More Channels
Showcase
- RSS Channel Showcase 9923117
- RSS Channel Showcase 1040453
- RSS Channel Showcase 3752970
- RSS Channel Showcase 7417293
Articles on this Page
- 08/19/12--05:12: _Kilroy Was Here
- 09/11/09--09:33: _Alignment Charts
- 08/15/17--09:06: _Guess I'll Die
- 01/12/13--20:38: _Lie Down / Try Not ...
- 09/02/10--20:01: _Mormon Porn / Bubbl...
- 10/17/14--13:34: _The Internet
- 04/15/16--18:05: _*breath in* Boi
- 07/18/09--04:00: _Old Gregg
- 05/29/11--16:22: _WTF Is This Shit!?
- 08/22/15--11:53: _Splat Tim
- 08/20/09--17:28: _No Items, Fox Only,...
- 07/11/17--11:30: _Despacito
- 08/08/16--12:47: _You Vs. The Guy She...
- 08/11/15--10:56: _It's Just a Prank
- 02/17/10--06:27: _But Can It Run Crysis?
- 05/02/14--17:32: _I Have Failed You
Channel Description:
About
Kilroy Was Here is a graffiti doodle consisting of a bald man with his nose hanging and his hands clutched over a wall, accompanied by the caption “Kilroy was here.” The image was popularized during World War II by the United States soldiers who drew the man and expression on walls and other surfaces.
Origin
The character Mr. Chad seen in the doodle (shown below) is rumored to have been originally illustrated by British cartoonist George Chatterton in 1938, according to the author Michael Quinion on his site World Wide Words.[6]
The earliest known use of the doodle in street art can be found on a wall in Fort Knox, Kentucky, drawn in chalk and dated May 13th, 1937, as seen in the History Channel documentary titled “Fort Knox: Secrets Revealed,”[1] (shown below).
Precursor
An Australian version of the doodle bearing the phrase “Foo was here” is rumored to have predated the American version by roughly 25 years, according to the website Digger History.[3]
Spread
The doodle was often written on walls and equipment by United States servicemen during World War II and is rumored to have led Hitler to believe that Kilroy was the code name of a spy. In the book Panati’s Parade of Fads, Follies, and Manias: The Origins of Our Most Cherished Obsessions, author Charles Panati wrote that Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin discovered a Kilroy graffiti in the VIP bathroom at the Potsdam Conference in 1945. In 1946, NBC singer Paul page released a song titled “Kilroy Was Here.”[4] In 1955, the science fiction short story The Message by author Isaac Asimov was published, in which a time-traveler named George Kilroy is depicted as the writer of the graffiti.[5] In 1997, New Zealand released a new stamp featuring Kilroy (shown below).
Notable Examples
History of References
External References
[1]YouTube – Fort Knox Secrets Revealed
[2]Open Writing – Mr Chad and Kilroy
[3]Digger History – Foo Was Here
[4]Google Books – The Billboard
[5]Wikipedia – The Message
About
Alignment Charts (also known as Character Alignments) refer to images presenting different categorized subjects -- usually nine -- in a manner that strongly resembles Demotivational Posters. Images within alignment charts usually show characters from a particular subculture (with either a quote or a reasoning below the title of the character’s alignment to reflect why they are in that position), but the chart manages to reach levels of irony that reaction images, inanimate objects, and even food can be grouped and categorized.
Origin
The concept of character alignment as it is typically viewed comes from the game Dungeons and Dragons released on 1974,[9] wherein players were able to create their very own characters, customizing a variety of different aspects. One of these aspects is the alignment of the character, which basically indicated whether your character was good or evil and whether he followed the law or not.
The system begun operating on two axis by the 1977 release of Dungeons and Dragons[1], one consisting of “Lawful”, “Neutral”, and “Chaotic”, and the other of “Good”, “Neutral”, and “Evil”; you would combine one of the traits of the first axis with one of the traits of the other, thus resulting in alignments such as “Lawful Good” or “Chaotic Evil”, with nine possible alignments in total.
5×5 Alignment Charts
5×5 Alignment Charts were never designed by the official game. Instead, the additional categories for both axis -- social and rebel; and moral and impure respectively -- are products from the internet. The earliest known instances of a 5×5 Alignment Chart being used dates back to June 5, 2011, when the DeviantArt account DoASpotCheck uploaded their 5 by 5 Alignment Chart comprised of different characters from various subcultures that they feel epitomizes each category.[6]
Spread
The concept has been implemented by fans in other works of fiction once it has gained traction. The practice of categorizing subjects in forums and image boards has often brought much debate and criticism due to disagreements from all sides.[3][7]
Alignment as a Meme
This all becomes a meme with the practice of taking images of characters (or concepts, or a variety of other things) and (usually in the form of a demotivational poster) labeling them as one of the nine alignments. This is then expanded upon by editing together such images (usually following a theme) into a chart, thus giving a representation of the conventional nine alignments -- 5×5 charts with a total of 25 alignments exist. Images dealing with just one of the alignments, or just with the subject of alignment itself, also exist. For example, on July 23rd, 2017, Twitter user @tinysubversions[10] posted an alignment chart of Dungeons and Dragons alignments that gained over 2,000 retweets and 3,800 likes (shown below, left). Another popular joke version was posted on August 10th of that year by @aurelianrabbit which made each space on the chart a way to store bread. The tweet gained over 25,000 retweets and 59,000 likes (shown below, right).
As for the actual origins of this practice, things aren’t very clear, but many demotivationals exist. Such comparisons have been made since the first release of Dungeons and Dragons, though it’s possible that the book Complete Scoundrel, published in 2007, may have popularized the concept.
Many decades after the concept was made famous, Alignment Charts remain a popular subject for discussion and deviation in online communities. By 2012 a crude template for the alignment chart was made available on Polyvore by user ellerigby13. 74 deviations were produced from this template.[8] A subreddit with 1,537 readers exists that showcases alignment charts submitted by users.[4] On DeviantArt, there is a considerably large number of around 34,000 deviations under the tag “character alignment.”[2] A Pinterest gallery dedicated to collecting Alignment Charts has gained 103 followers.[5]
Templates
Notable Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]Wikipedia – Alignment Dungeons & Dragons
[2]DeviantArt – Character Alignment search results
[3]TV Tropes – Character Alignment
[4]Reddit – Alignment Chart
[5]Pinterest – D&D alignment charts
[6]DeviantArt – 5×5 Alignment Chart
[7]Encyclopedia Dramatica – Alignment
[8]Polyvore – Make Your Own Alignment Chart
[9]Wikipedia – Dungeons & Dragons
[10]Twitter – @tinysubversions
About
Guess I’ll Die refers to a stock photo of a man in a red sweatshirt shrugging his shoulders. The image grew into a reaction image used in situations where the poster jokingly resigns themselves to death due to a minor inconvenience.
Origin
On October 6th, 2009, the photo was uploaded to iStockphoto[1] by Ann Baldwin. It would later be revealed that the photo is of her husband, Mike Baldwin.[2]
Spread
The photo was used as a reaction image as early as April 26th, 2011 in a FARK.com[3] forum thread on the film Atlas Shrugged. An edit of the image in which the man’s face is replaced with a sloth appeared online on the site herbatka.soup.io[4] on January 18th, 2013 (shown below).
In 2013, the image began being used as a reaction image more frequently. It appeared in a Funnyjunk[5] thread on April 20th, 2013, and again in a blog post on markb4.wordpress[6] on the 25th. It found continued use as a reaction image expressing confusion in the following years. A template for “shrugging old man” was added to Meme Generator on May 22nd, 2015.[8] In September of 2015, it began going viral on Tumblr. A post by user noxyouraveragefangirl, now cinnamon-swan,[7] paired it with a text post that gained over 207,000 notes (reblog shown below).
In early 2016, the image began being paired with the text “Guess I’ll Die.” On January 6th of that year, Facebook user Adam Davis posted the image with the text “Guess I’ll Die” along with the caption “When you’re too poor to afford affordable health care” to the Facebook page “Useless, Unsuccessful, and/or Unpopular Memes.”[9] The post went viral, gaining over 29,000 shares and 9,300 likes and reactions (shown below).
Following that post, several other popular posts appeared online with the “Guess I’ll Die” variation of the image. On April 11th, 2016, Tumblr user funkybug[10] posted the image alone, gaining over 139,000 notes. This started the post’s popularization on Tumblr where it was used both as a reaction image in popular posts and as an exploitable. Examples of the latter include a post by lesmiserablesbians[11] posted February 16th, 2017 that referenced Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, gaining over 13,000 notes (shown below, left), and a post by imgayjokes[12] from April 12th, 2017 that changed the text to “guess i’m gay,” gaining over 14,000 notes (shown below, right).
On July 31st, 2017, Reddit user bloodylipservice posted a screenshot to /r/memes[2] of Baldwin posting a photo of himself to Facebook wearing a shirt based off his meme that his children got for his birthday. bloodylipservice’s post gained 450 points (shown below).
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]iStockphoto – Senior man shrugging shoulders – Stock image
[3]FARK.com – "’Atlas Shrugged’ on pace to be the highest-grossing film of the year. The year 1920 ":http://www.fark.com/comments/6147720/Atlas-Shrugged-on-pace-to-be-highest-grossing-film-of-year-The-year-1920
[4]herbatka – What Can You Do?
[6]markb4.wordpress – What Happened To My Animation History Class?
[7]Tumblr – cinnamon-swan
[8]Memegenerator – shrugging old man
[9]Facebook – Useless, Unsuccessful, and/or Unpopular Memes
[11]Tumblr – lesmiserablesbians
[12]Tumblr – imgayjokes
About
Lie Down / Try Not to Cry / Cry a Lot refers an exploitable comic based around an image featured in a College Humor article titled “Realistic Gym Workout Diagrams,” which featured parody workout posters. The image has been edited in a number of ways to include various characters and express humorously exaggerated sadness at various events, such as a television series ending. The original has also been included as a reaction image in popular posts with a sad or heartwarming image above it.
Origin
On September 10th, 2010, the Internet humor site College Humor[1] published a post titled “Realistic Gym Workout Diagrams,” which featured parody workout posters for exercising specific muscle groups. In the article one parody poster in particular shows a man holding curling up in a fetal position with the phrase “Lie Down; Try Not to Cry; Cry a Lot” posted above (shown below).
Spread
In late 2012, edits of the image began circulating online. On March 5th, 2013, the male centered entertainment site Mandatory[2] published an article titled “LIEDOWN. TRYNOT TO CRY. CRY A LOT. AN EMOTIONALMEMECOLLECTION” which collected several of the image edits into a single post. Many of the edits include pop culture references, generally by editing the character in the comic to be a different character from a pop culture series. Other edits include the original post as a reaction image to a heartwarming or sad story (example shown below).
There are over 9,400 “Lie Down Try Not To Cry Cry A Lot” memes on Memecenter[3] as of August 17th, 2017, though it should be noted that not every meme under the tag includes the comic. The image remains popular on Tumblr as well.[4]
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]College Humor – Realistic Gym Workout Diagrams
[2]Mandatory – LIEDOWN. TRYNOT TO CRY. CRY A LOT. AN EMOTIONALMEMECOLLECTION
[3]Memecenter – Lie Down Try Not To Cry Cry A Lot
[4]Tumblr – Lie Down Try Not To Cry search
About
Mormon Porn or Bubble Porn, also known as “Bubble Collage” (Japanese: 水玉コラ, Mizutama Kora) in Japan, refers to photoshopped pictures of girls in which their clothes are covered by the “bubbling” technique, making it appear as though they’re naked.
Origin
This kind of photoshop technique began to be practiced in the threads in /morningcoffee/, a board for isolating fanatics of Japanese female idol collective Hello! Project,[2] in the Japanese textboard community 2channel around June of 2007. That board users had been making “10-yen Collages” (10円コラ), another series of photo collages making female idols look like naked by concealing their outfits by 10-yen coins, since the spring of 2004. This technique was one of the derivatives developed in a series for that thread.[3][4]
Left: 10-yen Collage | Right: Bubble Collage in 2007
In those days, this kind of photoshopped images was called in various names like “Marble Collage” (ビー玉コラ), “Worm-eaten Collage” (虫食いコラ) or “Perforated Collage” (穴あきコラ). However, these had never spread to the outside of the board.
Spread
This kind of photos entered the spotlight by a thread in /news4vip/, one of the meme-generating boards in 2channel, in the end of 2009.[5] Since this thread was soon summarized and reprinted with uploaded images to many affi-blogs, earning money by summarizing popular 2channel threads, this technique began getting a strong presence on the web. In that time, these kind of photoshopped pictures were called “Looking Like Naked (Photos)” (裸に見える, Hadakani Mieru). Japanese programmers launched image generator services for this technique called “Wormy”[6] and “Circle Effect”[7] in the following month.
Bubble Collage in the “Look Like Naked” Era (Before & After)
The name “Bubble Collage” (水玉コラ) appeared around 2011 because affi-blogs had continually reported bubble porn threads with the same name in /ascii/, board for links to photos and videos for adults, in 2channel’s sister community for adult contents BBSPINK since late 2010.
On August 2012, an official idol photo book which enables manual bubbling effect by scissors and cutters was released by a Japanese publisher.[8]
How to Enjoy the Idol Photo Book “Bubble Collage Girls”
Outside Japan
I Am Board user fancylad[9] introduced this technique in the entry “How To Make Mormon Porn” on February 9th, 2010.[10] Then this technique became to be called “Bubbling.” On April 7th, 2014, YouTuber HelloDenizen uploaded a “Bubble Porn” video. Daily Dot[12] covered the video the following day. Since first growing popular online, the trend has appeared sparingly. Boingboing[11] posted about Bubble Porn in December of 2016.
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]Urban Dictionary – Bubbling
[2]Wikipedia – Hello! Project
[3]WITCHHUNTINGGIRLSCOUTS– そろそろ10円職人の出番だぜ？！ / 06-22-2007 (Summary of “10-yen Collage” Thread, Japanese)
[4]Shibuizm – 穴あきｺﾗｰ / Posted on 06-27-2007 (Japanese)
[5]Kajisoku Full Auto – こういう画像のストックどんどん増やしてこうぜｗｗ / 12-29-2009 (Thread Summary, Japanese)
[7]Circle Effect (Internet Archive, Japanese)
[8][NSFW!!] Akiba Blog – 全裸に見えるフィルター"水玉コラ"の商業写真集 「水玉コラ娘」 / 08-09-2012 (Japanese)
[9]I Am Board – member profile: fancylad
[10]I Am Bored – How To Make Mormon Porn [Pic / 02-09-2010
[11]BoingBoing – Bubble porn aficionados keep refining their NSFW art
[12]Daily Dot – ‘Bubble porn,’ or ‘Mormon porn,’ is a very NSFW thing
About
The Internet is a system of interconnected computer networks linking billions of machines worldwide using the TCP/IP Internet protocol suite.[1] Use of the Internet in the West expanded rapidly throughout the 1990s, growing over 100x within two decades.[2]
History
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, numerous packet switching networks were developed, including Tymnet, Telenet and the eventual forerunner of the Internet, ARPANET.[3] On October 29th, 1969, the first two connections of ARPANET were made between American engineer Leonard Kleinrock’s Network Measurement Center at UCLA and inventor Douglas Engelbert’s NLS system located in Menlo Park, California.[4] By 1971, 15 ARPANET sites were connected.[5] In 1974, the term “internet” was used as a shorthand for “internetworking” in a paper by Vinton Cerf, Yogen Dalal and Carl Sunshine.[6] In the 1980s, the first Internet service providers were founded.[7] In 1990, ARPANET was decommissioned and the first web page was posted on the internet.[28] The Internet became fully commercialized in 1995.[7] Since its inception, a variety of technologies utilizing the Internet emerged, including email, instant messaging, VoIP, video calling, the World Wide Web, social networking and e-commerce.[1]
First Internet Memes
Godwin’s Law
Godwin’s Law is an internet adage from 1990 that is derived from one of the earliest bits of Usenet wisdoms, which goes “if you mention Adolf Hitler or Nazis within a discussion thread, you’ve automatically ended whatever discussion you were taking part in.” Mike Godwin coined his observation as a “natural law of Usenet” in 1990 and this observation is credited as the first internet meme. For more information about Godwin’s Law, check out the original FAQ page.
Spam
Spam is a term so ubiquitous that everyone in the internet world takes it for granted, yet it is one of the first ever examples of an internet meme. The Oxford Pocket English Dictionary defines Spam as:
• (noun, trademark) a canned meat product made mainly from ham;
• (noun, internet) an irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the Internet to a large number of users.
• (verb: to spam, spammed, spamming) to send the same email message indiscriminately to (large numbers of users).
It originates from a Monty Python sketch in which an old lady attempts to order food at a cafe, but does not like spam (shown below). Its online usage began in the early 90s with Usenet netizens who flooded IRC chatrooms and forums with the word “spam” in reference to the repetitive and unwanted presence of Spam in the sketch. One of the earliest examples of “spamming” can be traced back to a mass e-mail[31] sent out by a Digital Equipment Corporation employee in 1978, which announced the release of a new DEC-20 machine and invited people to the company’s receptions in California. They were chastised for breaking the ARPANET appropriate use policy, and a notice was sent out reminding others of the rule.
The Webby Awards
The Webby Awards is an annual award show first held in 1995 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, with the first “Site of the Year” award given to the episodic online story The Spot. The ceremony recognizes internet websites, applications, interactive advertising and online video. For each category, one winner is selected by popular vote and another is chosen by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. The ceremony is known for its short acceptance speeches, which limit winners to saying only five words.
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive[16] is a site founded in 1996 by American computer engineer and Internet activist Brewster Kahle[17], who also co-founded the web crawling service Alexa Internet around the same time. It is a digital library and archival site dedicated to permanent documentation of and free public access to a wide variety of digital artifacts, ranging rom websites and music to videos and nearly three million books registered under public domain.
Deep Web
Deep Web is a term coined in 2001, also known as “Deepnet,” the “Invisible Web,” the “Undernet” or the “hidden Web,” are parts of the Internet that are not considered part of the “surface web,” or the portion of the World Wide Web that is indexed by conventional search engines. According to The New York Times,[8] computer scientist Mike Bergman is credited with coining the term “deep web” in a paper titled “The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value” published in The Journal of Electronic Publishing[9] in August of 2001. In the paper, Bergman mentions that Internet business author Dr. Jill Ellsworth coined the phrase “invisible Web” in 1994 when referring to websites that were not indexed by common search engines. Many deep web sites are not indexed because they use dynamic databases that are devoid of hyperlinks and can only be found by performing an internal search query.
Net Neutrality
Net Neutrality is often credited with the open access movement and political activist Lawrence Lessig[10] as early as 2001;[11] however, the term was first coined by Columbia law professor Tim Wu in a 2003 paper titled “Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination.”[12] It is a network design principle and digital rights movement which advocates Internet service providers (ISPs) to treat all Internet traffic equally in order to maintain an “open Internet.” The principle is in opposition to a “closed Internet” in which providers restrict access to content, filter content or use “traffic shaping”[13] to degrade access to specific web services.
Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday is an annual online-exclusive shopping event observed by both national and smaller online retailers on the Monday after Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Since its emergence in 2005, Cyber Monday has continuously grown into a major international marketing holiday that serves as a popular alternative to Black Friday, the annual in-store shopping event that takes place on the day after Thanksgiving Day.
Internet Theme Days
Internet Theme Days first appeared in the form of Caturday in 2005 on 4chan’s random board /b/. They are weekly practices within image boards and forums in which special threads are created for the sole purpose of sharing a certain theme of images.
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) trade agreement was proposed in 2006 through a series of multi-party negotiations among governments of nations representing Canada, the European Union, Switzerland, Australia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and Singapore. The agreement aimed to establish international conventions on enforcing intellectual property rights. It would establish an international legal framework for national governments to join voluntarily and create a governing body outside existing decision-making bodies such as World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or the United Nations. In October 2011, the agreement was signed by Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States. In July 2012, the European Parliament declined its consent.
Protect IP Act / Stop Online Privacy Act
The Protect IP Act was introduced in May 2011 in the United States Senate, which was designed to provide the government and copyright holders with powers to block access to “rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods,” especially those registered outside the United States. In October that year, a similar bill known as the Stop Online Piracy Act was introduced in the House. Following many large-scale protests backed by several high profile Internet companies, voting on the bill was postponed indefinitely by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in January 2012.
Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protect Act
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protect Act (CISPA) was introduced in March 2012 in the United States House of Representatives, which was designed to grant the government additional powers and resources to monitor the online activities of U.S. citizens to prevent cybercrimes, namely trafficking in intellectual property and counterfeit goods. On April 18th, 2013, the bill was passed in the House but did not pass the Senate. In July 2014, a similar bill was introduced in the Senate.
Printing Out The Internet
Printing Out The Internet is a conceptual art project orchestrated by Kenneth Goldsmith, the Poet Laureate of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the curator of the literary resource site Ubu Web.[18] The project was launched in May 2013 as a memorial to the late programmer and activist Aaron Swartz who committed suicide in January 2013. The project was on display at LABOR[19] art gallery in Mexico City, Mexico from July 26th – August 31st, 2013 and by the end of the project, more than 10 tons of paper[20] had been sent in from more than 20,000 contributors.
Reception
The Internet has been so well-received that around 40% of the world population has an internet connection as of May 14th, 2016.[27] Of that percentage, 48.4% of internet users live in Asia.[27] It is treated as a utility in the United States as of February 26th, 2015.[24] At least 4.6 billion web pages have been added to the Internet’s world wide web as of May 14th, 2016.[25] The Internet is presumed to reach a growth-rate of 1 zettabyte (nearly twelve billion gigabytes) per year by the end of 2016 and 2 zettabytes per year by 2019.[26]
Fandoms
Fandoms are social groups based around a particular interest and comprised of individuals who share that interest. The Internet itself acts as a medium for fandoms to exist on. On the internet, the term is typically used to refer to the fans of media franchises. It is often associated with fanfiction, as well as fan-made art and music.
Related Subcultures
Hacktivism
Hacktivism refers to people, notably Anonymous, acting outside of the criminal justice system to carry out vigilante missions through the subversive use of computers or the Internet.[29] The alternate term Internet Vigilantism is often used as a synonym though the terms have nuanced differences.[30]
Net Art
Net Art, also referred to as Internet Art, is a genre of fine art that uses networked interfaces as medium or for distribution. This can include work that is browser-based and created with code, or work that was created with other software or algorithms and is either exhibited or distributed with networked interfaces, often in combination with interactivity. While net art has no defined structure, the capabilities of commercially available computing equipment, network speed, and common software have often helped to define the art genre’s aesthetics.
Online Pornography
Online Pornography (or porn, pr0n) refers to publications, whether in photography, cinematography, or writing, which have the act of sexual intercourse as its subject with the purpose to sexually arouse the viewer.[14] The abundance of both professional and amateur publications as well as its easy access through online means have made pornography a subject of Internet humor and is sometimes referred to as the purpose of the Internet. Pornography is regarded as “one of the driving forces behind the expansion of the World Wide Web.”[15]
Online Roleplay
Online Roleplay refers to the practice of altering one’s personality and behaviour in order to fit a particular role or character. When multiple such individuals act out a interaction, scene, or series of scenes, it is frequently known by the noun roleplay. Online, there are communities and parts of fandoms dedicated to roleplaying as a variety of characters. The first well-known online roleplaying community was based around the fantasy roleplaying game MUD1,[32] which was responsible for spawning the MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) game genre. The game, created and launched in 1978, was inspired by the 1976 single player game Colossal Cave Adventure.[33]
Related Memes
Internet Slang
Internet Slang consists of a number of different ways of speaking, sub-languages, expressions, spelling techniques and idioms that have obtained most of their meaning on the Internet. These different kinds of language can be either known as chatspeak[21], SMS speak[22] or IM language.[23]
Welcome To the Internet
Welcome to the Internet Is a term used as both a genuine welcome to the Internet and a sarcastic insult used to mock those who aren’t familiar with internet culture.
Rules of the Internet
The Rules of the Internet are a set of protocols and guidelines written to serve as a guide for people who identified themselves with the internet group Anonymous.
First Day on the Internet Kid
First Day on the Internet Kid is an advice animal series depicting a young kid smiling at a computer with a clenched fist. The series is used to poke fun at new and inexperienced users who may be unfamiliar with internet culture.
Grandma Finds the Internet
Grandma Finds the Internet is an advice animal image macro series depicting an elderly woman looking at a laptop with captions expressing bewilderment and shock at what she finds online.
The Internet Is Leaking
The Internet is Leaking is a term used to describe references to internet culture outside of the internet.
The Last Page of the Internet
The Last page of the Internet refers to several web pages claiming to be the final page of the Internet.
The Final boss of the Internet
The Final Boss of the Internet is a mythological character that is supposedly found at the “final level” of the Internet if it were imagined as a video game. The term is generally used to refer to any object, person or place that can be seen as very powerful or difficult to overcome.
On the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re a Dog
On the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re a Dog is an idiom popularized by a cartoon in The New Yorker, which has come to illustrate an understanding about the way privacy an anonymity works on the Internet.
Just Go On The Internet and Tell Lies
You Really Think Someone Would Do That? Just Go On the Internet and Tell Lies? is a rhetorical question used sarcastically to mock another internet user’s gullibility.
Search Interest
External References
[2]Gigaom – Cloud Computing and the 10X Effect
[3]Doug Engelbart Institute – Engelbart’s Role in Early Computer Networking
[4]Living Internet – ARPANET– The First Internet
[5]Leiden University – Chapter Three: History of Electronic Mail
[6]Massachusetts Intitute of Technology – Lecture 2: The Internetworking Problem
[7]FAQs – Internet – The 1970s, The 1980s, Birth of the Internet
[8]New York Times – Exploring a Deep Web That Google Can’t Grasp
[9]University of Michigan – White Paper – The Deep Web
[10]Wikipedia – Lawrence Lessig
[11]Karlsruhe – Net neutrality – A progress report
[12]JTHTL– Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination
[13]Wikipedia – Traffic shaping
[14]Simple English Wikipedia – Pornograhpy
[15]Wikipedia – Internet Pornography
[16]Internet Archive – Digital Library of Free Books, Music, Movies and Wayback Machine
[17]Wikipedia – Internet Archive
[20]Printing Out The Internet – 10 Tons of Paper
[21]Wikipedia – Internet Slang
[22]Wikipedia – SMS Language
[23]Wikipedia – IM Language.
[24]The New York Times – F.C.C. Approves Net Neutrality Rules, Classifying Broadband Internet Service as a Utility
[25]World Wide Web Size – The size of the World Wide Web
[26]Cisco – The Zettabyte Era
[27]Internet Live Stats – Internet Users
[28]Web Foundation – History of the Web
[29]Wikipedia – Hacktivisim
[30]Wikipedia – Internet Vigilantism
[32]British Legends – A Brief History
[33]Rick Adams – Colossal Cave Adventure
About
“breath in Boi” refers to a pair of images of the character SpongeBob from the series SpongeBob SquarePants clasping his hands together and leaning over. The images often feature image corruption similar to Real Nigga Hours, and are commonly used in shitposting. The images are also commonly used as a reaction image to various instances of people making an unwise decision.
Origin
In 2003, Nick.com debuted the Flash game “SpongeBob Kah Rah Tay Contest.” In the game, SpongeBob SquarePants and Sandy the Squirrel spar in a karate match. Before they fight, SpongeBob bow (shown below). The game is the basis for the image in the meme.[5]
The first known use of the pair of images was in a December 22nd, 2015 post in a 4chan[1] /fa/ (fashion) thread about a series of modified images of SpongeBob wearing a pair of boots. The post contained the image along with the words “WHODISNIKKA???”.
Spread
On December 26th, 2015, Tumblr user icanmaketheworldhappy shared the image, where it more over 35,000 notes.[2] The image was also uploadd to iFunny, where it gained over 50 likes.[3]
Four months later, on March 13th, 2016, YouTuber ExplodingScrotum.png posted a text to speech voice over of the images. As of August 2017, the video (shown below) received more than 123,000 views.
Four months later, on April 1st, 2016, Redditor[4] Ghastily posted the image in the the subreddit /r/DemomanTwitter. The post (shown below, left) received more than 200 points (100% upvoted) in a year and a half.
The following year, Redditor dank420memes1337 posted the Rogue One: A Star Wars character K-2SO doing the same motion as SpongeBob. The post (shown below, right) received more than 480 points (98% upvoted).
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]Warosu – WHODISNIKKA???
[4]reddit – ur unusual looks gay lol
[5]Wikia – SpongeBob Kah Rah Tay Contest
About
Old Gregg is a fictional merman character from the British comedy television series The Mighty Boosh, who has green skin, webbed hands, seaweed hair and female genitalia.
Origin
On August 23rd, 2005, The Mighty Boosh episode “The Legend of Old Gregg” aired on the United Kingdom-based television network BBC. In the episode, the character Howard (played by Julian Barratt) accidentally pulls a merman named Old Gregg (played by Noel Fielding) out of the water, who flashes Howard his female genitalia and takes him to his cave. After Howard regains consciousness, Old Gregg pressures Howard into staying and tells the story of “The Funk,” an alien creature responsible for the rise of funk music.
“You ever drink Bailey’s from a shoe?”
“You ever go to a club where people wee on each other?”
“I’m Old Gregg! I’ve got a mangina!”
Spread
On March 2nd, 2006, Urban Dictionary[2] user grep-top submitted an entry for “Old Gregg,” citing the episode of The Mighty Boosh as its origin.
On March 12th, YouTuber sparklemonkey uploaded footage from a live performance by The Mighty Boosh, in which Old Gregg pops of a giant box (shown below, left). In the next nine years, the video received more than 950,000 views and 290 comments. On November 11th, 2007, a page for Old Gregg was createdon the Mighty Boosh Wiki.[6] On December 8th, YouTuber bryanonfilm uploaded a mashup video featuring clips from the film No Country for Old Men with dubbed audio from the Old Gregg sketch (shown below, right).
On July 2nd, 2008, a Facebook[1] page titled “Old Gregg” was launched, garnering upwards of 136,200 likes in the next eight years. On November 10th, YouTuber Ashley Ketchum uploaded a video titled “Old Gregg in the Elevator,” in which a man cosplaying as Old Gregg repeats lines from the sketch to strangers in an elevator (shown below, left). On May 27th, 2009, YouTuber Caleb Bollenbacher uploaded a mashup of the Old Gregg sketch with the Lady Gaga music video for the track “Love Game” (shown below, right).
On October 27th, 2012, Redditor nolanoxl uploaded a photograph of an Old Gregg cosplayer to /r/pics,[3] where it received more than 2,400 votes (87% upvoted and 150 comments prior to being archived (shown below, left). On March 26th, 2014, YouTuber Eddie Moran reuploaded the comedy sketch, gaining over 1.9 million view and 720 comments in the next year. On November 1st, Redditor xxMVRCKxx posted a photograph of himself dressed as Old Gregg to the /r/funny[4] subreddit, where it gained over 3,900 votes (85% upvoted) and 120 comments in three months (shown below, right).
On October 4th, 2016, XoJane[5] published a guide for creating an Old Gregg costume. On June 19th, 2017, Redditor JohnnyMrNinja uploaded a GIF combining a scene from the television show Star Trek: The Next Generation with The Mighty Boosh sketch titled “Old Gregg – The Prime Directive” to /r/HighQualityGifs[7] (shown below).
Search Interest
External References
[2]Urban Dictionary – Old Gregg
[3]Reddit – I’m Old Gregg
[4]Reddit – I’m Old Gregg
[5]XoJane – Im Old Gregg – The Halloween Costume
[6]Mighty Boosh Wiki – Old Gregg
[7]Reddit – Old Gregg the Prime Directive
About
WTF is This Shit!? is an internet catchphrase, popularly used in various image macros where a character looks confused. It is used to signify disapproval of someone else’s post, when they post something that is either really stupid, badly written, vulgar, or otherwise out of place.
Origin
The first instance of the catchphrase being used in an image macro is supposedly from December 10th, 2006, uploaded on Flickr.[1] It used a picture of Annoyed Picard from Star Trek, making an exaggerated hand gesture, seeming to point out to something that he doesn’t approve of. This specific hand gesture became one of the defining elements of “WTF is This Shit” image macros, although it isn’t always present.
“WTF is This Shit” can also be considered as a more hostile variant of “What is This I don’t Even”.
Spread
Definition by Urban Dictionary
Urban Dictionary[2] defines “WTF is This Shit” as follows:
A phrase uttered by a dumbfounded person or persons after witnessing an act committed by an individual that is so incredibly stupid, ridiculous, retarded, moronic, and asinine that no other words can describe the idiocy of this certain individual.
Annoyed Picard
On January 23rd, 2012, a Quickmeme[3] page for “Annoyed Picard” was created, which featured a screen capture of Picard with an outstretched arm accompanied by captions expressing incredulous frustration (shown below, left). On June 23rd, a new Quickmeme[4] page was created titled “Annoyed Picard HD”, which featured a higher resolution version of the original Annoyed Picard screen capture. As of July 24th, 2012, the “Annoyed Picard” Quickmeme page has accumulated over 5,500 submissions and the “Annoyed Picard HD” page has received over 2,800 submissions. The same image has been used in the series of image macros using the caption “WTF is This Shit?” (shown below, right).
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]Flickr – Picard: WTF is This Shit?
[2]Urban Dictionary – WTF is This Shit
[3]Quickmeme – Annoyed Picard
[4]Quickmeme – Annoyed Picard HD
About
“Splat Tim the Woomy” (or better known as just “Splat Tim”) is an image of a male Inkling from the Nintendo’s third person shooter Splatoon with a distorted face, typically captioned with the expression “He Does It!”
Origin
On July 6th, 2015, Instagram user @marble.soda posted a picture of a distorted Inkling character wearing a teal shirt with a dog printed on the front (shown below, left). On July 17th, the image was reposted by Twitter user @Cloesy,[3] along with the caption “it splat tim”, a misspelling of the phrase “It’s splat time” (shown below, right).
Spread
On August 3, 2015, Twitter user @McBedtime tweeted a photoshopped box art mock-up for a “Splat Tim” game (shown below).[4]
Images of the character subsequently began circulating on Tumblr, often featuring Splat Tim in a variety of other video games. In September, an ask blog for Splat Tim along with various other Splat Tim-themed Tumblr blogs.[2][5][6][7] On January 12th, 2017, DeviantArtist[8] Bromighty uploaded a painting of Splat Tim (shown below, left). On August 28th, Redditor tayne_peach posted a photograph of himself cosplaying as Splat Tim to /r/splatoon[9] (shown below, right).
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[2]Tumblr – Ask Splat Tim
[3]Twitter – @Cloesy – it splat tim
[4]Twitter – @McBedtime
[6]Tumblr – Splat Tim!
[9]Reddit – /r/splatoon
About
No Items, Fox Only, Final Destination is a catchphrase parodying the strict and “serious” behavior of competitive players of the video game series Super Smash Bros., or “Tourneyfags,” as they are known. The memetic phrase was turned into a series of MS Paint comics on 4chan in which these players interrupt other events. The phrase is commonly edited through the snowclone“No X, Y Only, Final Destination!”
Origin
In competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee, common tournament tier lists regularly rank the character Fox McCloud as the top rank, currently occupying his own special rank of SS over the 25 other characters.[`] This is commonly attributed to Fox’s high levels of versatility and speed, and is commonly proven to be a “jack of all trades, master of many.” This makes Fox a very popular character among tournament players, making high level tournament play include an overabundance of Fox, oftentimes creating an impression that Fox is the only character allowed to be played.
In competitive tournament play, the focus on skill over random chance and environmental exploitation oftentimes leads players to turn off randomly spawning items and impose self restrictions on many stages that provide any form of significant hazard banned from being played at events due to the unbalanced nature of the game. One of the most balanced stages in the game is Final Destination, which is simply a flat panel. These rules commonly leak into Casual Play, where open Stage Selection and Items are normally welcome, creating tension between the casual and tournament player.
Spread
In early 2007, MS Paint comics appeared on 4chan parodying the “Final Destination” player,
often creating a situation where one character says “No X, No Y, Final Destination” (examples shown below).
On December 18th, 2007 Youtube user Swordsman3003 uploaded the video “Final Destination,” featuring vocal readings of a number of the Final Destination comics. The video gained over 722,000 views. He has since made 2 (and a half) sequels to the video with other Final Destination comics.
For Glory Mode
During the Super Smash Brothers Nintendo Direct, series director Masahiro Sakurai revealed the included online modes for Super Smash Bros 4. One is a For Fun mode, with all stages and items turned on, while the other is For Glory. Drawing inspiration from the meme, For Glory turns Items off by default and limits the players to only playing on Final Destination. Sakurai, feeling that the common tournament play commonly restricted content such as the games soundtrack, added the ability to turn every stage into a flat, simple “Omega” mode that matches Final Destination in flatness and size.
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]SSBM Wiki -
SSBM Tier List
About
Despacito is a song by Puerto Rican pop artist Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee. The song and a remix version featuring Justin Bieber grew immensely popular and inspired many parodies and remixes.
Origin
“Despacito” was released on January 13th, 2017[1] along with its music video, which has gained over 3.5 billion views and 20 million likes (as of September 2017), making it the most viewed and liked YouTube video of all time. (shown below)
“Despacito” became the fifty-fourth video to reach 1 billion views on April 20, 2017, doing so in 97 days; the twelfth video to reach 2 billion views on June 16, 2017; and the first video to reach 3 billion views on August 4, 2017, doing so in 204 days.
Spread
The song debuted in the United States at number 2 on the Hot Latin Songs chart. It also debuted at number 88 on the US Billboard Hot 100. On February 18th, 2017, the song hit number 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart and remained there for 22 weeks. In the United States, the song has gone 34x Platinum. On April 17th, a part-english remix version featuring Justin Bieber singing in Spanish for the first time in his career was released, contributing to the song growing popular in English-speaking countries. The audio of the song was uploaded to YouTube that day and has gained over 70 million views (shown below).
On May 24th, 2017, TMZ published a video of Bieber attempting to perform the song but instead of singing Spanish, was caught singing “Blah” (shown below). Bieber was harshly criticized for the performance.[2]
Parodies
The song has inspired numerous popular parodies, with some garnering tens of millions of views on YouTube. The most popular, posted by oRni on January 17th, 2017, gained nearly 27 million views (shown below, left). Another popular parody called “ESEGRINGO,” posted by werevertumurro on February 13th, gained over 24 million views (shown below, right).
The song has also inspired several popular remixes. One of the most popular, posted by the Trap Music channel, has over 4.9 million views (shown below, left). A remix by artist ThatBehavior and posted on the Chill Nation channel gained over 854,000 views (shown below, right).
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[2]Entertainment Weekly – Justin Bieber doesn’t know the Spanish lyrics to ‘Despacito’
About
You vs. The Guy She Told You Not to Worry About is a series of captioned images comparing two male subjects or fictional characters side-by-side, with the one on the right being the more desirable suitor of the two. In August 2016, the meme spawned hundreds of iterations after going viral on Twitter.
Origin
The earliest known instance of this kind of tweet was posted by @AmBlujay[1] on October 25th, 2015, shown below. As of August 8th, 2016, the tweet has almost 4,000 retweets and 1,550 likes.
Spread
The tweet format was copied a few times in the following month, but became a Twitter fad on August 7th, 2016, when tweets using the joke format featuring pop culture references[5][6] and meme icons like Harambe[3]and Guy Fieri[4] gained thousands of retweets. The spike in the trend made “you vs. the guy she told you not to worry about” a “Twitter moment.”[2] On August 9th, The Daily Dot[7] covered it, calling it “fragile masculinity as a meme.”
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[2]Twitter – ‘The guy she tells you not to worry about’ is a meme sensation
[3]Twitter – @ProdigyNelson
[4]Twitter – @the_faisalahmed
[5]Twitter- @HndrixLamar
[7]The Daily Dot – ‘You vs. the guy she tells you not to worry about’ is fragile masculinity as a meme
About
“It’s Just a Prank!” is an expression often uttered in prank videos when victims react violently when harassed. The phrase is often referenced online when mocking prank video creators for being abusive, threatening or unethical.
Origin
On May 14th, 2014, YouTuber DennisCeeTV uploaded a video titled “Selling Marijuana in the Hood Prank,” in which he says “it’s just a prank” when a victim pushes him for soliciting his table (shown below). In the next 15 months, the video gathered upwards of 1.1 million views and 650 comments.
Spread
On June 26th, 2014, the /r/ItsAPrank[1] subreddit was launched for prank videos featuring violent confrontations. On September 2nd, 2014, YouTuber DennisCeeTV uploaded a video titled “Stepping on Jordans in the Hood Prank,” in which the pranksters yell “it’s just a prank” when victims react violently to having their feet stepped on (shown below, left). In the next year, the video reached over 4.2 million views and 9,400 comments. On September 6th, YouTuber le sticky man uploaded a clip of the 9/11 WTC terrorist attacks with several audio samples of the phrase “It’s just a prank” playing in the background (shown below, right).
On September 24th, YouTuber JusReign uploaded a parody video in which he pranks people by murdering them (shown below, left). On October 11th, YouTuber TheNaturalRants uploaded a parody video entitled “Just A Prank: Sleeping with Friend’s Girlfriend” (shown below, right).
On December 27th, the /r/JustAPrank[3] subreddit was launched for violent prank video submissions. On January 29th, 2015, YouTuber moekazool uploaded a video compilation titled “It’s Just a Prank Bro,” highlighting clips of violent reactions in prank videos (shown below, left). On April 12th, 2015, an Urban Dictionary entry was created for “It’s just a prank bro!”[4] On May 15th, the YouTube comedy group Alpacalypse Productions uploaded a parody lampooning prank video creators (shown below, right).
On December 11th, 2015, popular Youtuber FilthyFrank uploaded a video titled “IT’S JUST A PRANKBRO,” parodying and mocking pranking videos which feature unethical behavior while the prankers expect no backlash; featuring guest appearances of JonTron and h3h3 Productions. In the next 6 weeks, the video managed to gather over 2.6 million views.
Search Interest
External Links
[1]Reddit – IT’S A PRANK
[2]Reddit – It’s just a prank bro!
[3]Reddit – Just A Prank
[4]Urban Dictionary – It’s just a prank, bro!!
About
But Can It Run Crysis? is a phrase referring to the 2007 Crytek first-person shooter Crysis, underscoring the reputation the game has obtained for it’s steep system requirements at the time of its release. The phrase has slowly evolved into a snowclone as years pass, substituting “But can it run X?” for the most recent and system-demanding title at the time.
Origin
Crysis was released on November 13th, 2007[1] by Crytek and Electronic Arts, and was developed on the (then) latest version of the CryEngine, which also powered Crytek’s first title, FarCry. It was amongst the first games to ever utilize Microsoft’s Direct X D3D10 API framework, which was exclusive to the Windows Vista operating system at the time, a feat prided by the Crytek developers, also stating that the game has over 1 million lines of code, uses over 1 GB of texture data, has over 85,000 shaders.
Since it’s release, Crysis has received universal acclaim, hailing it as the first true next-gen experience, with a Metacritic[2] aggregated score of 91 and multiple game of the year awards.
One of the earliest uses of the phrase comes from the bit-tech.net[3] article on the game posted December 15th, 2009, stating that “The question ‘Yeah, but can it play Crysis?’ [has become] a comical catchphrase addition to most graphics card reviews.” The article also questions the necessity of such taxing features on the game at release, and if this was a step in the right direction for gaming.
Spread
The phrase quickly became synonymous to PC gaming and was popular amongst many gaming outlets, with the phrase seeing use alongside queries of the user’s system specs. The phrase’s memetic status was also recognized by Crytek, inserting the phrase as an achievement in Crysis 2.[4] The phrase was referenced in several image macros (examples shown below).
Snowclone
“But Can It Run Crysis” has slowly evolved into a snowclone phrase over the years, as PC gaming has become more widespread and accessible thanks to lower priced PC peripherals and graphical advancements plateauing. The phrase has been changed to accommodate for more recent graphical milestones, such as RSI’s Star Citizen , changing into “But can it run X” (Minecraft example shown below).
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[3]bit-tech.net – Crysis – Did you upgrade?
[4]Crysis Wikia – Can It Run Crysis
About
I Have Failed You is an exploitable meme that depicts a scene from the Cartoon Network animated TV series Dexter’s Laboratory[1] in which the eponymous character looks up to a poster of Albert Einstein in his locker and says “I have failed you.” The picture is photoshopped to change Einstein to a character or person who is held in high regard by some groups.
Origin
In Season 1, Episode 3 titled “Dexter’s Rival,” originally aired on May 12th, 1996,[2] a new student named Mandark Astronomonov arrives at Dexter’s school and reveals himself to be both academically superior and evil, eventually forcing Dexter to shut down his lab. Shocked, Dexter looks up at a drawing of Albert Einstein taped on his locker’s door and says “I have failed you”.
Spread
The template grew into an exploitable in the early 2010s. Several varieties of the original image have been produced and posted on sites such as DeviantArt and FunnyJunk.. One of the early edits posted to DeviantArt was posted by amamortuum on March 31st, 2013 and featured Dexter saying the line to Adolf Hitler (shown below, left) DeviantArt user ryanthescooterguy posted a template for future exploitables (shown below, right).
“Boner For a Living Human Girl”
In September of 2017, a trend on /r/dankmemes involved taking the exploitable and replacing the picture with an animated female character, adding the caption, “When you accidentally get a boner for a living human girl.” On September 19th, user cravinpineapple[3] uploaded a version using a character from the film G-Force, gaining over 3,100 points (shown below, left). Another popular edit featured a character from Bionicle and gained over 1,400 points (shown below, right).
Various Examples
