What is a Meme?

“A meme associating the expression of Shrek portrayed in the image with the anthropomorphized car ‘deciding’ to break down in a mis-opportune time.”

The term meme is frequently utilized in modern slang and is often associated with a wide range of humor that originates from the internet, the most common format being an image with a band of text above it.

Today’s younger generation(s) (typically between 13 and 36 years old) will completely understand what you mean if you say you want to show them a meme. Whether what you show them is a video, an image, an audio recording, or even a funny word, they will still understand it as a meme.

However, meme humor is often as difficult to define as the term itself, leaving the ~37% of the population who don’t understand memes failing to grasp the depth of the humor that has become so popular in the age of smartphones and social media. 

So the question is, how can someone who wants to understand memes come to learn how?

Well, for one, it’s important to clarify that few people understand every meme that they see; millions of them circulate each day, after all. However, certain forms of memes are easier to understand than others, and to visualize that it’s important to categorize them;

1. Standard Meme Format: A form of meme that is usually some form of picture or video with a line of text outside or over the media. The text and the media are often related, whether the media adds emphasis to the text or is intended to prompt the viewer into looking at the media in a different way.

2. Video Meme Format: A form of meme that you can most often find scrolling through TikTok or YouTube shorts. These memes are usually mismatched video and audio sequences, in which a creator adds a visual twist to a previously established audio clip or makes new audio to add a funny twist to a previously established video. 

Example

3. Standalone Image: Often found in the form of stickers, this form of meme is an image that has comedic value without the need for text or audio to add any comedic twist to it. These have dual use and can also be replies to friends’ messages. Including these messages makes the meme fit into the first form mentioned previously.

4. Brainrot: Avoid this meme format completely. It is nearly impossible to comprehend at any given time what the new trend of brain rot on the internet means because it can be as vague as single words such as mango, made funny purely by how annoying they are in repetition.

Once you have broken up the different possible formats of memes, they become much easier to approach. Start with standard memes as they are often the most clear, and if you ever fail to understand one, then ask a friend to explain it to you. Once you become comfortable with form 1 you can ease into form 2, where you will be faced with more dynamic challenges of meme knowledge. The same ask-a-friend rule applies to form 2 if you fail to grasp anything. Form 3 is where you will begin experimenting with interactive learning by interacting with your friends using the meme humor that you’re beginning to understand.

Mastering the first 3 forms of memes will give you a good enough understanding of them to be able to hold a conversation in an online chat in which they send memes; however, it does not allow you to understand form 4: Brainrot.

To put it simply, if you’re ever faced with a social situation where you have to understand brainrot to interact with your friends, find better friends.