< Memetic Mutation

Memetic Mutation/Real Life

The once and future meme.

Memes aren't limited to the Internet, either. Just take a look at these gems that have spawned outside the confines of the computer lab.

Both Politics and Sports are memetic enough to gain their own sections.

Please add entries in the following format:

  • The meme. <ref>The explanation behind the meme.]]</ref> [1]
  • Antoine Dodson's "Hide your kids hide your wives hide your husbands cuz they rapin everybody out here" [2]
  • Charles Mackay's 1841 book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds includes a chapter on catchphrases that amount to Internet memes without the Internet or even computers, making this trope Older Than Radio.
  • If you need proof that this can be done out in the physical world, just remember that Andre The Giant has a posse, and Kilroy was here.
    • In addition it the "Kilroy" with "Kilroy was here" (see page image), sometimes it would say "Wot, no bacon?" (or any other heavily rationed food item, like sugar), thus well predating the Internet bacon obsession.
    • Kokopelli.[3]
  • The "... rules OK" graffitis and their variations.
  • The UK equivalent of "Post No Bills" signs are signs reading "Bill stickers will be prosecuted". Which, naturally, inspired graffiti artists to respond with "Bill Stickers is an innocent man" and the like.
    • William Stickers, the failed Communist ghost post-life citizen in Terry Pratchett's Johnny and the Dead, is named in reference to this.
    • While we're on the subject, Free Hat!
    • Also, this.
  • The card game The Spoils is rife with references to Internet memes and popular culture. Cards include A Series of Tubes, 0p3r4710n 1337 H4x0rz, and various other memes and internet references, including NEDM, Chuck Norris jokes, 1337 and computer games.
  • The Game
  • In Soviet Russia, meme mutates YOU! [4]
  • Drunk people in Mexico somehow became the greatest Internet fad in 2008. You can absolutely bet any Mexican youth with an internet connection will at least recognize the following names: "Dios Eolo" ("God Aeolus"), a drunk man who claims to have superpowers; "¡Me amarraron como puerrrrrco!" ("I was tied like a piiiiiiiig!") also know as "la canaca", a drunk man who insists on being able to drive under the influence; "Tengo Miedo" ("I'm Afraid"), a sober guy afraid of the alcohol meter; and "Qué pasó, muchacho?" ("What's up, boy?"), an awesomely drunk guy who wants to buy booze after 1:00 AM, when stores are not allowed to sell alcoholic drinks, famous for saying "¡Ni merga!" (kinda like "Fook no!") and the newest one "FUA!fuerza universal aplicada(is kinda like cosmos or ki)".
  • The Fauxtivational Poster. You know those motivational posters in offices and counsellors offices that expect you to be motivated solely through use of a pretty photograph and a trite saying ("Hope: It's the Tulip of Life that matters, not the Onion of Failure")? The existence of site such as this and this have allowed parodies of these posters - which, although less earnest, are usually a lot more effective - to spring up all over the web.
  • Since about 2001, you can't open a computer magazine without seeing the phrase, "(This/Next) year will be the year of Desktop Linux."
    • Well it is growing.
  • The terrorist Mas Selamat escaped from Singaporean captivity on 27 Feb 2008 through a toilet window. Amid the discussion, a netizen mockingly 'shopped his head onto a Prison Break poster, creating Toilet Break.
    • Also from Singapore, the 'Boomz' meme, which is remarkably similer to Miss South Carolina below, except this one involves Singapore's Miss World finalist, in a TV interview rather than the actual competition, and the question is more on fashions than geography... just see it for yourself.
    • Stupid Statement Dance Mix here.
    • The incident when a boy in NS made his maid carry his field pack, causing things like this to show up on forums: In addition, comic strips have spun up on newspapers parodying this.
  • We are not amused.
  • One from well before the days of the Internet: Vlad the Impaler, whose rather brutal reign inspired quite a few legends. There are numerous stories about various crimes in questionable circumstances brought before Vlad. Moreover, how the story ends usually depends on whether the teller views Vlad as a strict but just ruler who enjoyed the Secret Test of Character, or a Card-Carrying Villain who didn't care. Whether or not any of these actually happened is circumstantial at best. Of course, that's not even getting into other legends the man inspired.
  • Clapton is God.
  • In Spain, the Spanish Phrase "¿Por qué no te callas?" ("Why don't you shut up?") became a MEGA meme after the King of Spain yelled it at Hugo Chavez after the latter called the Spanish PM a fascist, even after his mike was cut.
  • "Don't taze me, bro!"
  • (worth a thousand pictures?): 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
  • "I don't really understand the hateful outrage. I don't understand, 'Die in a fire'."
  • The dingoes ate my baby.
  • Faxlore: Internet memes from before the Internet.
  • Aretha Franklin's Inauguration hat. It has been photoshopped onto hundreds upon hundreds of unsuspecting pictures already.
  • Why don't you fucking understand?!
  • I'll say sorry, but I'm not taking off my glasses.
  • The training of these poor creatures... to turn themselves into fighting machines is simply barbaric. Barbaric. Barbaric!... Barbaric!
  • Recently in Australia: "It was like CHK CHK BOOM!"
    • Jake has seen enough tonight.
    • I saw the glock 9....it was awesome.
    • Speaking as a Sydneysider...what is this?
    • For those who aren't Australian, this is referring to a woman who claimed she witnessed a shooting in Kings Cross. She later revealed that she made the whole thing up.
      • It was so obvious she was making it up. I don't think she actually thought that the reporter would be dumb enough to believe her.
  • There's a debatably-true story about the origin of the word 'quiz' which suggests that it originated when someone, for a bet, or maybe an experiment, chalked it on a bunch of walls around Dublin to get people talking about it. It worked, and the word caught on, eventually acquiring meaning.
  • During winter, there are cries of "SWINE FLU!" whenever anyone mentions that they have a cold.
  • Al Gore invented the internet.
    • "Sometimes, global warming means global cooling."
  • From Sweden we get: Vem vare' som kasta?! (Who threw that?!)
  • "Oh, the humanity!"
  • Dublin universities (especially UCD) - Pat Paterson's exploits and abilities appeared on every toilet door - he was Chuck Norris before the Chuck Norris meme existed. Apparently he was a real person, an Agricultural Science student who was very uncomfortable with fame. The meme got old around 2006, but isn't quite dead.
  • It should be known that Sean Turner kicks haemophiliacs. If you can think of anything that you shouldn't do, Sean Turner did it.
  • The letter I, followed by a heart, and then a piece of cheese, has been seen everywhere.
  • Two Words: Darth Benedict. Also known as Emperor Pope-atine.
  • Broccoli Kitten LOVES Broccoli.
  • At the 2009 VMA awards, Taylor Swift's speech--
  • Karl Pilkington has a head like a FUCKING orange.
  • "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey has gained meme status, especially after The Sopranos' non-ending. You burst out in song in a crowded area and see how many people join. It's rather impressive when it works.
    • In Detroit, the men they hire to play music at sporting events deliberately invoke this trope at every possible opportunity. They'll even mute the loudspeaker volume for the "born and raised in South Detroit" bit (despite the fact "South Detroit" isn't residential in the slightest), causing many a facepalming from visiting fans and television spectators. It's almost a REQUIREMENT to know the song if you're from the area... or at least that part of it anyways.
    • Doesn't help that "South Detroit" is a nickname for the Canadian city of Windsor.
  • Miss South Carolina Teen USA 2007 Caitlin Upton.
  • Diet Coke + Mentos = This.
  • David DeVore Jr after dentist.
  • Where the hell is Matt?
  • Will it blend?
  • WE GON' FIND YOU!
  • OW! CHARLIE BIT MY FINGER!
  • LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!
  • Ceci n'est pas une meme.
    • Ceci n'est même pas une meme?
  • Peniscoptor.
  • You can buy anything at Harrod's. Seriously. If you wanted to buy an elephant, they'd ship it to you (for the right price, of course.)
  • "Mad, bad, and dangerous to know." Everybody has heard it, although most people don't know it was coined to describe Lord Byron, making it Older Than Radio.
  • Ever since the Chilean right-wing newspaper "El Mercurio" was caught blatantly lying about the university protests and occupations of 1967, every Chilean person knows that "EL MERCURIO MIENTE!" ("EL MERCURIO LIES").
  • WHOOP WHOOP Pull up. WHOOP WHOOP Pull up.[5]
    • What?
  • I'M PRESSIN' CHARGES!!!!!
  • "This is a test. This is only a test..."[6]
  • A few years ago in Australia, the Yellow Pages showed an ad where an unfortunate employee forgot to place the company's ad in the Yellow Pages. The owner screaming "NOT! HAPPY! JAN!" became a meme for someone who's really pissed - it even became a popular protest sign against then-Prime Minister John Howard, "Not Happy, John".
  • The recent eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which covered the European skies with thick ash that grouned planes, had spwaned the phrase I HATE ICELAND!!!
    • From a Scot.
  • The phenomenon of the Czech genius Jára Cimrman [dead link] . He received a number of votes at the Greatest Czech contest, and had an asteroid (and almost a mountain) named after him.
    • He is also entirely fictitious, a subject and purported author of a number of plays at the Czech Jára Cimrman Theater; but as the above demonstrates, playing along with the joke of his actual existence is very much a part of the phenomenon.
  • "Always blow on the pie."
    • "Safer communities together."
  • "Do Americans really call ... ...'s?" Enter something normal like, "basketball", for the latter and something humorous for the former, like "loopty-swoops". It's based off a few people asking about the American versions of English words in that manner. A variation is "lol at Americans calling ... ...."
  • Disney Theme Parks: They're going to add a loop!
    • The WDWMagic community has The Ladder, whose presence at any construction site is a good sign for the upcoming attraction or, in it's initial appearance during Mission Space's construction, being the epic ride itself.
  • Yo dawg, I heard you like memes, so we put memes in your memes so you can mutate while you mutate.
  • You ain't got no pancake mix!
    • There's no pancake mix in there!
  • Hey man I'm fucking Trent
  • "You are so dumb! You are really dumb, FOR REAL."
  • From Miss Universe 2010: This is a MAJOR MAJOR MEME!
  • The HAZMATs are here, to steal all our coffee.
  • Cheer up Keanu!
  • When memes collide.
  • "My name is Mud.", popularly attributed to Dr. Samuel Mudd. At least in American English, the phrase is synonymous with calling yourself a fuckup; considering Dr. Mudd was the doctor who tended to the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth (who infamously assassinated Abraham Lincoln at the Ford theatre in 1865), crediting him with the phrase is rather appropriate.
  • "I wish I could talk in Technicolor..."
  • Urban Legends are often the product of memetic mutation. Many of them are the result of true events being retold, and occasionally modified to change things like the location an event took place, the company involved in a business-related legend, or the time period of a time-dependent legend. Thus they get sent around in a form that's utterly detached from reality.
  • If you ain't living life the Charlie Sheen way, you're not WINNING.
    • Tiger Blood Milkshakes.
  • The 2011 Royal Wedding produced two gems: there's Frowning Flower Girl, and Princess Catherine's sister Pippa, who has a butt so fine that it warrants a fan page on Facebook.
  • The Winnebago concepts and engineering departments have developed a multi-functional bathroom, privacy I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE FUCK I'M READING!
  • A badly-photoshopped picture from the official government website of Huili County (Sichuan, China) gave rise to numerous parodies.
  • Mario Batali is a baking troll.
  • Straight from Jamaica: "Nobody canna cross it!".[7]
  • Pluto's not a planet.
    • Yes, it is.
      • A Dwarf planet, yes.
  • When the Alice stories were being written a popular meme around London was "WHO are YOU?". Now, of course, it's immortalizing as the dialog of the smoking Caterpillar.
  • Adding the phrase "big, gay" the front of things. I don't know what where it came from, but it's pretty prevalent. Examples:
  • Hipsters are a pretty obscure source of memes. You probably haven't heard of them.
    • I only (do something) ironically.
    • I liked All The Tropes before it was cool.[8]
  • Pepper Spray Cop.[9]
  • In Denmark, a few years ago, a cop got caught on camera calling an anti-Israel protester a "perker", which is a nasty racial slur for immigrants of Arab or African descent. The police chief's defense of her cop quickly became memetic - she stated that the cop had said "perle", not "perker". "Perle", of course, means "pearl". This led to immigrants snarky calling themselves "pearls". It seems to have mostly died down in mainstream Danish media, but it's still common immigrant slang.
  • "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for all?" [10]
  • Honey Badger don't give a shit. [11]
  • Are you choking? Are you pregnant? [12]

"If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again."

  1. ↑ Like this.
  2. ↑ A news report of Antoine Dodson's sister's attempted rape that went viral. Was Auto Tuned into the song Bedroom Intruder.
  3. ↑ A doodle of a humpbacked flute player with strange protrusions on his head (possibly feathers, antennae, or wild hair). He has gained fame and popularity similar to the aforementioned Kilroy's, and appears on countless products like T-shirts and keychains. Interestingly, Kokopelli was originally a fertility god of the American Southwest, and his picture originally appeared in Native American petroglyphs and pictographs.
  4. ↑ A statement that everything is backwards in Soviet Russia. See Ass Kicks You for one end result.
  5. ↑ Cockpit alarm many airplanes have when they are dropping altitude to fast, or are too low for safe flight.
  6. ↑ The Emergency Alert System test warning
  7. ↑ Based on an actual news report about the lack of a proper river-bridge in a rural community named Roberts Field, St. Andrew; the quote comes from Clifton Brown (since nicknamed "Cliff Twang"), a resident who was interviewed by the reporter and spoke in a "posh" American twang in order to try and make a good impression; pieces of the news report and Brown's statements were spliced together into a music video by creator Kevin "DJ Powa" Hamilton. An edited clip of the original news report can be found here.
  8. ↑ A catchphrase commonly attributed to hipsters, related to the perception of them disliking "mainstream" things. Also explains the two memes above.
  9. ↑ During an Occupy protest at University of California Davis, the police reacted by spraying a crowd of seated protestors on a sidewalk with pepper spray. A still from video or still photograph of one of the cops became Pepper Spray Cop.
  10. ↑ This is a common way of describing what a Barred Owl's call sounds like.
  11. ↑ The Honey Badger (AKA "Ratel") has gained something of a Memetic Badass reputation due to its fearless nature.
  12. ↑ A Military meme, due to a training video on the Heimlich maneuver in Basic Training stating that this is the first thing you ask someone before performing said procedure. Since the delivery in the video was full of Narm, the military is mostly male and t can be seen as a fat joke, it became an immediate classic.
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