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What's a better form of entertainment in this digital age than scrolling through some funny memes? Especially when you've had a really tough day or week. Sometimes, even your favorite show or movie seems to require too much brain power. So opting for a quick but effective fix in the form of some random memes is often your best bet.

Today, we're featuring a community that shares hilarious content daily. The Funny AF Spiritual Memes group has 2 million members, so you know you're in safe hands, Pandas. Scroll down and entertain yourself with some memes about this weird thing we call life. And read on for our exploration of how memes have become a language in their own right.

At this point, most of us are familiar with what the word 'meme' means. In 1976, Richard Dawkins called it "ideas that spread from brain to brain." In today's Internet culture, that's especially apt because memes tend to spread like wildfire on different social media platforms. The more accurate description for today would perhaps be that the ideas spread from device to device.

The first example of what memes look like is an image from the Judge Magazine issue in 1921. It's the original "Expectations vs. Reality" type of picture. Yet people don't consider it to technically be a meme. Why? Because it didn't have the virality aspect. For a picture, a video, or a quote to become a meme, people have to copy it and share it.

#4

Gregory

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Nat Rich
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I swear it should be banned. The number of times I've slammed on the brakes because I thought something was coming.

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#6

Jocelyn Kohler

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Pollywog
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've actually done that a couple times. The looks on their faces made me giggle a little. 😄

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Nowadays, what we consider to be memes is so widely known that even a non-chronically online person would know them. There probably isn't a young person who wouldn't recognize Drake gesturing 'nuh-uh' from his "Hotline Bling" video or that screenshot from an anime with the butterfly with the caption "Is this [blank]?"

Yet, it is a sort of secret language. More niche memes allow individuals with similar interests to communicate things others might not know about. One person could be well-versed in philosophy memes but know absolutely nothing when they see a Formula 1 meme.


#7

Jason Hillard

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Rick
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Playgrounds I played on daily as a kid would be considered child abuse today.

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Linguist Rebecca Garcia claims that memes are not so much a language of their own but a graphic form of speech. "Just as language and writing is a form of communication, so are memes. Even though these images incorporate only short written messages, they’re usually understood by the receiver or audience."

#12

Watie Sagitarius

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Tiffany Marie
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mens beauty line is starting to expand more and more. Eventually it'll be as bad as wonens. Just give it some time.

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Memes don't represent the way we write. They're an expression of how we talk. The way we speak is more informal than how we express ourselves in writing. "We mirror our speech patterns in memes. Therefore, when we communicate with memes, we are communicating with a graphic form of speech," Garcia writes in her Public Linguist blog.

#13

Jeremiah Johnson

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waarimelone
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Got it. Develop the most attractive allergic reaction ever to makeup.

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#15

Crystal Alexis

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Lauren Caswell
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You don't want to absorb too much serotonin. you need a field of it per se, to allow proper neuron communication. People with low serotonin are put on SSRI meds(Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor). This slows the re-absorption of serotonin, allowing the levels in the brain to rise and re-establishing effective neural firing (the lack of which can cause depression. I have inherited GAD anxiety myself, so SSRI meds don't work. I take SNRI [Selective Noradrenaline Reuptake Inhibitors] meds instead, as Noradrenaline is to anxiety as Serotonin is to depression).

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We tend to communicate through pictures on social media more than with words. We send GIFs, emojis, and, of course, memes. But with memes, it's not about the image itself. In 2015, researcher Walter Jose Castañeda concluded in his study that the meme image is what matters, not the image in the meme. "[Memes] obviate any relationship that their components may have with the image from which they originate," he wrote.

#18

Jocelyn Kohler

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doredde
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I KNEW it! To be continued on OnlyFans...

DogMomma
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4 months ago

This comment has been deleted.

Manni Bhatti
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I read that as two bananas kissing. Damn my dyslexia…it made me look for the bananas for about 30 seconds before I realised that can't be right!

Cybele Spanjaard
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me neither but then I always see the Batman mask differently than supposed, a trick of the mind?

Candid Panda
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It was bound to happen with them running around in those tights.

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When someone sends you a meme with a tearful cat, the conversation doesn't actually have anything to do with cats. The text and the context of the conversation seemingly have nothing in common with the cat picture. But when put together, they make up a complete composition and we get its meaning.

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Memes also have a strange power of bringing people together. They are a reflection of Netlore (Internet folklore) and reflect many different facets of the human experience. What was once an easy and new way to joke around with friends online is turning into a community-building engine. It's not just about the many faces of Doge and Pepe anymore -- memes now can be way deeper than that.

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"We can see not just the new ways people do things or the new ways people express themselves in public but also some of the themes, some of the anxieties or desires people have. All of these complex issues are reflected in things like memes," Director of the Centre for Digital Culture at Kings College London Paolo Gerbaudo told the BBC.

#26

Laurice Rose

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Casey Smith
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was walking and found a snail on the sidewalk so I brought it with me to the park and then when I got home I worried it would be lost so I went back and got him and brought him to the area I found him and that was 1987 but I still think of that snail.

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Memes can help people feel less alone during hard times (this was especially evident during the pandemic), but they also can help marginalized communities. Sharing memes is a great way to build a collective identity. The founder of the Meme Studies Research Network, Idil Galip, said that this collective sense of identity even bleeds into real life.

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#29

David Castillo

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Howl's sleeping castle
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My parents have accepted that my cat is an important family member and they let me show them her photos and videos, and they watch it happily. My mum sometimes even asks if my cat ate food or not.

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"Niche memes are not meant to go viral," Galip explained. "They're meant usually to create things like in-group belonging, something that kind of strengthens a sense of identity." It's similar to speaking another language. If you ever stumble upon a meme that you don't entirely understand, it might just be that it's not for you.

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#33

Topaz Emery

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_-DungeonKeeper-_
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Young My Idiotic Imagination That Keeps Making Mind Movies And Singing Assorted Ivycomb Songs When I Need To Pay Attention Or Sleep Why Can't I Ditch This Brain And Get A New One

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#45

Karman Millie

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Pollywog
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's from one of my favorite Scooby Doo episodes with Batman, Robin, Penguin and Joker!!!

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#48

Rickitha Gardner

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Emo Nemo
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This would never happen. I look at the menu online and practice before getting to the restaurant.

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#49

C Lesha Seward

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Little Wonder
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The knowledge that your PC takes 4 minutes to boot, and it's 20 seconds to the desk is very dangerous when you work from home and have a snooze button.

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#55

Samantha Pittman

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Adrian
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Google photos does that and I hate it. Often it's something I don't want to see.

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#56

Madeleine Maeve

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3 Otters 🦦
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OMG. Never going to NYC again with someone who thinks Grand Central is just a block from Battery Park. I’ve been suckered twice and that is enough. Didn’t mind the walk, but I rather have spent the time at the Strand.

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#68

Davida Baker

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Mike F
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Back in the days before seat belts my brother used to slam his right hand on the dashboard. Apparently he thought that would keep him from being ejected.

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#69

Steve Holman

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hockeygorl
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

gonna send that to my bestie… js kidding i woulda had to kill her she knows too much

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#74

Christina Negron

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Tabitha
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember when I was 15, back in 1975, when they came out with an LP called “20 Years of Rock and Roll”. F**k, it’s now almost 70 years of rock and roll. When did I get so old?

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#77

Kelsi Dekeyser

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Fussy1
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Grab the chip dip too, you need some dairy and we're out of milk"

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#79

David Castillo

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Ovata Acronicta
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Quite literally. Got back on my rollercoaster videos nonsense recently and suddenly I have an incredible urge to get to Six Flags.

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