sign maxim "Male privilege is a myth: Change my mind," it was almost as well easy 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 field of study of several different memes throughout his long career. His 2015 unmarried "Hotline Bling" was ane 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 than. Since then 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 outset rose to popularity in 2011 after Tumblr posted a photo from a Japanese animated prove of an android mistaking a butterfly for a pigeon. Well-nigh of the memes derived from the photo use the subjects to express modernistic confusions or paranoia.

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Real name Google searches

"Existent proper name 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). Co-ordinate to Know Your Meme, it start appeared showing the rapper Lil Pump's name every bit "Lilliam Pumpernickel" and only got more than ridiculous from at that place.

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Futurama Fry

"Futurama Fry" is one of the virtually relatable memes on the web. One popular meme, which began in 2011, shows the grapheme Fry from the animated show "Futurama" with eyes narrowed thinking well-nigh contradicting questions usually referring to modern times or sarcasm. Another is a generic photograph with the aforementioned character holding cash yelling "shut upward and have my coin," used for when someone finds the description of a product on the net 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 detect bad-mannered or just plain irrelevant. The phrase began showing upward on the net in 2017 and has continued to be used in response to awkward boasts. One of the nigh popular uses of the meme was during the contempo Brett Kavanaugh hearings after he used his high schoolhouse virginity as an statement.

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Evieliam // Wikimedia Commons

This is fine

Taken out of a 2013 webcomic strip called "On Fire," this image showing a human-like dog enjoying his java while his business firm is burning down has seemingly become more and more than relatable every year. The image is rarely contradistinct, just fastened to troubling or hard-to-grasp news.

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Unsplash / Bence Boros and Twitter / @joshwillhall

FBI agent

Jokes about "big brother watching" are old, but in early 2018 the internet was more than paranoid than ever before cheers to the internet-fueled idea of FBI agents watching people through their webcams. The memes aren't always critical, either; nigh of them draw the agents either protecting or beingness friendly with their subjects.

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Kermit

The iconic greenish puppet has stolen the hearts of millions on the "Muppet Testify" since the 1950s, merely the internet meme sensation didn't begin until 2014. Almost notable memes include Kermit sipping on some tea with passive aggressive text followed by "just that's none of my business," as well as another with a hooded Kermit formatted to show good vs. evil thoughts.

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Cats

From "I demand dis" to "Nyan Cat," there actually isn't one subject that emcompasses the internet's love of memes better than cats. Since the early 2000s when "Keyboard Cat" offset made an advent on YouTube, people have been posting funny images of felines paired with hilarious text.

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Squinting woman

Also known equally 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 Born

When the first trailer for the highly predictable movie starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga came out in 2018, excited fans took screenshots and fabricated them into memes. The virtually popular ones came from funny adaptations of Cooper's line "I simply wanted to have another wait at yous" and Gaga's belted solo from the song "Shallow."

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AndreDThompson // Twitter

Aroused Patrick

Also known as "evil Patrick" or "savage Patrick," this meme takes a still of the character Patrick from "Spongebob Squarepants" with a menacing look in his eyes from a 1999 episode. Twitter got a concord of it effectually February 2018 and started using the paradigm forth with an explanation of bad behavior or motives.

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PaulFaire/TheThings // TheThings.com

By historic period 35...

Following a 2018 MarketWatch commodity that implied an unrealistic amount of savings one should have in their 30s, people on Twitter began responding to the article by sharing all the other things you should ideally have past age 35 (from the hilariously true to the ridiculous). Communication 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 take between themselves and their brains, from bringing upward awkward conversations topics to resisting "that's what she said" jokes. The first tweet with the meme showed upward in 2010, merely after resurfaced in 2017 and showed an inner struggle between whether or non to kickoff a chat with a taxi driver.

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MILOSLAVvonRANDA // WW Interweb

Handshakes

The 1987 picture show "Predator" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers contained inside it what could be the manliest handshake of all fourth dimension, and in 2007 it began gaining traction on YouTube. Afterwards multiple videos and fan art paying tribute to the handshake became popular in the following years, object labeling memes using the handshake every bit a background to agreements began to arise in 2018.

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Elon Musk

At that place accept been several memes revolving effectually the tech entrepreneur Elon Musk throughout the years, particularly following his Twitter request for "dank memes" in October 2018. One of the well-nigh pop 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 another person's opinion on the internet. The earliest uses of this meme came in 2017 on Twitter, quickly gaining traction and becoming one of the about popular (and effective) ways to insult someone online.

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Coil Safe

In 2016 a British mockumentary starring actor Kayode Ewumi called "Hood Documentary" was uploaded onto YouTube by BBC. Before long afterwards, people on the internet began using a screen-grabbed epitome of Ewumi pointing to his temple like he had a good idea to reversely joke about bad decisions and poor thinking.

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Kyle MacLachlan // Twitter

Thank u, next

When Ariana Grande released her single "Give thanks U, Adjacent" about her ex-boyfriends in early 2019, fans quickly began creating memes out of the lyrics. Bated from just using the title phrase to demonstrate being over something and moving on, the internet too used the lyrics to compare 3 things that taught them love, patience, and pain to mimic the chorus.

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Let'due south go this staff of life

People on the internet employ the "Let's get this bread" meme ironically (unremarkably information technology is slang for earning money) to make fun of people or themselves for trying as well hard to earn coin. 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 late 2018. For the side by side few months, the image blew up when people started using it as a meme for doing something with an obvious issue.

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Warren Bakery // The Blogging Baker

Cavalier Willy Wonka

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

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Pinkish 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 red carpet the same year, it apace went viral. On the last day of 2017, a Facebook business relationship posted a meme using the paradigm, labeling Momoa every bit "2018." The meme gained popularity throughout the post-obit months every bit people labeled the two as different things creeping up on each other.

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Exhausted Spongebob

In still some other Spongebob Squarepants meme, "exhausted Spongebob" uses an epitome from a 1999 episode where the character is leaning confronting a rock, naked and out of breath. Twitter began using the screengrab as an attachment to tweets around March 2018 about being tired.

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Classical fine art memes

In that location is a lot of unique classical art out there, and then of course the internet has to notice the most hilarious and wacky pieces to turn into memes. While art-related videos and other online art parodies can be traced back to 2004, the more recognizable memes gained popularity starting in 2013.

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World'southward most interesting man

Most people will recognize the "world's virtually interesting human" (played past player Jonathan Goldsmith) from the Dos Equis beer commercials that began in 2008. The meme normally uses the image of Goldsmith as a well-dressed admirer with an adaptation of his catchphrase "I don't always Ten, but when I do, I Y" and began to gain popularity as early as 2010.

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Guy blinking nervously

Ane of the about popular memes of 2017, "guy blinking nervously" is usually used in GIF form to demonstrate bafflement and beingness 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 eat pills

The "difficult to swallow pills" meme uses two 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 canteen to read "hard to swallow pills" and use it as a meme to illustrate a hard 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 two 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 as opponents.

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How I slumber knowing...

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

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Kardashians

Ever since the show "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" commencement aired in 2007, people cruel in love with watching the family's antics. They have all been the subject of a huge number of memes, with some of the most pop ones using screen shots from the show (usually of a meltdown or overreaction).

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"Today" days onetime

"Today days old" is used as a response to whatsoever random realization. It beginning came from posts asking "How old were you when you realized X?" 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 first appeared in a 2005 comic, and has gone through multiple transformations since then. Starting out as a positive meme known as "feel expert frog" in 2008, Pepe was edited into a more than sad or angry meme a few years after. By 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 Jordan

Taken from an prototype of the famous athlete's emotional speech communication during his 2009 induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, this meme is usually used to convey a fan'southward thwarting when his particular 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. Jordan has reportedly institute the unabridged fad pretty funny.

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*Slaps roof of car*

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

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Awkward little girl

As well known as "Side Eyeing Chloe," this meme can be used in pretty much whatsoever bad-mannered situation. The original photo came from a video of a little daughter giving an unimpressed and hesitant look later on being told near a surprise trip to Disneyland in 2013.

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Krusty Krab vs. Chum Bucket

Just about every "Spongebob Squarepants" fan knows most the intense rivalry betwixt the Krusty Krab and the Chum Saucepan restaurants, but the sometime usually reigns supreme. The meme uses photoshopped images of both cartoon restaurants in order to project ii rivals, such as sports teams and Boob tube shows.

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Havokimin // College Sense of 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 vacation season and tell their children that it was watching them be naughty or dainty. Toward the terminate of 2017, it became pop to mail service images of funny things that rhyme sitting on acme of other things that rhyme using the phrase "You've heard of elf on the shelf, now get set up for 10."

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Ane does not simply...

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

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I am a human being/adult female looking for....

Subsequently a 2017 tweet that posed a questionnaire using the archetype dating template "I am a man/woman looking for a homo/woman" about Carly Rae Jepsen, a meme was built-in. Since then, it has go pop to use the format to make funny declarations.

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Success child

One of the most popular memes of all time, "success kid" uses a 2007 photograph taken of a footling boy with a clenched fist and adamant expression. Information technology is well-nigh e'er used to display pocket-size successful moments or "wins" that happen to someone throughout a normal twenty-four hours like getting an actress craven nugget in a fast-food meal.

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OverlyAttachedGirlfriend.com

Overly attached girlfriend

"Overly attached girlfriend" began in 2012 when a Redditor took a screenshot of an prototype he found comical from a video of a girl singing a rendition of Justin Bieber's song "Young man." It apace began making its rounds on the internet, using captions portraying her as a stereotypical overly attached girlfriend.

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Donald Trump yelling at lawnmower boy

The internet but couldn't help itself after images surfaced of a little boy mowing the backyard at the White House completely ignoring Trump. The kid was apparently so focused on the task 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 corking meme fuel.

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Left leave 12

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

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