Though the internet is known for its fierce love of cats, 2012 brought some new furry, slimy and feathery friends into our internet lives. Throughout the year, many of these animals provided a daily dose of cute and a welcome distraction from our hectic everyday lives.
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Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s Top 10 Review looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events and people that defined the Internet culture in 2012 as we know it. And brace yourselves, the grand finale list Best Memes of 2012 is coming soon!
Many slang terms proliferated across the web this year, spreading through forum posts, image macros and even Twitter hash tags. The Know Your Meme staff have gone back and analyzed a plethora of these Internet phrases and abbreviations, narrowing down 10 of the year’s most significant. There were several slang terms that didn’t quite make the cut but still deserve honorable mention, including Curlbro, Rack City, Meh and 5ever.
| Definition | Shorthand for the colloquialism “You what, mate?” used by English speakers from the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, typically used as an incredulous response to an incoherent proposition |
| Etymology | The online l33t-style shorthand of “M8” was first noted on Urban Dictionary in November of 2002 and the phrase “U WOT M8” was first used as a caption for an image of a confused-looking man in 2011. |
| Usage | Person A: I like turtles. Person B: U WOT M8? |
| Variants | LOLWOT M8, Say hello to my little U WOT m8 |
| Synonyms | O RLY?, LOLWut, Wat, WTF |
| Definition | A phrase used to caption a reaction image featuring a gold star, often used in a sarcastic and condescending manner to express feigned sympathy toward a failed attempt at humor or insult |
| Etymology | Believed to have originated on Tumblr sometime in May of 2012 |
| Usage | Person A: And then I said “U mad?” Person B: You tried. |
| Variants | you tried too hard, there was an attempt, i tried so hard and got so far but in the end it doesn’t even matter |
| Synonyms | Nailed It, Seems legit, 2deep4u |
| Definition | A slang term short for “swollen” used to describe someone who has developed large muscles or a well-defined physique from lifting weights |
| Etymology | Urban Dictionary user Dan P. submitted a definition for the term on April 27th, 1998 |
| Usage | I can’t wait to go to the gym and get swole. |
| Variants | Old swole, Bad Luck Brian gets swole, Hipster swole |
| Synonyms | Curlbro, Bro |
| Definition | Used to humorously convey excitement or anticipation |
| Etymology | Originally spoken by Nintendo executive Reggie Fils-Aime during a demonstration of the Wii Fit at an E3 press conference held on July 11th, 2007 |
| Usage | Person A: Did you hear that Half-Life 3 is finally coming out? Person B: My body is ready. |
| Variants | Body, are you ready, my body is groovy, My anatomical structure is most certainly adapted for the current situation |
| Synonyms | Dis gon b gud, Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo |
| Definition | Shorthand for “crazy,” indicating that something is profound, absurd or unbelievable |
| Etymology | Coined by YouTuber Andrew Gunadie on January 7th, 2011 and was used in the song “Niggas in Paris” by Kanye West and Jay-Z off their 2011 collaboration album Watch the Throne |
| Usage | Person A: The moon landing was faked by the government. Person B: That sh*t cray. |
| Variants | cray cray, that sh*t cray |
| Synonyms | Impossibru, Where is your god now?, Are you a wizard? |
| Definition | Used to express sympathy toward someone else’s emotional state or used to invoke an emotion felt in a specific context |
| Etymology | Used as early as May 2010 on the German image board Krautchan |
| Usage | Person A: That feel when you see police lights in your rear-view mirror Person B: I know that feel bro. |
| Variants | Why can’t I hold all these feels?, Feel with it, Do you even feel? |
| Synonyms | Manly tears, Feels Good Man, MFW |
| Definition | Shorthand for “swagger,” indicating a type of style or presence that exudes confidence |
| Etymology | “Swagger” saw a modern resurgence through its usage in hip hop lyrics, starting with Jay-Z in September of 2011 and “swag” was later popularized by rappers Soulja Boy and Lil B in 2010 |
| Usage | I forgot to turn my swag off and woke up covered in b*tches |
| Variants | I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over my swag, #swag Spider-Man, #swagrid |
| Synonyms | Jack my swag, I’m so fresh you can suck my nuts, Suburban Hardass |
| Definition | A condescending expression used to criticize someone’s fitness expertise or weight lifting routine |
| Etymology | Body Building Forums member bubbaT used the phrase to insult forum member squirrel on February 16th, 2002 |
| Usage | Person A: I’m getting so swole from all these bicep curls. Person B: Do you even lift? |
| Variants | Did ancient aliens even lift?, Do you even gift?, Do you even science? |
| Synonyms | That’s cute, Mansplaining, Condescending Wonka |
| Definition | An acronym for the phrase “you only live once,” which is often used to excuse irresponsible behaviors or bring attention to exciting events |
| Etymology | Attributed to Adam Mesh from the third season of the NBC reality show The Average Joe, who launched the “You Only Live Once” clothing line on March 20th, 2004 |
| Usage | Person A: Why are you playing video games? Shouldn’t you be studying for final? Person B: YOLO. |
| Variants | YOWO, YLMT, OOYL |
| Synonyms | Carpe diem, hakuna matata, the answer to life, the universe and everything, FML |
| Definition | An expression that is used to convey feelings of discontent or discomfort in response to someone else’s post in imageboards and discussion forums, most notably on 4chan |
| Etymology | The phrase originated from FunnyJunk with an image macro of a a frowning gorilla posted by an anonymous user on June 16th, 2010 |
| Usage | Person A: Did you see that new advice animal entry on Know Your Meme?Person B: Yes, I did. That really rustled my jimmies. |
| Variants | I Have Evolved Beyond The Need for Jimmies, You cannot even imagine how unrustled our jimmies are, Shh no tears only dreams now |
| Synonyms | FFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU, Actually it’s not OK, Son I’m disappoint |
Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s Top 10 Review looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events and people that defined the Internet culture in 2012 as we know it. And brace yourselves, the grand finale list Best Memes of 2012 is coming soon!
Though fandoms have been around since the days of Star Trek, many fandoms surrounding a variety of media including bands, video games, television shows, movies and webcomics flourished on the web. Though we cannot cover them all, we must give an honorable mention to the following:
Now, on to the list!
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Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s Top 10 Review looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events and people that defined the Internet culture in 2012 as we know it. And brace yourselves, the grand finale list Best Memes of 2012 is coming soon!
2012 had its fair share of strange occurrences, many of which spread through various sites across the Internet. Know Your Meme took a look back at some of this year’s most “WTF” memes, narrowing down ten of the most signicant. Some that didn’t quite make the cut include the New York City Cryptic Subway Code, Satoru Iwata Holding Bananas, Super Saiyans are Real, Prince Harry’s Naked Army and the Weird Part of YouTube.
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Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s Top 10 Review. looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events and people that defined the Internet culture in 2012 as we know it. And brace yourselves, the grand finale list Best Memes of 2012 is coming soon!
This year, it seemed like every big internet happening came with its own novelty Twitter account. Although many were abandoned after a handful of tweets in a few days, these ten accounts stuck most of the year out, with some even tweeting long past the event they were created for. Throughout the year, parody accounts were also created outside of the realm of newsworthy events. These personalities manifested on the microblogging site as defined through hobbies, mixing philosophy with celebrity and nostalgia for Web 1.0.
Following the east coast landfall of Hurricane Sandy on October 28th, several parody Twitter accounts were established to give humorous voices to the so-called superstorm. Despite the removal of the short-lived parody account @AHurricaneSandy, @realsandycane quickly took over its place with a tweet about canceling Halloween. The account was also known for tossing in name puns and altered song lyrics to its stories of desctruction.
THISBITCHtwitter.com/realsandycane/…
— HURRICANESANDY (@realsandycane) October 30, 2012
Though Jaded Punk Hulk is not the first The Incredible Hulk novelty account, it was the fastest growing instance to be created in 2012. Run by a New York-based punk rock fan, the account oftentimes criticizes the crowds at local shows, talks about his favorite bands (especially Black Flag) and comments on the musically oblivious and hipster culture while maintaining the superhero’s atypical grammar. The creator also maintains a Facebook page and OkCupid profile under the persona for fans who want more than just 140 characters.
20 YEARSAGO, IF YOUHADNECKTATTOO, IT SIGNNOT TO MESSWITHYOU. IF YOUHAVEONENOW, IT SIGNTHATYOURIDEBIKE TO JOB AT STARBUCKS.
— JADEDPUNKHULK (@JADEDPUNKHULK) October 23, 2012
Inspired by an Apple commercial starring actress Zooey Deschanel and the iPhone personal assistant program Siri, this parody account began tweeting both silly and serious questions that Deschanel would ask Siri, all disguised in a playful or cutesy manner. The account has touched on various stereotypes of the quirky hipster girl that Deschanel has come to embody, such as what restaurants allow guests to draw on the tablecloth, what the real fabric of our lives is and how to grow a moustachemoustache. Creator Curtis Dickerson averaged seven tweets per day between May and June.
Siri, are Wes Anderson films shot in Instagram?
— Zooey Asks Siri (@ZooeySiri) June 28, 2012
Almost immediately after Angelina Jolie appeared on the red carpet at the 84th Academy Awards ceremony in a revealing dress, this Twitter handle was established to celebrate the Hollywood actress’ enviable leg line. Within hours, it gathered more than 12,000 followers through a series of tweets asking people to pay attention to it. After the ceremony, the account continued updating with opinions on music, the latest iPad and Barack Obama. It is unclear who runs the account, but a October 9th tweet claims they were hired by viral content site Buzzfeed.
You have to admit I’m one hell of a leg.
— Angelina Jolie’s Leg (@AngiesRightLeg) February 27, 2012
This tongue-in-cheek undercover account operates under the guise of trolling teenagers from Prescott, Arizona with hilariously awkward-sounding tweets soliciting random people to do something illegal (and thus incriminate themselves). Among the best of his tweets are attempts at scoring drugs, purchasing stolen goods and finding Hot Topic shoplifters. Two weeks after this account was created, @NotPolice began tweeting in a similar fashion with the same avatar, gaining nearly 46,000 followers between October and December. It is unknown if they are the same person, however @NotAPoliceman has threatened to call the cops on @NotPolice
Send Me A Pic Of Your Favorite Meth Lab
— Not A Cop (@NotAPoliceman) October 5, 2012
While giving his endorsement speech for Mitt Romney at the Republican National Convention in August, iconic American actor Clint Eastwood raised some curious eyebrows when he started addressing an empty chair as if President Barack Obama were on stage with him. Approximately five minutes into the speech, an anonymous Twitter user registered the handle @InvisibleObama to counter Eastwood’s rhetorics as the invisible President. The account attracted more than 50,000 followers in 24 hours as it tweeted about transparency, global warming and its thoughts on the Eastwooding photo fad. Though the election is over, the account continues to tweet about television shows and the holiday season.
FOURMORELEGS.
— Invisible Obama (@InvisibleObama) November 7, 2012
Following in the footsteps of 2011’s @Justin_Buber, this account combines the happy-go-lucky attitude of reality star Kim Kardashian with the existential thoughts of 19th century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. The topics range from twerking and the distraction that is her own show to the “summery” nature of Shakespeare. Gaining more than 10,000 followers in just a few weeks, it paved the way for more celebrity/philosopher mashup accounts like @Kantye_West and @NietzschiMinaj.
Contouring is an amazing way to shape your nose & define your cheeks, but only terror to the point of despair develops a man to his utmost.
— KimKierkegaardashian (@KimKierkegaard) October 12, 2012
British comedian Colin Trevor Grey launched this parody of Fifty Shades of Grey in June, tweeting pictures of sexy-looking grey sheds. After several photos, the account began tweeting strange erotica lines, explaining an obsession with S&M (sheds and mowers). This later progressed into how his female partner liked to torture him with a Sex and the City box set. A book inspired by the tweets with the tagline “Erotica for the not-too-modern male” was published in September.
She gazed up at me wide-eyed from the shed floor and bit her lip seductively. Unfortunately it was her top lip so she looked like a piranha.
— Fifty Sheds of Grey (@50ShedsofGrey) July 15, 2012
The same day Curiosity landed on Mars, this Twitter account sprang up to give a sarcastic point of view to the rover. Among other things, the parody account has asked to come home, commented on the beer preference of Martian hipsters and claimed to have discovered inner strength and aliens. In an October interview with ScienceNews, creator Jason Filiatrault said he imagines this rover as “a tired government worker” whose bitter inner thoughts are sugarcoated for the public.
The fact that America is more worried about the loss of Twinkies than a manned space program is cause for concern.
— SarcasticRover (@SarcasticRover) November 16, 2012
Evoking the nostalgia of twenty-something internet users who grew up with Windows 95, America Online and the sweet sounds of dial-up internet, @YourAwayMessage shares stereotypical inside jokes, inspirational quotes and song lyrics that might as well have been your away messages when you were still using AOL’s instant messaging service. Created by NYC-based photographer @SoCarolineSays, the overly dramatic tweets often overuse tildes, drawn out punctuation and alternating capital letters to mimic the ways teenagers communicated in the 2000s.
the truth is you could slit my throat & with my one last gasping breath I’d apologize for bleeding on your shirt…:-\
— your away message (@YourAwayMessage) September 14, 2012
As the year comes to an end, it is now time to take a moment to look back at some of the most notable memes and happenings in 2012. It was both a tumultuous and exciting year for many of us, as we saw a number of trends continuing down from the previous year as well as some groundbreaking developments that redefined the Internet culture as we know it:
 | *Sh*t People Say* is a series of parody videos exploring social, ethnic and gender stereotypes using the phrasal template “Sh*t X says.” Inspired by a single topic blog and web series titled “Sh*t Girls Say,” these videos showcase a colorful spectrum of cliches and verbal mannerisms that are often overheard in our daily lives.
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 | “What People Think I Do” is a series of visual charts depicting a range of preconceptions associated with a particular field of occupation or expertise. Unlike image macro series that are based on singular stereotypes like Advice Animals, this series compares varying impressions about one’s profession held by others, self-image and the often mundane reality of the job.
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 | Overly Attached Girlfriend is an advice animal image macro featuring webcam picture of a girl and various captions portraying her in the stereotype of an overprotective and clingy girlfriend. Since rising to accidental fame, the subject of the meme has revealed her identity as a 20 year old college student named Laina Walker and now runs her own YouTube channel.
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 | Ermahgerd (also known as “Gersberms” and “Berks”), a lisped pronunciation of “oh my god,” is an image macro series featuring a photo of a young woman holding several books from the children’s horror fiction series Goosebumps. The phonetically written captions are meant to sound like a speech impediment caused by the use of an orthodontic retainer, often using the snowclone template “Ermahgerd X.”
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 | Ridiculously Photogenic Guy (RPG) is a photoshop meme and advice animal featuring a photo of a smiling man called Zeddie Little running in the 2012 Cooper River Bridge Run. The photo gained notoriety online after being posted to the social news website Reddit where users found the man to be exceptionally handsome.
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 | “Somebody That I Used to Know” is a 2011 indie pop song by the Australian singer-songwriter Gotye, with additional vocals by the New Zealand singer Kimbra. In January 2012, the song and music video received massive online attention with the YouTube release of a multi-hands guitar cover by Walk Off the Earth, inspiring a series of remixes, covers and parodies.
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 | Kony 2012 is an online vigilant campaign which aims to arrest the Ugandan guerrilla group leader and head of the Lord’s Resistance Army Joseph Kony before the end of 2012. The operation seeks to create viral media to raise awareness about Kony’s use of children as soldiers and sex slaves in order to urge the American government to assist the Ugandan military in capturing him.
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 | “Call Me Maybe” is a 2011 dance pop single recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen. The song rose to fame online after being endorsed by pop star Justin Bieber in December 2011. Since its release, the song has inspired many lip dub tributes, parodies and covers on the video sharing site YouTube.
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 | Grumpy Cat is a nickname given to an angry looking snowshoe cat that gained online fame after its pictures were posted to Reddit on late September 2012 and went viral. The cat is also known as “Tard” which is short for Tardar (Tartar) Sauce.
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 | “Gangnam Style” s a 2012 dance pop single written and performed by Korean pop singer Park Jae Sung, better known by his stage name PSY. Since its release in mid-July 2012, the highly entertaining music video has spawned hundreds of parodies and copycat dance videos on YouTube and surpassed Justin Bieber’s single “Baby” as the most watched video on YouTube with over 826 million views, as of November 26th, 2012.
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The poll results are in! Last week we asked you to vote on your favorite meme of the year, providing choices based on our assessment of site analytics data from this year. Some of the memes that didn’t quite make the cut, but deserve honorable mention, include Would Not Bang,YOLO,Binders Full of Women,Olympics or Gay Porn and Kony 2012.
 McKayla is Not Impressed is a photoshop meme featuring a photograph of United States gymnast McKayla Maroney wearing a scowling expression during the 2012 Olympic Games in London. | Meme Details * Origin: Tumblr * Medium / Type: Image / Photoshop * Readers’ Choice: Obama and McKayla * Researcher’s Choice: McKayla Trolls Sandra Izbasa Brad says: “I like the one where McKayla is making the face while hugging the gold medalist Sandra Izbasa and there’s an offensive note tagged on her back.”
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 What People Think I Do is a series of visual charts depicting a range of preconceptions associated with a particular field of occupation or expertise. | Meme Details
The Brawler says: “I always get a kick out of the humor people use to point out that artistic and media-centric careers often have to have back-up jobs.”
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 Ridiculously Photogenic Guy is a photoshop meme and advice animal featuring a photo of a smiling man called Zeddie Little running in the 2012 Cooper River Bridge Run. | Meme Details
Platus says: “Sometimes I feel bad for all of the other people in that picture who didn’t get any attention, so seeing someone make a macro out of this person made me very happy.”
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 Overly Attached Girlfriend is an advice animal image macro featuring webcam picture of a girl and various captions portraying her in the stereotype of an overprotective and clingy girlfriend. | Meme Details
The United States of Hulkamania says: “Well, my favorite instance of this meme would be the image macros, because they made this meme what it’s known for.”
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 Ermahgerd, a lisped pronunciation of “oh my god,” is an image macro series featuring a photo of a young woman holding several books from the children’s horror fiction series Goosebumps. | Meme Details
Platus says: “It found an object that happened to resemble this meme and then integrated it into the macro and used the old phrase in a new way while still making complete sense.”
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 Botched Ecce Homo Painting refers to the failed restoration of a century-old Spanish devotional fresco, executed by an elderly amateur art restorer. | Meme Details
Triple Z says: “It’s very clever, the image mixes Dolan’s bizarre humor and the failed restoration.”
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 Bad Luck Brian is an image macro series featuring a photo of a blonde teenage boy wearing a plaid sweater vest and braces, accompanied by captions that describe a variety of embarrassing and tragic occurrences. | Meme Details
Don says: “Bonus points if you understand the reference.”
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 Gangnam Style is a 2012 dance pop single written and performed by Korean pop singer Park Jae Sung, better known by his stage name PSY. | Meme Details
opspe says: “I just about died the first time I saw it. It’s one of the most hilarious juxtapositions I’ve ever seen.”
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 Grumpy Cat is a nickname given to an angry looking snowshoe cat named “Tardar Sauce” that gained online fame after its pictures were posted to Reddit on late September 2012. | Meme Details
Amanda says: Nothing can compare to the combination of Three Wolf Moon with Tardar Sauce’s precious scowl. The additional face in the moon makes it all the more magical."
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 ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) is an emoticon created with unicode character symbols that is often used to spam forums and image boards, similar to the Japanese word “desu”. | Meme Details
RandomMan says: “As hilarious as some of the photoshops may have been, emoticons are still a simple type of reaction faces. And that gif is the most brilliant of them all.”
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As 2012 draws to a close, we would like to take some time to thank our users for their hard work over the year. From editing entries to uploading media, everything you do at Know Your Meme is appreciated and makes our database more and more comprehensive. In addition to Olivia Gulin‘s original badges from last year’s Thanks Awards, we’ve added several new specialist awards to honor those who have made significant research contributions to emerging subcultures and hub sites. Bummed out you didn’t get an award for you research? Shh, there is no need to be upset. You’re just as special and we’re equally thankful for everyone who participated in meme research and discussions. The new badges were designed by Jill Denkmann.
 |  About: I came here to mostly support Know Your Meme in researching Japanese Internet memes. |
 |  No profile information is available for this user. Marson, if you’re reading this, feel free to contact the staff and introduce yourself! |
 |  About: Hi, I’m Doctor Horse, but you may know me as the silent/insane/omgthat’salottapics image dumper poster on KYM. I live in Brazil, like ponu art (lot’s of it), video games and the internet culture in general. Just want to say that searching pics has become like my job for this site, and I love when people appreciate my posts. |
 |  About: I listen to music. A lot of music. |
 |  About: I like Osaka and Trixie. And Vriska. |
 |  About: Silver Chariot, reporting for duty. What can I say about me? I’m weird, weird in a good way. |
 |  About: Hi. I like narwhals. |
 |  About: Hey, I’m Verbose (in name and in correspondence.) I’m not really “from the Internet,” but the Internet has been a lot of fun. I like ponus, pokémon, anime, chiptunes, pones, apples, video game music, interesting conversation, poneis, funny image macros, and Twilight Sparkle. I may also be a deer. |
 |  About: When I first stumbled upon this site, I never expected that I would put so much effort into it later. Look where that thought brought me. |
 |  About: I still love salmon! |
 |  About: I’m an adolescent italian, who lives in Switzerland and loves Anime, My Little Pony, YouTube Poop (Music Video), MAD, House Music and I have a YouTube channel! |
 |  About: One of those mods that everyone thinks is a furry. |
 |  About: Thank You Based God. |
 |  About: I actually hate memes. |
 |  About: I am a cartoonist, both online and in print, a writer, and a video artist. I am a Christian who’s passionately in love with my savior. I am an amateur internet culture analyst who would love to be more than an amateur. And I am happy to help you in any way I can; just feel free to ask. |
Grumpy Cat is the nickname given to Tard, a snowshoe cat from Arizona who rose to internet fame for her adorably angry looking face. Tard’s viral stardom began in late September when her caretaker’s brother posted a picture on Reddit and steadily grew stronger throughout the last quarter of the year, spawning a slew of grumpy jokes about the holiday seasons and the Mayan doomsday rumor on December 21st, 2012.
IKEA Monkey is the nickname given to Darwin, a Japanese snow macaque that was found wandering around an IKEA store in Toronto, Canada in early December. According to the owner Yasmin Nakhuda, Darwin escaped from the crate in her car while she was shopping in the store and roamed around the area for almost an hour before being taken in by animal control. And it certainly didn’t take long until pictures of the monkey reached the pipelines of Twitter and Reddit, where he was met with instant approval, not to mention a handful of photoshopped images, a parody Twitter account and even some fancy fan artworks.
Actual Advice Mallard is an advice animal series featuring a photograph of a male wild duck accompanied by life hacks and other practical tips for our everyday lives. Although a few instances of Actual Advice Mallard have been circulating on Reddit since June 2011, the meme didn’t gain momentum until recently in December, when Redditor Gonten’s tip on microwaving pizza reached the front page with more than 16,600 upvotes and 900 comments. In addition, the surge in its popularity also gave way to its antithetical character Malicious Advice Mallard.
The Hawkeye Initiative is an art movement in which illustrators and fan artists swap out images of seductive looking female super heroes with the male Marvel superhero Hawkeye, one of The Avengers. The character swapping fad began in early December after webcomic artist Noelle Stevenson proposed on her Tumblr blog that all sex-symbolic or seductive depictions of female superheroins should be replaced with Hawkeye posing in the same manner. Throughout the month, many other artists on Tumblr responded to Stevenson’s call with fan art illustrations featuring gender-swapped superheroes as well as a single topic blog to curate them, culminating in what is now known as the Hawkeye Test: “If your female character can be replaced by Hawkeye in the same pose without looking silly or stupid, then it’s acceptable and probably non-sexist.”
Golden Eagle Snatches Kid is a viral video hoax purportedly showing a large golden eagle trying to carry away a toddler. Following its release via YouTube in December, the video gained several millions of views in the first 24 hours and sparked an in-depth, multimedia discussion over its authenticity. After a few debunking attempts later, the video was confirmed as a CGI hoax created by a group of students at the Centre NAD art school in Montreal, Canada.
KYMdb Offline Crisis Response Initiative (OCRI)
At approximately 9 a.m. (ET), Know Your Meme’s main tubular network systems were suddenly brought down (reasons of which are still being investigated by the tubular network system cyber-security commission at this time) and as a result, the database is currently only capable of processing memes that were validated in time before the Internet as we know it, in time before the Internet meme was a thing.
Given these circumstances, the Know Your Meme tubular network system cyber-security commission is hereby declaring a state of offline crisis, effective as of April 1st, 2013. You are now in a queue. The site will return to its normal operations once the tubular network system has been fully restored to its capacity.
In the meantime, please submit entries relating to memes that are outside the domain of the Internet. This means anything from postal chain letters, century-old pub songs and rock paper scissors to papermaking, Santa Claus and heck, even Marxism. Basically, the history of the human civilization is ours to document. If you’re a “glass-is-half-full” kind of person, that’s even kind of exciting. Now think big!
hile attending the New York City Comic Convention on October 11th, 2013, I got to spend some time talking with three members of the Rooster Teeth Productions team about their latest project RWBY, a video series about a group of teenage girls training to become monster hunters. I sat down with Monty Oum, RWBY‘s creator and Rooster Teeth’s Director of Animation, writer and co-director Kerry Shawcross and writer and director of Red Vs. Blue Season 11, Miles Luna for a talk about their favorite creations, writing process and, of course, their feelings on shipping.
Q: You’ve worked with so many different types of media, what’s your favorite medium to work with?
Kerry: We’ve been in animation for awhile now and that’s really fun to do. It’s definitely very challenging just because so many things are locked in zones, like we decided we were going to do it this way four months ago, I guess we’re doing it this way even if we changed our mind a little bit.
Monty: But the return on that is great, because when you see something and you’re like “oh, that’s exactly how I pictured it would go,” that’s always great.
Miles: I’ve always been a huge fan of animation, I’m not talented enough to do it myself, but those that can are a huge inspiration. I just love the impossible things you can do in animation that you can’t do any other way.
Q: From any of the things you’ve worked on, what episode or series are you the most proud of?
Monty: It varies, lately, it’s RWBY (shown below) and as stressful as it is with the deadlines and the compromises we have to make, it’s still probably my favorite thing to work on because you get so much freedom to do what you want to do to the point where you’re like “the only thing that’s stopping me is time.” That’s obviously a great thing to have.
Miles: Right now, my absolutely favorite thing to work on is RWBY, but the thing that I’m most proud of? I think it would be episode 12 of season 10 of Red vs. Blue (shown below), it was an episode that no one thought could be done because every shot of it was a composite shot of essentially trying to find a map that would work as a green screen in Halo 3 and then rotoscoping and frame-by-frame stuff, it was incredibly…
Monty: It was incredibly challenging.
Miles: Yeah, and it was a dramatic episode of Red vs. Blue, a show that is widely known for its comedy.
Monty: That was me and Miles’ start on working today as animator and writer, essentially, and also a little bit director too -- I just said “hey Miles, wouldn’t it be great if we did this?” and then Miles wrote the scene.
Miles: It turned out really well, and a lot of people say it’s their favorite episode and that is the highest honor I could ever receive
Monty: To fulfill on these characters who, for so long had almost been missing each other and just to finally come to terms with this message… If you don’t know, it’s a scene where one person who is dead leaves a message from beyond the grave for another person who they were good comrades with. It had a lot of resonance, it was like a five or six year payoff for these two characters.
Kerry: Obviously RWBY, because it’s the thing I’ve had the most say in, but also Simple Walk, just because that was a dumb idea that I came up with that ended up into what I think is a really good series
Miles: A Simple Walk into Mordor (shown below) is one of my favorite things that our company has ever made. And I still can’t believe that you two idiots happened to do that without dying. I was so afraid you were going to get stabbed!
Monty: I was so glad you didn’t die.
Miles: yeah, honestly a lot of us were worried.
Kerry: We went to New Zealand for six days and we had no communication with anybody whatsoever because none of our phones worked because we were all American. I finally got to a wi-fi zone and I had 15 emails from people in the company that were like “Are you ok, I heard there was volcanoes. Is everything fine”? and we just sent out one email, “Yep we didn’t die, we’re fine.” I think the subject was “We’re alive.”
Q: How do you guys maintain a consistent voice with so many different contributors?
Miles: It’s tricky…reviews.
Monty: We do a lot of pickups and retakes. There have been times when we’re like “that sounds a little too Kara.”
Kerry: It’s a lot of being honest and blunt.
Monty: Believe me, the actors will all welcome that review and criticism, even our seasoned actors are very open to criticism and feedback.
Miles: And quality check -- there’s QC on everything.
Kerry: One of my favorite things about Rooster Teeth in general is that everyone there wants to make the best product they can possibly make so nobody is above criticism or doesn’t want to be told “hey this could look better or maybe we could do this.” We’re all big fans of criticism and trying to make things better.
Q: How do you feel about people shipping your characters?
Kerry: It’s fun!
Miles: It’s funny to read that stuff.
Monty: I mean, I like romance and now we’re giving people the tools for romance.
Miles: It’s been great as we introduce more characters, as we go on, people start to form the pairs that would maybe like, more realistically fit.
Monty: We’re looking forward to some new characters that would instantly make people go “Yup, it’s gonna happen.”
Miles: Ship ship ship! Set sail! Toot toot! It’s funny, one of the early comments I read was "I can literally ship everyone in RWBY with everyone, and it comes up every now and again, every few weeks I see comments like “Seriously, everybody works.”
Q: Do you have an OTP?
Miles: I feel like we can’t say,
Monty: Yeah, we can’t say, that would give too much fuel and ammunition.
Miles: We have an OTT, It’s Kerry, Miles and Monty.
Everyone: Awwwwwwww
Q: What’s next for RWBY?
Miles: Our DVD and Blu-ray (shown left) is going to be shipping out on November 12th -- 11/12/13 because we’re hilarious. You can preorder it now on the site. And we’ve got one hell of a finale to volume one coming up soon, and man, I cannot wait for it.
Monty: Also, it’s not called volume one for no reason! We’re thinking about volume plus.
Miles: We have literally years worth of story in our head. We’re just scratching the surface with Volume One.
Q: Is there a meme that spawned from a Rooster Teeth series that you guys enjoy?
Monty : Benevolent Burnie is pretty cool.
Miles: It’s not a Rooster Teeth meme, but I’m always a fan of Success Kid. He keeps me going at night.
Q: Are there any YouTube channels you can’t live without watching?
Monty: I like all the Let’s Play stuff.
Miles: It’s going to sound very self-promotional, but we honestly have almost nothing to do with the Let’s Plays on Rooster Teeth, and we really enjoy them
Monty: Rooster Teeth has its divisions and Achievement Hunter really has its own corner and I love everything they make. I don’t interact with them much, but I love everything they do.
Miles: It’s really funny because I’m a huge fan of the Let’s Plays, but, like you said, I don’t interact with them so Gavin (shown below) will walk in to the kitchen and I’ll say “Hey! You were really funny in that thing I just watched! K bye!”
Q What your favorite thing about coming to big conventions like this?
Kerry: Pizza.
Miles: Dude! This is our first, well Kerry and I’s first time in New York. Oh my god, there’s pizza everywhere! I’m soooooooo fat.
Kerry: Oh yeah, if I lived in New York, I’d be broke.
Monty: Cons are great just for meeting the fans.
Kerry: We read comments all the time, every single week we’re all on Tumblr, we’re on our site, we’re on YouTube reading all the comments but to actually see the people and talk to them about the show is awesome
Miles: I can’t believe that the stuff that we do has an impact on people. But meeting someone and them telling you how much what we did impacted them is just really surreal and makes you feel really good. Feels good man.
Q: On that note, you guys have your own convention for your fans, RTX. How is that different?
Miles: To go along with your last question about cons, we’ll get to show off something that a lot of people have worked really hard on and we get to show it to a live audience and see that reaction in person and it’s great. RTX is like that to the Nth degree, because at a panel we can only afford to send so many people, so at NYCC this year, we’re really going to be focusing on RWBY, but Achievement Hunter has a million things and and Red vs Blue has things. At RTX, it’s everyone’s time to shine. Every person in the company gets to step out and say “This is what I made you, it’s fucking cool.”
Q: Any final thoughts?
Monty: We love the fans, everything you make and all the cosplay and the fan art is great. We see it all. Every time there’s a progress bar or render bar, we’re just like alright, go to Twitter, go to Tumblr, go to Reddit.
Kerry: It’s inspiring. it’s definitely one of those things where we’re working there late and night and we’re tired and we’ll take a break and we’ll go and look for comments and look for fan art and it keeps us going.
Another year has almost come to an end and it is now time for us to cast a vote for the most beloved meme of the year. The following list of top fifteen entries was compiled based on our assessment of each entry’s average pageviews per day since its creation date. For the complete listing of related Know Your Meme entries, check out the section below. Not seeing your choice meme of the year on the list? Scroll down to the bottom of the list and click “Suggest Another Entry” to enter your own recommendation! The voting begins now and will stay open until 11:59 p.m. (EST), December 9th, 2013.
Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s annual Top Ten Review series looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events and people that defined the Internet culture in 2013 as we know it. And brace yourselves, the grand finale list Best Memes of 2013 is coming soon. In the meantime, check out Cheezburger’s year-in-review of internet memes over at Memebase!
hile cats continued to reign supreme over the animal meme-dom in 2013, spearheaded by two celebrity cats Grumpy Cat and Lil Bub making their breakthroughs in mainstream America, the Year of Snake has been just as good of a year for other species as well: we saw an increasingly visible presence from our canine friends across-the-board and a slow but steady rise of the Sloths on Tumblr, not to mention a resurgence of the Yelling Goat with hilarious remixes of Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” on YouTube. Meanwhile, the Internet community’s zero-tolerance policy on animal abuse was put to test on numerous occasions; in a rare moment of collaboration, 4chan and Reddit teamed up their efforts to track down South Carolinian teenager Walter Easley, who posted a self-recorded Vine video of him kicking a kitten off his porch, and a similar tension arose between Anonymous and California’s Hawthorne Police Department after a video of police officers shooting a two-year-old Rottweiler dog surfaced and took off on YouTube. All in all, here’s to yet another prolific year of animal memes and without any further adieu, Know Your Meme presents the top ten most memorable animals of 2013!
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Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s annual Top Ten Review series looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events and people that defined the Internet culture in 2013 as we know it. And brace yourselves, the grand finale list Best Memes of 2013 is coming soon. In the meantime, check out Cheezburger’s year-in-review of internet memes over at Memebase!
elebrities lived larger-than-life on the Internet more than ever before in the year 2013, with a select few world-famous pop stars like Miley Cyrus, Drake and Taylor Swift regularly finding themselves at the center stage of viral hoaxes, the breakout of new media darlings like Jennifer Lawrence and Tom Hiddleston who saw their stocks rising for their “down-to-earth” reputation, while old school Internet favorites like Wil Wheaton and Arnold Schwarzenegger solidified their legendary status by knocking on the Internet’s door first.
On Tumblr, the British invasion continued make inroads with numerous UK actors and actresses dominating the fandom scene, boosted by the ever-growing popularity of Doctor Who, Sherlock and Downtown Abbey on Netflix, while a few Hollywood actors and actresses behind this year’s sci-fi and live action superhero films like The Avengers, Star Trek and The Hunger Games also enjoyed their share of newfound internet fame.
On 4chan, Will Smith’s son and child actor Jaden Smith was crowned the new “king” of the /b/ (random) board for his sometimes profound and other times indecipherable philosophizing on Twitter. On Reddit, a handful of well-known celebrities like Beyonce, Jay-Z and Scarlett Johansson landed their first lead roles in instant photoshop memes after being caught on camera in some of their least glamorous moments.
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Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s annual Top Ten Review series looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events and people that defined the Internet culture in 2013 as we know it. And brace yourselves, the grand finale list Best Memes of 2013 is coming soon. In the meantime, check out Cheezburger’s year-in-review of internet memes over at Memebase!
ore than ever before, 2013 brought the Internet a slew of epic practical jokes performed on unwitting participants. YouTube saw a surge of hilarious hidden camera pranks, with the rise of channels like VitalyzdTv, LAHWF, SimplePickup, Roman Atwood, Stuart Edge and Magic of Rahat. On Twitter, comedians like Patton Oswalt and Nathan Fielder used the microblogging service to pull off some impressively clever jokes, tricking followers with intentionally ambiguous broken messages or using them to send disturbing texts to their parents. Here’s our round-up of the top 10 best pranks to hit the web in 2013.
In August, comedian Patton Oswalt posted a series of tweets ranting out against anti-conservative agendas but cut off each message mid-sentence giving it a conflicting slant, depending on which was read first. The prank was well received by his fans, with each tweet gaining anywhere from 100 to 800 retweets.
In 2012, Russian American YouTuber Vitaly Zdorovetskiy released a breakthrough video inspired by the disturbing Miami zombie incident, showing the prankster running through neighborhoods pretending to be a ravenous undead cannibal. Vitaly continued releasing additional public harassment pranks, in which he accused random men of staring at his girlfriend, tricked people into thinking it is the end of the world and was even arrested during the filming of his Russian hitman video on charges of threatening to detonate a bomb. In January, he released his first “do you even lift?” prank video, in which he walks up to random men and insults the size of their muscles. A “Gym Edition” sequel (shown below) was released in April, in which he hounds gym goers trying to work out in peace.
Pranksters: VitalyzdTv | Via: YouTube | Date: April 16th, 2013 | Views: 7.4 million |
Andrew Hales of LAHWF burst onto the YouTube prankster scene with his “Holding Hands with Strangers” video back in 2012 and has continued to make public prank videos ever since. In May, Hales teamed up with the pickup artists from Simple Pickup to film each other attempting to kiss strangers on a college campus. In September, he joined fellow YouTube prankster Stuart Edge in a practical joke, which involved giving wait staff $200 tips (shown below).
Pranksters: Andrew Hales & Stuart Edge | Via: YouTube | Date: September 16th, 2013 | Views: 7.5 million |
The University of Rochester radio program The Chamber Boys uploaded several campus prank videos to YouTube this year, most of which failed to receive any wide spread attention. That is until September, when the program’s own Patrick Adelman tricked an entire freshman chemistry class into thinking he was their professor (shown below). The video remains their most popular to date, making up the vast majority of the channel’s cumulative video views.
Pranksters: Patrick Adelman | Via: YouTube | Date: April 5th, 2013 | Views: 8.9 million |
YouTuber Roman Atwood made a name for himself back in 2012 with several embarrassing public pranks, which included fake urination with a water bottle, simulated masturbation with a Shake Weight and fake graffiti with a can of air duster. In April, he released another pee prank in which he tricks a rather aggressive Ferrari owner into thinking his expensive sports car was being urinated on (shown below).
Pranksters: Roman Atwood | Via: YouTube | Date: April 14th, 2013 | Views: 14.7 million |
YouTuber Stuart Edge burst on to YouTube with his “Mistletoe Kissing Prank” video in December of 2012, in which various people are challenged to be kissed while standing under a piece of mistletoe (shown below). The prankster has since released a slew of other kissing prank reaction videos, as well as a notable parody of the massively viral Brazilian ghost elevator prank.
Pranksters: Stuart Edge | Via: YouTube | Date: December 12th, 2012 | Views: 24.1 million |
The prankster magician Rahat is known for his absurd drive thru restaurant pranks, which he began posting to YouTube in April of 2011. So far, he has fooled fast food employees into thinking his wallet was on fire, his head was missing and that he was knocked unconscious by static electricity. In January, he released his most popular video to date, in which he used a car seat costume to trick drive thru servers into thinking his car was being driven by a ghost (shown below).
Pranksters: Rahat | Via: YouTube | Date: January 8th, 2013 | Views: 37.7 million |
In July, 4chan users raided an online voting contest by the Boston radio station Kiss 108 FM, which was giving away a chance to meet American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Trolls quickly managed to vote a 39-year-old man named Charles Z to the #1 spot, leading the station to announce that the contest had been cancelled. Charlez Z subsequently became a mascot of sorts for online contest raids, where he was voted to the top of contests to meet other pop stars including Selena Gomez and the Jonas Brothers.
Back in April, Canadian comedian Nathan Fielder, known for hosting the reality comedy show Nathan For You, pulled off one of the most epic Twitter experiments of all time when he asked over 30,000 followers to send text messages to their parents announcing that they had “2 grams for $40” before following up that the text had been sent by mistake. His fans immediately began to tweet screenshots of their parent’s disturbed reactions (shown below). In June, Fielder followed up with yet another text message prank, asking his followers to sent a text to their parents asking if it was illegal for their friend to give someone an STD and not tell them.
In October, the viral video marketing agency Thinkmodo orchestrated one of the most epic public scare pranks of all time in a promotion for an adaptation of the 1974 horror novel Carrie by Stephen King (shown below). An entire coffee shop in Manhattan’s West Village was outfitted with spring-loaded bookshelves and tables moved by remote-control, as well as a pulley system used to send a stuntman flying against the wall. An actress pretended to be enraged by having a coffee spilled on her computer, resulting in her using faked telekinetic powers to wreck the place.
Pranksters: Thinkmodo | Via: YouTube | Date: October 7th, 2013 | Views: 50.4 million |
Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s annual Top Ten Review series looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events and people that defined the Internet culture in 2013 as we know it. And brace yourselves, the grand finale list Best Memes of 2013 is coming soon. In the meantime, check out Cheezburger’s year-in-review of internet memes over at Memebase!
nce upon a time on the Internet, there was a popular saying that went pictures or it didn’t happen and it was generally held to be true. Otherwise known as the Internet Rule 26, the idea behind it was simple enough (when making an unusual claim, present a picture along with it as proof) and most of the time, it worked. But now, this rule is on the verge of collapse. With viral stardom no longer being seen as the luck of the draw, people on the Internet are now eager to try anything on their quest to the holy grail of one million views, and one of the most increasingly popular ways to get there seems to be… well, making it all up. Not only that, we, as audience, have also managed to render ourselves more gullible than ever to such unfounded rumors and fabrications, much thanks to our insatiable demand for clickbait headlines and zeal to break the story FIRST that CNN has referred to “a virality industry” in declaring 2013 the Year of the Online Hoax.
TL;DR, hoaxing has become more or less a new sport of the century among the gods of trolls. And with that in mind, here are the top ten most memorable hoaxes from this year!
A Chinese man named Jian Feng divorced and sued his wife for £55,000 after discovering that she’d had plastic surgery in South Korea before they met. Feng, 38, was said to have been “horrified” when she gave birth to an ugly baby daughter. He suspected her of having an affair. His wife then confessed to having plastic surgery.
Miley Cyrus has AIDS.
Fans of Justin Bieber harmed themselves and called on others to do the same in trying to persuade the singer to stop smoking weed.
A golden eagle tried to snatch a baby in Montreal and almost got away.
Samsung paid off a $1.05 billion judgment awarded to Apple in a patent infringement lawsuit entirely in nickels.
@Horse_ebooks is a spambot account on Twitter that automatically generates various excerpts from equine e-books.
A video shows a dancer twerking in a hand stand against the door, shortly before she loses balance, falls into a candle-lit table and catches on fire.
A waitress in New Jersey was denied a tip by a family she had served because she is lesbian.
University of Notre Dame’s linebacker Manti Te’o lost his grandmother and his girlfriend Lennay Kekua to leukemia only six hours apart on the same day.
While on a flight to Los Angeles on Thanksgiving Day, ABC producer Elan Gale exchanged a series of passive aggressive notes with an unruly female passenger, which ended up with Gale getting slapped the face.
Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s annual Top Ten Review series looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events and people that defined the Internet culture in 2013 as we know it. And brace yourselves, the grand finale list Best Memes of 2013 is coming soon. In the meantime, check out Cheezburger’s year-in-review of internet memes over at Memebase!
ore than ever before, 2013 was a year ripe with opportunity for crowdfunding, viral marketing and human rights campaigns. Sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have made online donations a breeze, YouTube has given advertisers a place to get even more eyeballs and the social media giants Facebook and Twitter have become prime spots to spread one’s political beliefs. Here’s our round-up of the year’s top campaigns that managed to successfully utilize the Internet to further their goals.
Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s annual Top Ten Review series looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events and people that defined the Internet culture in 2013 as we know it.
Here at Know Your Meme, 2013 has been an exciting year defined by not just one but many motifs, some familiar and some new: As per usual, selfie-driven narcissism, the Nineties nostalgia and social media justice continued to thrive on discussion forums and the blogosphere, while cringe comedy and justice porn emerged as the next “it” genres in the viral video circuit, and, in the biggest upset of the year, a new king has been crowned in the world of animal meme-dom: a clueless Shiba Inu.
 | Dashboard Camera Videos are footage of traffic accidents or road rage captured from a driver’s point of view using a camera installed on the dashboard of an automobile. These dashboard POV clips are especially common in Russia, where many drivers tend to record themselves on the road for insurance purposes. |
 | Video Game Logic is an expression that can be used to highlight a wide range of absurd plot lines or physics-defying mechanics and glitches found in video games, as well as MOD gameplay footage.
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 | Hadokening is a photo fad that involves two or more people staging a “Ki attack” knockout sequence and photographing themselves in mid-action, as seen in the popular Japanese fighting game Street Fighter and manga series Dragon Ball. This Japanese meme came on the heels of another photo fad based on this year’s anime hit Attack on Titan and served as an inspiration for the American spin-off Vadering.
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Charles Ramsey is a Cleveland, Ohio resident who rose to internet fame in early May 2013 after assisting three women who had been missing for nearly a decade after being abducted by captor Ariel Castro. As the shocking story unraveled, Ramsey appeared in an interview segment for a local news report and gave a colorful account of how it all happened. Following the YouTube upload of the interview clip, Ramsey instantly became hailed as a hero on the web.
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 | Unflattering Beyonce is a photoshop meme based on humorously timed screen captures of the singer Beyonce from her half-time performance at Super Bowl XLVII. After her publicist requested BuzzFeed remove images deemed “unflattering,” the photos instantly became a trending topic in the social media and spread more widely than ever before, a phenomenon known as the Streisand Effect.
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 | Cringeworthy, an eponym of the words “cringe” and “worthy,” is an Internet slang term used to describe a wide range of social media blunders and FAILs that may evoke feelings of awkwardness, embarrassment or even pity.
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Starbucks Drake Hands is the nickname given to Brody Ryan, an aspiring LA rapper-slash-barista who became an accidental celebrity after a private video message he had sent to a woman was leaked on Instagram in October. The clip, which shows Brody gazing seductively at the camera while Drake’s “Hold On, We’re Going Home” is playing in the background, instantly spawned a series of parody videos featuring folks of all ages and even a few celebrities like Larry King and Rainn Wilson.
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 | “Wrecking Ball” is a 2013 pop song performed by singer-songwriter Miley Cyrus and the second single for her upcoming fourth studio album Bangerz. Similar to her first single from the year We Can’t Stop, the music video for the song spawned a slew of parodies upon its release in mid-September 2013.
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 | “Harlem Shake” is a 2012 heavy bass instrumental track produced by Baauer. In February 2013, the song spawned a series of dance videos that begin with a masked individual dancing alone in a group before suddenly cutting to a wild dance party featuring the entire group. Despite what the name suggests, the videos present a wide range of hip hop dances, including the Bernie, Twerking as well as improvisations.
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| Doge is a slang term for “dog” that is primarily associated with pictures of Shiba Inus (nicknamed “Shibe”) and internal monologue captions on Tumblr. These photos may be photoshopped to change the dog’s face or captioned with interior monologues in Comic Sans font.
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Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s annual Top Ten Review series looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events and people that defined the Internet culture in 2013 as we know it.
| Definition | (Noun, /hīp trān/) A metaphorical locomotive embodying an exceptionally high level of publxic anticipation or onilne promotional efforts prior to the release of a consumer product, especially in the context of electronics and media. |
| Etymology | The term was used as early as November 26th, 2002 on the gaming review site IGN in a review of the Japanese version of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire which wasn’t released in North America until March 2003. |
| Usage | Fanboy #1: Hey, did you watch the new teaser for the Godzilla movie? Fanboy #2: All aboard the hype train! |
| Examples | All Aboard the Hype Train, Homestuck 413 Hype Train, NeoGAF Hype Train |
| Synonyms | Too Damn High, Mad Karma with Jim Cramer, Brace Yourselves |
| Definition | (Exclamation, /täp lel/) Approval of a highly entertaining post or comment. |
| Etymology | A neologism derived from two separate internet memes that became popular on 4chan, the Top Gun from the TV series Workaholics and “lel,” a corrupted blend of the slang terms LOL and Le, the latter of which is associated with members of Reddit and 9gag. |
| Usage | Commenter A: Says something witty Commenter B: Lel Commenter C: Says something funnier Commenter D: TOPLEL |
| Variants | |
| Synonyms | My Sides, LOLWUT, Wat, You Win The Internet, Slow Clap, I Creyed |
| Definition | (Noun) An affliction of those that record video using an upright mobile phone. |
| Etymology | Believed to have originated in the comments section of YouTube circa 2010, as video recording-and-uploading capacity became a mobile standard. |
| Usage | YouTuber: Uploads a vertically-oriented video to YouTube Commenter: Please stop shooting vertical videos. My left eye is not in the centre of my forehead, my right eye is not on the tip of my nose. |
| Related | Recorded with a Potato, R.I.P Headphone Users, My Left Ear Enjoyed This Very Much |
| Definition | 1. (Noun) Facial hair that does not exist on the face, but instead on the neck. 2. (Pejorative) A slovenly young man with little sense of hygiene or grooming who indulges in geek hobbies, such as card gaming, video gaming, anime and etc. |
| Etymology | The earliest known online use of the term “neckbeard” can be found in a Wackbag Forums post by member SOS on August 24th, 2003, in which he asks if the facial hairstyle is considered “ugly or sexy.” |
| Usage | Original Poster: In this moment, I’m euphoric. Not because of any phony god’s blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my intelligence. Commenter: In this moment, the OP has a neckbeard. |
| Variants | |
| Related | Atheism, Men’s Rights Activism, Butthurt Dweller, Virgins, Fedora Fashion, Otaku |
| Definition | (Noun) The hatred of men by women. |
| Etymology | The earliest known use of the term can be found in a review for the anonymously written novel Blanche Seymour in an 1871 issue The Spectator magazine. More recently, the word became adopted by men’s rights activists (MRAs) on the Internet, which has led to some satirical usage in the feminist blogosphere as well. |
| Usage | Tumblr Wife: …Because you’re a man. Reddit Husband: That is misandry! |
| Related | Feminism, Privilege Denying Dude, Check Your Privilege, It Was My Privilege |
| Definition | (Adjective) Inducing fear and laughter at the time. |
| Etymology | An intentional misspelling of the word “spooky" derived from the Tumblr slang term 2spooky. |
| Usage | Person A: So I saw my neighbor taking a dump in his backyard this morning. Person B: Oh boy, that is spoopy. |
| Related | And Then a Skeleton Popped Out, Creepypasta, THENWHOWASPHONE, Weegee |
| Synonyms | 2spooky |
| Definition | (Pejorative Noun) One who is considered unsophisticated or uncultured. |
| Etymology | A shorthand for the English noun “plebeian,” an outdated term which originally referred to a commoner belonging to a lower socioeconomic class in ancient Rome. |
| Usage | Original Poster: Posts a raving review of a Top 40 single on 4chan’s /mu/ Commenter: Your taste in music is pleb and you should feel pleb. |
| Variants | Report Bug: Total Pleb, Plebian Orange Juice |
| Synonyms | Commoner, lowbrow, entry-level, philistine, filthy casual, noob |
| Definition | (Noun, /ˈkatfɪʃ/) One who assumes false identities by creating fake personal profiles on social media websites, usually in pursuit of deceptive online romances. |
| Etymology | The term was introduced in the the 2010 documentary film of the same name directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, which follows the story of Schulman’s brother who develops an online romance with a fake identity who calls herself Megan Pierce. |
| Usage | Hollywood Reporter: Manti Te’o Story Hooks Media in ‘Catfish’ Story_ |
| Related | Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend, On The Internet, Nobody Knows You’re a Dog, Just Go On The Internet and Tell Lies?, There are No Girls on the Internet, Traps |
| Definition | (Noun, /ˈsɛlfi/) A photograph that one has taken of oneself with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website. |
| Etymology | The term was introduced in the the 2010 documentary film of the same name directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, which follows the story of Schulman’s brother who develops an online romance with a fake identity who calls herself Megan Pierce. |
| Usage | Original Poster: AwWwWwWwW, my bae caught me sleepin’ Commenter: Lol that’s a selfie, she’s alone and you can see her hand in the mirror. |
| Variants | Self portraits, Mirror pic, Selka (Korean, short for self-camera), Foto narsisis (Indonesian) |
| Related | Selfies at Funerals, The Angle, Self Pop Tart, Ulzzang, Pretty Girls Ugly FacesBae Caught Me Sleeping, Duck Face, Sparrow Face, Am I Ugly? |
| Definition | (Adjective, /ˈkrɪndʒwəːði/) Causing feelings of embarrassment or awkwardness for the viewer, especially when the speaker or actor is completely self-unaware of his or her ineptitude. |
| Etymology | An eponym of “cringe” and “worthy,” the term was introduced in the early 1970s through Cuthbert Cringeworthy, a recurring character in the British comic strip The Bash Street Kids. It became adopted by the Internet in February following the launch of the /r/cringe subreddit community. |
| Usage | Shittalker B: And then she posted the pic with the mirror reflection in the background! Shittalker B: OMG Shittalker A: I had to close the browser window, it was too hard to look at. |
| Synonyms | FAIL, Facepalm, Oh God Why, Girls Laughing, That Awkward Moment |
Hello, everyone!
In keeping up our tradition of taking a moment to acknowledge and appreciate all of your hard work on Know Your Meme, we’re excited to finally unveil some of the new badges and first recipients of the 2013 Know Your Meme Thanks Awards! And yes, this is a bit late on arrival, and we apologize profusely for the delay, but hey, it’s always better late than never, no? Starting this year, the award process will remain open for nomination all year around, so if you’re bummed out about not making this list or feel as though your hard work has been gravely overlooked, there’s no need to worry or freak out! Just click on any of the badges shown below on the right-hand side and shoot us an e-mail with a nomination of your choice, we’ll then review each nominated user’s contributions for our evaluation.
Researchers who have particularly focused on animal-related meme research and media archiving.
 |  Internet Zoologist Send us your recommendation! |
Researchers who have made exceptional contributions to anime-related meme research and media archiving.
 | Anime Anthropologist Send us your recommendation! |
Researchers who have been particularly active in Pokemon-related meme research and media archiving.
 | Send us your recommendation! |
Researchers who have been particularly active in My Little Pony-related meme research and media archiving.
 | Ponyologist Send us your recommendation! |
Researchers who have been particularly active in classic meme research and media archiving.
 |  Historical Meme Historian Send us your recommendation! |
Researchers who have been particularly active in fan art documentation and media archiving.
 | Fan Art Historian Send us your recommendation! |
Researchers who have been particularly active in YouTube-born meme research and media archiving.
 | YouTubeologist Send us your recommendation! |
Researchers who have been particularly active in Tumblr-born meme research and media archiving.
 |  Tumblrologist Send us your recommendation! |
Researchers who have been particularly active in 4chan meme research and media archiving.
 | 4chanologist Send us your recommendation! |
Researchers who have been particularly active in tagging images and videos.
 |  Meme Taxonomist Send us your recommendation! |
Researchers who have been particularly helpful with onboarding newcomers to the community.
 |  Community Protip Advisor Send us your recommendation! |
 | Community Protip Advisor Send us your recommendation! |
Site members who have garnered an exceptional number of thumbs-up approvals through comments and uploads.
 |  Karma Tycoon Send us your recommendation! |
Site members who have given an exceptional number of thumbs-up approvals to others’ comments and uploads.
 |  Karma Philanthropist Send us your recommendation! |
Click on any of the following badges to nominate a Know Your Meme member for a special title!
