Memes to moimois is freaking funny (me = moi in French)

I really thought meme originated from the French meme, meaning self. I thought ppl used it like me_irl, moi meme. I’m realizing this is based on nothing and I might have totally made it up.

imo the actual etymology is weirder

it was invented by richard dawkins in the selfish gene in the 1970s

it’s used to describe an “idea-gene”; something that spreads and mutates not through biological means but through communication

like a mind-virus

hence why it sounds like a portmanteau of “memory” and “gene”