Meow the 17th – Memes

Cats and culture. Cats in culture. Cat culture. Cat memes are a hit not only on the internet but also in cultural studies. That is, the concept of ‘meme’ is important:

Let’s have a look at what ‘meme’ actually means.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines meme as an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture and gives 1976 as the year when the word was first used.

And Google (What would humanity be without Google these days?) sees ‘meme’ as follows: First, a meme is an element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means. Secondly, a meme is an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations.

And to round off with another internet tool without which humanity would be lost, namely Wikipedia:

A meme (/ˈmiːm/ meem)  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.

The word meme is a shortening (modeled on gene) of mimeme (from Ancient Greek μίμημα Greek pronunciation: [míːmɛːma] mīmēma, “imitated thing”, from μιμεῖσθαι mimeisthai, “to imitate”, from μῖμος mimos “mime”) and it was coined by the British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene (1976) as a concept for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. Examples of memes given in the book included melodies, catch-phrases, fashion, and the technology of building arches.