Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Entry 3: The future of language with Internet Memes.

Do you know what an Internet meme is? It's effect on our imagination and communication in the real world? Did you know that the ever popular kitty cat site " ICanHasCheezburger" is an Internet meme promoting bad spellings for funny effects of personified cute cats talking to us? (Wouldn't this just murder my English teachers mind if I were still in primary school?!)

We know with the Internet we have a vast network and access to almost everything at our fingertips. We share and learn new words, lingos and what nots that other people deem as cool and gets spread all around and somehow becomes universal. School teachers obviously hate SMS language in their pupil's compositions and essays with all the "V went 2 d park 2day" and the "4eva" and "LoL". How would they feel if they get memes drawn on their essay sheets? I would love to see the reaction though at the expense of the pupil's grade ( :P)


So what are these Internet memes?

Internet memes may seem like nonsense, a complete waste of time. That they’re something for people with nothing to do but to surf the net all day. But in actuality, these internet memes are big business. They shape popular culture, change the way we live our lives, and continually evolve with modern society today. (here's a good read on them )

It is becoming one of the world's cultural phenomenon described as a virus travelling from one person to the next and breathing life on it s own.
The term was coined by Richard Dawkins. It is pronounced as /mi:m/

Usually memes are meant to be funny- poking fun at society, people -especially famous ones, urban legends, etc and is affecting the entire population of the Internets perception of language, world view and such.

Most common on a popular meme site called 9GAG, they popularize the "You're never alone on 9GAG" quote to show the similarities of those who can't relate to others in real life but can escape in to the virtual world and meet others who think just like them.

The new in thing seems to be meme related especially the troll faces, cereal guy, forever alone guy, etc.

Pic below (popular memes used nowadays)



Cereal guy :the cynical one who makes fun of others.

Laugh Out Loud Guy: Laughign out loud literally

Okay guy: the sad person who always agrees

Pffft guy: the typical face you imagine when laughing in a mocking way.


Forever alone: this explains itself. alone..
Troll face: the most common image for trolling people and usually ends with a "problem?" note.



Apparently these meme's are some kind or marketing scheme as well. You can always make your own memes with a troll generator and share them as you please.

Want to create your own meme? Click here!

You can choose from Y U No guy, Philosoraptor, Socially Awkward penguin and so on.


Sure, some may include profane language and such but that can be ignored. We know trolls are all over the net and some just want to pick fights for no reason.

And with SOPA's stupid fight running today, we may lose all freedom to the Internet . What will happen then?

1 comment:

  1. Watching how language changes, the ways people adopt new ways of expressing themselves, and how people are influenced by new fashions, is always fascinating.

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