My fiancée and I were talking about this the other day, and the conclusion we reached was that our language, as it always has, is evolving, and these new phrases are just as valid as anything anyone has said before. People don’t want to accept it, because they think of Internet memes as silly, and that’s where a lot of this language comes from (there’s also racism involved, because, of course there is), but it’s too late. That’s what English is now. Sucks to suck, fam.

i’m inclined to side with the initial tweet because I’m not a big fan of memes. I don’t have any data (because I don’t hold this opinion strongly) but it feels like so much more communication today is just references to other things. And I don’t think I believe that memes in academic papers are an “evolution” of the language - I think they’re doing it to get attention.

I’m not saying original statements are inherently better than repeated ones but “meme culture” is just posting the same thing over and over and it feels so…lazy and boring. I really struggle to understand how people enjoy seeing the same joke for the 100th time. As an example, any time a video game or movie introduced a cute animal, you’re guaranteed to see someone oh-so-cleverly add it to the “If anything happens to [name]…” template. Is there really no better way to express that you think an animal is cute? Did you really even want to express it or did you make it for Internet points?

I dunno. I guess I just don’t like the repetition of everything nowadays. It reminds me of a kid I went to school with who could not have a conversation without dropping in several Simpsons quotes…yeah man, I saw the episode and it was funny when Homer said that. It’s not very funny when you say it.

The repetition is what allows them to become language, though. Every meme that enters popular culture is essentially a metaphor, and, by being repeated over and over, and only changed slightly, the meaning is taught to the audience, and it evolves into an idiom.

There can be problems with description, precision, and audience knowledge, but that is true of any word or phrase. The difference is just the rapidity at which these new idioms are entering our language. As long as the author is competent, and ensures that there is enough context and relevance in the work, as is already a requirement of proper writing, restricting the use of meme language is unnecessary

I’m not sure how to phrase this well but I feel like you’re giving memes way too much credit by comparing them to idioms. There is nothing being added to the message when paired with a generic meme template so it’s not as much a method to express yourself as it is an attempt at giving the reader a dopamine hit when they recognize the image. It’s also different than words or phrases evolving because it’s the image template, not the words, giving the dopamine hit.

I think my issue with them can be described as this: Most memes aren’t made to communicate an idea, they’re made to get attention. They’re the visual equivalent of a clickbait headline and I don’t think they’re adding to or changing our language. If what you have to say is too banal to be said without an image template, why make it if not for those sweet sweet upvotes?

I’m not necessarily arguing here, just trying to find the right words to express my feelings on it.

Memes don’t end at the image though. And by now, lots of memes are more than just images. If I say I’m going to “yeet” something, most people (below a certain age) know what that means. They don’t all become language, but the better, more popular ones do. It’s the same way we get all our words, really. I don’t know where the term “blue blooded” comes from, but I can still use it. In the same way, I don’t know where “down bad” came from, but I still know I’m down bad for etymology, and the study of evolutionary linguistics. It’s all fascinating.

Yeet is an example of a word or idea that fits the original description of meme, though. My “issue” (using that word lightly) is the overuse of image templates in place of words