50 famous memes and what they mean

Merriam-Webster defines "meme" equally "an idea, beliefs, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture" or "an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned motion-picture show or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online particularly through social media." That definition hasn't been around forever—information technology hasn't even 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 always come up with an air of mystery, intriguing and disruptive fifty-fifty the near calculator literate. Where did they come up from? More importantly, what do they hateful? Even modernistic science is hopping on the meme train. A team of scientific researchers from Academy College London, Cyprus University of Technology, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and King's College London came together in September 2018 to research the internet'south well-nigh popular memes. Apart from assembling a definitive listing of the globe'south favorite memes, the academic study also explored the influences (both positive and negative) that memes have on different communities. Some memes are created just for fun by creative or bored cyberspace users, but others are made with the explicit intention of going viral to promote political ideas.

With the space number of memes scattered across the cyberspace, information technology'south hard to keep runway. Only when you've grasped the meaning of one hilarious meme, information technology has already get old news and replaced by something equally equally enigmatic. Online forums similar 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 cyberspace resources, popular culture publications, and databases like Know Your Meme to discover fifty unlike memes and what they mean. While the almost self-replicating nature of these vague symbols tin can become exhausting, memes in their essence tin can as well bring people closer together—equally long every bit they have internet access.

You might also 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 brain sizes, it quickly turned into a meme. Photos of dissimilar sized brains are paired with "smart" sounding words until they aggrandize into a fully aware stage. 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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Young Thug at computer

Back in 2018 a photograph surfaced of the rappers Young 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 two were so intently concentrating on, everything from the rappers planning an elaborate heist to playing old school games like minesweeper.

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Starting time Earth issues

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

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Change my heed

After Steven Crowder, a conservative podcaster, posted a photo of himself in 2018 sitting at a desk-bound with a sign proverb "Male privilege is a myth: Change my heed," information technology was most besides 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 subject of several unlike memes throughout his long career. His 2015 unmarried "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 accrue 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 beginning rose to popularity in 2011 later Tumblr posted a photo from a Japanese blithe testify of an android mistaking a butterfly for a pigeon. Virtually of the memes derived from the photograph employ 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 describe made-up names for popular celebrities (commonly those who go past aliases). According to Know Your Meme, it first appeared showing the rapper Lil Pump'south proper name as "Lilliam Pumpernickel" and only got more than ridiculous from at that place.

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Futurama Fry

"Futurama Fry" is one of the almost relatable memes on the web. One popular meme, which began in 2011, shows the graphic symbol Fry from the blithe evidence "Futurama" with eyes narrowed thinking nigh contradicting questions usually referring to mod times or sarcasm. Another is a generic photo with the aforementioned grapheme belongings cash yelling "close upwards and take my money," used for when someone finds the description of a production on the internet especially 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 bad-mannered or but plain irrelevant. The phrase began showing up on the internet in 2017 and has connected to be used in response to bad-mannered boasts. Ane of the well-nigh popular uses of the meme was during the recent Brett Kavanaugh hearings after he used his high school virginity as an argument.

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Evieliam // Wikimedia Commons

This is fine

Taken out of a 2013 webcomic strip called "On Fire," this paradigm showing a human-like dog enjoying his coffee while his house is burning down has seemingly become more and more relatable every year. The prototype 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 "large brother watching" are erstwhile, but in early 2018 the net was more paranoid than ever earlier thank you to the internet-fueled thought of FBI agents watching people through their webcams. The memes aren't ever critical, either; most of them depict the agents either protecting or being friendly with their subjects.

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Kermit

The iconic green puppet has stolen the hearts of millions on the "Muppet Show" since the 1950s, but the internet meme awareness didn't brainstorm until 2014. Most notable memes include Kermit sipping on some tea with passive aggressive text followed past "but that's none of my business organization," as well every bit another with a hooded Kermit formatted to bear witness 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 meliorate than cats. Since the early 2000s when "Keyboard Cat" commencement made an appearance on YouTube, people have been posting funny images of felines paired with hilarious text.

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Squinting woman

Also known as the "squat and squint" meme, the photo showing a squinting adult female staring at something in the distance actually came from an outtake of a Instagram shot that went viral in March 2018. Since then, the motion-picture show 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 made them into memes. The most popular ones came from funny adaptations of Cooper'south line "I just wanted to accept some other look at you" and Gaga'south 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 character Patrick from "Spongebob Squarepants" with a menacing look in his eyes from a 1999 episode. Twitter got a hold of it effectually February 2018 and started using the image along with an explanation of bad behavior or motives.

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PaulFaire/TheThings // TheThings.com

By age 35...

Following a 2018 MarketWatch article 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). Advice on avocado toast, Pokemon, and drawers full of miscellaneous chargers followed.

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Don't say it

The "don't say information technology" meme details the relatable conversations people have between themselves and their brains, from bringing up awkward conversations topics to resisting "that's what she said" jokes. The outset tweet with the meme showed up in 2010, just later resurfaced in 2017 and showed an inner struggle between whether or non to starting time a conversation with a taxi driver.

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MILOSLAVvonRANDA // WW Interweb

Handshakes

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

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Elon Musk

There have been several memes revolving around the tech entrepreneur Elon Musk throughout the years, especially post-obit his Twitter asking for "dank memes" in Oct 2018. Ane of the most popular Musk memes uses an paradigm 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 another person'due south opinion on the internet. The primeval uses of this meme came in 2017 on Twitter, quickly gaining traction and becoming one of the almost popular (and effective) means 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. Soon after, people on the internet began using a screen-grabbed image of Ewumi pointing to his temple like he had a adept idea to reversely joke nigh bad decisions and poor thinking.

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Kyle MacLachlan // Twitter

Thank u, next

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

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Permit'due south become this bread

People on the cyberspace utilise the "Permit's go this bread" meme ironically (usually it is slang for earning money) to make fun of people or themselves for trying likewise 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 image of Pikachu looking surprised from an episode of "Pokemon" caught the attention of Twitter in tardily 2018. For the next few months, the image blew upwardly when people started using it as a meme for doing something with an obvious outcome.

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Warren Baker // The Blogging Baker

Condescending Willy Wonka

The meme uses an image of Gene Wilder's 1971 Willy Wonka character to say something patronizing or mock someone. Showtime used on Gizmodo and Tumblr as early every bit 2011, the epitome has become a mutual 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 red carpet the aforementioned yr, information technology quickly went viral. On the terminal day of 2017, a Facebook account posted a meme using the image, labeling Momoa every bit "2018." The meme gained popularity throughout the following months as people labeled the two as 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 character is leaning against a stone, naked and out of breath. Twitter began using the screengrab every bit an attachment to tweets effectually March 2018 near being tired.

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Classical art memes

There is a lot of unique classical art out there, so of course the internet has to find the about 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's most interesting man

Most people volition recognize the "world'southward near interesting human" (played past actor Jonathan Goldsmith) from the Dos Equis beer commercials that began in 2008. The meme ordinarily uses the prototype of Goldsmith as a well-dressed gentleman with an adaptation of his catchphrase "I don't always 10, merely when I practice, I Y" and began to gain popularity equally early as 2010.

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Guy blinking nervously

I of the most popular memes of 2017, "guy blinking nervously" is usually used in GIF class to demonstrate bafflement and being defenseless 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 "hard to swallow pills" meme uses two stock photos from WikiHow that were first posted to the net in Baronial 2017. It didn't take long for a Redditor to photoshop the image of the pill canteen to read "difficult to swallow pills" and employ it as a meme to illustrate a hard 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 have begun in 2014 when a 4chan user posted the meme using two video games as opponents.

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How I sleep knowing...

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

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Kardashians

Ever since the show "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" commencement aired in 2007, people barbarous in beloved with watching the family unit'south antics. They have all been the field of study of a huge number of memes, with some of the most popular ones using screen shots from the show (ordinarily of a meltdown or overreaction).

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"Today" days erstwhile

"Today days old" is used every bit a response to whatsoever random realization. Information technology first came from posts request "How old were yous when you realized Ten?" with someone responding: "I was today years old." This can exist 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 and then. Starting out as a positive meme known every bit "feel good frog" in 2008, Pepe was edited into a more distressing or angry meme a few years afterward. By 2015, what was initially intended to symbolize a peaceful fashion of life by the artist became twisted by several detest groups causing the paradigm 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 communication during his 2009 induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, this meme is usually used to convey a fan's disappointment when his particular squad 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 found the entire fad pretty funny.

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*Slaps roof of automobile*

"Slaps roof of motorcar" tin exist traced back to a 2014 tweet of a ridiculous car salesmen conversation overheard and started bravado upwards in 2018 subsequently being paired with an illustrated stock image of a car salesman showing off a machine. The meme has seen many photoshopped variations, just ordinarily utilizes the phrase "This bad boy can fit and so much Ten in it."

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Awkward little daughter

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

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Krusty Krab vs. Chum Bucket

Only virtually every "Spongebob Squarepants" fan knows nearly the intense rivalry between the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket restaurants, but the quondam usually reigns supreme. The meme uses photoshopped images of both drawing restaurants in order to project 2 rivals, such as sports teams and Television receiver 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 drape during the vacation season and tell their children that it was watching them be naughty or dainty. Toward the terminate of 2017, it became popular to post 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 fix for Ten."

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One does not only...

Fans of "Lord of the Rings" won't need an caption for this meme. Thespian 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. 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/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/woman" about Carly Rae Jepsen, a meme was born. Since and so, it has become pop to use the format to make funny declarations.

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Success kid

One of the virtually pop memes of all time, "success kid" uses a 2007 photo taken of a little boy with a clenched fist and determined expression. It is well-nigh e'er used to brandish minor successful moments or "wins" that happen to someone throughout a normal twenty-four hour period similar getting an extra 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'southward song "Boyfriend." It chop-chop 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 just couldn't help itself after images surfaced of a lilliputian boy mowing the backyard at the White House completely ignoring Trump. The kid was apparently so focused on the task that he didn't notice 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 go out 12

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

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