What is a meme?

Good question. What would you think a meme would be? Nothing like a mime, but closer to a me me – hey look at me kind of thing. Muse on a meme and melt into the masses – be at one with the crowd. Memes are everywhere and most are concocted and distributed by young adults or semi-adults.

Let it be known, that neither I nor EB have ever created a meme – we would never dare to make Cloudie and indecent dragon. The little fella is growing up, he’s almost 20 now.

A meme pronounced “MEAM” -rhymes with mean, keen, bean, teen, latrine, dean, lean, fiend, Jean, seen, wean  – is “an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture”. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.

“Where’s the beef?” Was a meme before there were such things. Are you old enough to remember “Where’s the beef?” A meme because everyone imitated that old cranky lady — Cara Peller, who looks eerily like EB!). Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and meme is spread by imitation from one mind to another.

Where’s the beef?