50 famous memes and what they mean

Merriam-Webster defines "meme" as "an idea, beliefs, style, or usage that spreads from person to person inside a civilisation" or "an amusing or interesting item (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 forth with "emoji" and "clickbait" to the formal dictionary in May 2015.

Memes have ever come up with an air of mystery, intriguing and confusing even the nearly estimator literate. Where did they come from? More than chiefly, what do they mean? Even modern science is hopping on the meme train. A team of scientific researchers from University Higher London, Cyprus University of Technology, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Male monarch's College London came together in September 2022 to enquiry the internet'due south about popular memes. Apart from assembling a definitive list of the world's favorite memes, the academic report as well explored the influences (both positive and negative) that memes have on different communities. Some memes are created just for fun by creative or bored internet 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 internet, it's hard to keep rail. Merely when you've grasped the significant of 1 hilarious meme, it has already become old news and replaced past something every bit as 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 cyberspace resources, pop culture publications, and databases similar Know Your Meme to discover 50 different memes and what they mean. While the nearly self-replicating nature of these vague symbols tin get exhausting, memes in their essence tin besides bring people closer together—as long as they have cyberspace access.

Yous might likewise 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 nigh their brain sizes, information technology quickly turned into a meme. Photos of different sized brains are paired with "smart" sounding words until they aggrandize into a fully aware stage. Ane of the outset manifestations of the "expanding brain" meme came from the who-whom-whomst progression of words that seemingly makes ane audio smarter.

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Young Thug at figurer

Back in 2022 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 cyberspace apace began finding humorous (and fabricated) explanations for what the 2 were then attentively concentrating on, everything from the rappers planning an elaborate heist to playing old school games similar minesweeper.

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First Earth problems

While the "First Globe" terminology has been effectually for a while, the hashtag #firstworldproblems reached its peak in popularity on Twitter in 2011 later Buzzfeed posted a series of memes nearly problems experienced by privileged people from wealthy countries. The meme near 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 photo of himself in 2022 sitting at a desk-bound with a sign maxim "Male privilege is a myth: Alter my mind," it was almost too easy for the internet to begin making fun of him with memes of their ain. Memes ranged from just 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 2022 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 structure the memes began to accumulate even more. Since then the cyberspace 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 photograph from a Japanese animated testify of an android mistaking a butterfly for a pigeon. Nigh of the memes derived from the photo employ the subjects to express modern confusions or paranoia.

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Real name Google searches

"Real proper name Google searches" is a meme that gained popularity in 2022 using the generic google template to depict made-up names for popular celebrities (usually those who go by aliases). According to Know Your Meme, it first appeared showing the rapper Lil Pump's name every bit "Lilliam Pumpernickel" and just got more ridiculous from at that place.

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Futurama Fry

"Futurama Fry" is one of the near relatable memes on the web. 1 popular meme, which began in 2011, shows the character Fry from the animated show "Futurama" with eyes narrowed thinking about contradicting questions commonly referring to modern times or sarcasm. Another is a generic photo with the same character holding cash yelling "shut upward and accept my money," used for when someone finds the description of a product on the internet particularly appealing.

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Weird flex simply OK

The phrase "weird flex just OK" is used when someone brags most something that others would observe awkward or just plain irrelevant. The phrase began showing up on the cyberspace in 2022 and has continued to be used in response to awkward boasts. I of the well-nigh 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 Fire," this image showing a human-similar dog enjoying his coffee while his house is called-for downwards has seemingly become more and more relatable every year. The image is rarely contradistinct, merely attached 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 2022 the internet was more paranoid than ever earlier cheers to the internet-fueled thought of FBI agents watching people through their webcams. The memes aren't e'er critical, either; near of them describe the agents either protecting or beingness friendly with their subjects.

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Kermit

The iconic green puppet has stolen the hearts of millions on the "Muppet Bear witness" since the 1950s, but the internet meme sensation didn't begin until 2014. Most notable memes include Kermit sipping on some tea with passive ambitious text followed by "but that'south none of my business," as well as 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 i subject that emcompasses the net's love of memes amend than cats. Since the early 2000s when "Keyboard Cat" starting time made an appearance on YouTube, people take been posting funny images of felines paired with hilarious text.

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Squinting adult female

Likewise known as the "squat and squint" meme, the photo 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 any circumstance that the affiche finds unbelievable.

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A Star is Born

When the offset 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 well-nigh popular ones came from funny adaptations of Cooper'southward line "I just wanted to take some other look at you" and Gaga's belted solo from the song "Shallow."

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AndreDThompson // Twitter

Aroused Patrick

Too known equally "evil Patrick" or "savage Patrick," this meme takes a still of the grapheme Patrick from "Spongebob Squarepants" with a menacing expect in his eyes from a 1999 episode. Twitter got a agree of it around February 2022 and started using the epitome along with an explanation of bad behavior or motives.

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PaulFaire/TheThings // TheThings.com

By age 35...

Following a 2022 MarketWatch commodity that implied an unrealistic corporeality 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 total of miscellaneous chargers followed.

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Don't say information technology

The "don't say it" 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 upward in 2010, but afterwards resurfaced in 2022 and showed an inner struggle betwixt whether or non 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 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 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 post-obit his Twitter request for "dank memes" in Oct 2018. One of the virtually popular 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 stance on the internet. The earliest uses of this meme came in 2022 on Twitter, apace gaining traction and becoming ane of the most pop (and effective) ways to insult someone online.

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Roll Safe

In 2022 a British mockumentary starring actor Kayode Ewumi called "Hood Documentary" was uploaded onto YouTube by BBC. Soon later on, people on the internet began using a screen-grabbed epitome of Ewumi pointing to his temple like he had a practiced 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 "Thank U, Next" about 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 love, patience, and hurting to mimic the chorus.

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Let's get this bread

People on the internet use the "Let's get this staff of life" meme ironically (normally it is slang for earning coin) to make fun of people or themselves for trying too difficult to earn money. In 2022 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 side by side few months, the image blew upwards when people started using it every bit a meme for doing something with an obvious upshot.

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Warren Baker // The Blogging Bakery

Condescending Willy Wonka

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

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Pink Diamond // Pinterest

Jason Momoa sneaking upwardly 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 carpet the same twelvemonth, it rapidly went viral. On the last day of 2017, a Facebook account posted a meme using the image, labeling Momoa as "2018." The meme gained popularity throughout the following months as people labeled the two as different things creeping upwardly on each other.

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Exhausted Spongebob

In yet another Spongebob Squarepants meme, "exhausted Spongebob" uses an paradigm from a 1999 episode where the character is leaning against a rock, naked and out of breath. Twitter began using the screengrab as an attachment to tweets around March 2022 almost being tired.

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Classical art memes

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

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World's most interesting human being

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

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Guy blinking nervously

One of the nearly popular memes of 2017, "guy blinking nervously" is normally used in GIF form 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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Hard to consume pills

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

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Who would win?

The cyberspace 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 accept begun in 2022 when a 4chan user posted the meme using ii video games as opponents.

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How I sleep knowing...

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

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Kardashians

E'er since the bear witness "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" first aired in 2007, people brutal in love with watching the family'south 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 prove (usually of a meltdown or overreaction).

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"Today" days old

"Today days sometime" is used as a response to whatever random realization. It starting time came from posts asking "How old were you when yous realized Ten?" with someone responding: "I was today years one-time." This can be a fact both well-known or more than 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 good frog" in 2008, Pepe was edited into a more deplorable or aroused meme a few years later. 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'southward database of hate symbols in 2016.

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Crying Michael Jordan

Taken from an image of the famous athlete'south emotional speech during his 2009 consecration into the Basketball Hall of Fame, this meme is commonly used to convey a fan's disappointment when his particular team loses or performs poorly. The meme has been around since first appearing 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 car*

"Slaps roof of car" can be traced back to a 2022 tweet of a ridiculous car salesmen chat overheard and started bravado upward in 2022 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 can fit so much X in it."

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Awkward little girl

Also known as "Side Eyeing Chloe," this meme tin be used in pretty much any bad-mannered situation. The original photo came from a video of a lilliputian girl giving an unimpressed and hesitant expect afterward being told about a surprise trip to Disneyland in 2013.

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Krusty Krab vs. Chum Saucepan

Just about every "Spongebob Squarepants" fan knows virtually the intense rivalry between the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket restaurants, but the sometime ordinarily reigns supreme. The meme uses photoshopped images of both cartoon restaurants in social club to projection ii rivals, such as sports teams and TV shows.

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Havokimin // Higher 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 holiday season and tell their children that it was watching them exist naughty or nice. Toward the stop of 2017, information technology became popular to mail service images of funny things that rhyme sitting on pinnacle of other things that rhyme using the phrase "You've heard of elf on the shelf, now get set for X."

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One 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 i of his famous lines, "One does non 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 2022 interview.

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

Afterward a 2022 tweet that posed a questionnaire using the archetype dating template "I am a man/woman looking for a human/woman" virtually Carly Rae Jepsen, a meme was born. Since then, it has become popular to use the format to make funny declarations.

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Success child

One of the well-nigh popular memes of all time, "success kid" uses a 2007 photo taken of a little boy with a clenched fist and adamant expression. It is nearly always used to display pocket-sized successful moments or "wins" that happen to someone throughout a normal day like getting an actress chicken nugget in a fast-food meal.

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OverlyAttachedGirlfriend.com

Overly fastened girlfriend

"Overly fastened girlfriend" began in 2012 when a Redditor took a screenshot of an image he found comical from a video of a daughter singing a rendition of Justin Bieber'due south 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 assistance itself after images surfaced of a little boy mowing the lawn at the White House completely ignoring Trump. The kid was plainly so focused on the job that he didn't discover 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 go out 12

The "Left exit 12" meme uses a series of screen grabs from a 2013 YouTube video showing a car globe-trotting dangerously into an exit ramp. People began photoshopping the exit sign (leave 12) to say comical things that 1 might swerve off the highway in order to become to.

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