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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
Community Member
6 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

Jocelyn Kohler Report

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Pollywog
Community Member
6 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

Jason Hillard Report

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Rick
Community Member
6 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.

Stryker Tyger
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And who can forget the Child Yeeter 9000: the merry-go-round!

UpQuarkDownQuark (he/him)
Community Member
6 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I unthinkingly went down a slide on a hot Southern California summer day once. It hurt immediately, but I was also wearing shorts that rode up, so my thighs stuck and I didn’t slide all the way down. Then I burned my hands trying to push my way down the last few feet. The good old days!

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

*shudder* I was cringing the entire time reading this lol, at least you survived!

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tee-lena
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I enjoyed our deluxe 80's playground so much. It was amazing and dangerous. We're lucky we didn't die every afternoon. I broke my tale bone on one of those spring animals you rode.

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Tabitha
Community Member
6 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Metal slides were bad. I remember getting scorched that first time I slid down one that was hot as f**k. That’s when you learn to test the slide part first with your hand. Talking about hazardous playground equipment of the past, anyone remember how easy it was to fall off the monkey bars? Especially since, back in the day, they just set it all up over the concrete and/or hard dirt on the playground. No soft landings there.

Bubs623
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, so many broken bones from the monkey bars. Good times, good times. You think my dumb**s would learn from the first break. Nope m

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Barbara Wilcock
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not as bad as the seesaw, when the other would bang down hard and send you flying to outa space

Aussiegirl
Community Member
6 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I fell off the seesaw when I was about 7, I had a massive bruise on my hip 🤪

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keyboardtek
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But we mostly tried to run up the slide but slipped and burned our faces and hands and knees when our faces slammed into the hot metal.

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

M--- B--- fell off the top and knocked himself out, so ours was taken away. We kids of course thought this was a huge miscarriage of justice...

Kalikima
Community Member
Premium
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We had one of these in the school where I went for half of 6th grade.. let me tell you, you haven't slid down one of those til you've slid down one in 110 degree weather.. why someone would put that in an arizona school is beyond me. I got 2nd degree burns on the back of my legs..

Fancy Nancy
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But first we waxed them so we could slide really really fast. This way we were still very rare when we landed!

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

try the ones in Pennsylvania. Mammoth Park specifically. they'll burn you to a crisp.

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

You know those really high ones where you almost get vertigo, but you sit down anyway, only to realize how hot the things is when you reached the first bump and then you can't decide whether you should try and go back or try and stand the heat, but either way, your back is already burned and your feet and palms start smoking.

Chihuahua Mama
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Still preferred the metal slides over the plastic ones that zapped you to death

amy harvey
Community Member
5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I loved those slides so much, I don't know how I didn't die. EDIT: my Kookom had one of those in her backyard my mum and auntie would go on.

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

My favorite was the curly-Q slide, where you could actually be inside the oven!

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

And I flipped right off the side of it in 6th grade, broke my left wrist and had a concussion. And the slide wasn't on grass or soft chips. Of course this was 1976 and my parents would never have sued the school district. It was my fault I fell since my friends and I were chasing each other up and down the slide that day.

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

We saved up the wax paper liners from cereal boxes to slide on. We could break the sound barrier on a hot day.

Shaun Coleman
Community Member
5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember the playground roundabouts. We would get them spinning as fast as possible. You would hang on as long as possible and kids would get flung off in random directions rolling and sliding across the grass/dirt/gravel/sand/whatever! We were tougher back then! :)

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

The best was in a wet swimsuit where your little bum stuck, slid, stuck, slid, all the way down teaching your bare thighs what it's like to be bacon.

detective miller's hat
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And rubbed it up and down with wax paper so you could break the sound barrier when you slid down it.

Bubs623
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Anyone else have an aunt who wrapped everything in her house in thick vinyl/plastic stuff? The clear protectors for the floor, the chairs, sofa? In the summer, when you had to go visit her, when he was finally time to leave you had to literally pull your sticky sweaty thighs off the plastic c**p?? Just awful. Gives me shivers even all these years later..... oh yeah, she was also the one who had fake fruit in fancy bowls, sitting out to trick you into taking a bit of the shiny apple. She was terrifying.

Sue Denham
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also we climbed to the top of that ladder, chickened out and climbed back down if we were lucky enough to have a clear escape route.

The Shark
Community Member
Premium
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Then there were those plastic twisting helter-skelters with raised seams and bolts on the inside to give the fun a whole new dimension of pain!

Joseph Bradley
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

some of these baking pans still exist and are STILL FRESH OFF THE 500 DEGREE OVEN!

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

A little danger made it more fun. You could go really fast on those. Just don't wear shorts, or you'll stick to it.

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

my girlfriend cut off her little finger on one of those metal slides and kept sliding over and over

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

Back when I was in Kindergarten- this tall slide was part of our playground… a CEMENT playground. Then one kid came down too fast after using wax paper on it to make slippery and cracked his head a good one… good times.

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

I remember the elementary school I went to had those and they were also used in the winter time. Our clothes protected us from the ice cold metal. (Birtle, Manitoba, Canada)

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

Yes we did! 😆! Nobody twisted your arm to do it either! Lol!

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

Did we ever the back of my bare legs ( we wore dresses in those days if a girl) and howls of heat pain still ring in my own ears as I would run around for times two.. we were never woozes

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

Haha my boyfriend and I like to abuse children's play equipment, it's quite fun actually😊🤣😆

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

Hot metal slides in the summer, certain roundabouts that were REALLY spinny and would fling you off if you didn't hold on and it was spun too fast, forget about wooden chips it was concrete under everything including the swings... How have those of us who grew up with these various dangerous playgrounds managed to survive? 😄

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

Used to bring wax paper in to school and rub it on the slide to make it extra fast.

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

We just clenched our teeth and our butts and down we went!

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

Childhood memories. Burned my hand on slide, my hair stuck in swing's chain, push swing and get hit when it comes back ,damaged sensitive area on seesaw. All beautiful and happy memories.

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

Always wondered what one of those would look like from an airplane. Had to be blinding.

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

We always got a fat kid to go first to absorb most of the heat.

SDLT010
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've gone on one of those before, I was about 9-10 and now I am 13.

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

We bunny hopped up the slide then rode the bikes up to the top then bunny hopped off

Wendy Hamilton
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Has anyone ever gotten stuck in the swirly chair? Don't know how else to describe it.

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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

Watie Sagitarius Report

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Tiffany Marie
Community Member
6 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

Jeremiah Johnson Report

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waarimelone
Community Member
6 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

bugposting Report

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Lauren Caswell
Community Member
6 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.

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
Community Member
6 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

David Castillo Report

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Howl's sleeping castle
Community Member
6 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-_
Community Member
6 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

Karman Millie Report

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Pollywog
Community Member
6 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

Rickitha Gardner Report

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Emo Nemo
Community Member
6 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

C Lesha Seward Report

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Little Wonder
Community Member
6 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

Samantha Pittman Report

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Adrian
Community Member
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 🦦
Community Member
6 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

Davida Baker Report

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Mike F
Community Member
6 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

Steve Holman Report

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hockeygorl
Community Member
6 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
Community Member
6 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
6 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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