About

Aumm is a neologism referring to a type of image macro that combines a wide variety of images with dark, unfunny text that often refers to themes of pain, depression, mental illness, etc. The aesthetic of the images is similar to that of posts shared by several popular Weird Facebook pages. The difference is that Aumms created are not necessarily intended to be shared but to be an expression of the creator.

Origin

On March 7th, 2013, Facebook Jesse Eells-Adams created a closed Facebook group dedicated to Aumms called “People who aumm sometimes and are also….. ooohhhh…..”^[1] On the same day, user Justin Valkan published the first image to the group (shown below). In a comment on that image, Eells-Adams explained the group thusly: “it’s basically a free range internet farm focused lightly on the word aum and the feelings connected with aum word aum. i basically don’t give a shit what gets posted here.”

Spread

The group has grown to include over 18,000 members as of November 28th, 2016. Its description now explicitly states “post the things you’ve made here,” which is limited to Aumms and excludes outside links to Youtube, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and "your h0t vap0rwave beats. An offshoot group called “People that find Aumm-like images and also post them”^[2] launched where users were allowed to share Aumm-like images, explicitly stating "post the things you haven’t made here. It has over 4,000 members. On October 18th, 2015, Arran James of Syntheticzero.net^[3] posted a critical reading of Aumm memes, concluding that:

The effect is one of a schizoid dissociation of text and image, word and representation, that effects a deflationary deconstruction of the pretence that language or art can covey any secure or effective meaning. It is heretical insofar as it is a mockery of art. It doesn’t pretend to be high-art. It doesn’t attempt to destroy high art. It doesn’t have such grand desires.

Various Examples

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About

/r/The_Donald is a subreddit for supporters of United States president-elect Donald Trump. Members of the online community often refer to themselves as “centipedes” and have been associated with the loose conservative group known as the “alt-right”.

History

On June 16th, 2015, Trump formally announced his bid for the Republican primaries in the upcoming 2016 U.S. presidential election. On June 27th, the /r/The_Donald^[1] subreddit was launched for supporters of Trump’s candidacy. During the month of February 2016, /r/The_Donald became a trending subreddit four separate times, leading to an exponential increase in subscribers.^[7]

News Media Coverage

The subreddit has been widely covered by a variety of major news media outlets, including The New York Times,^[8]MSNBC^[9] and The Washington Post.^[10]

Controversies

Islamophobia

While the subreddit has a rule against “racism/anti-Semitism,” posts and comments expressing “Islamophobia” are not restricted. On February 10th, 2016, a /r/The_Donald moderator stickied a post announcing to “stop reporting Islamophobia” (shown below).^[6]

Front Page

On June 13th, 2016, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman announced that the company was making changes to its front page algorithm to promote a more diverse array of posts from a variety of subreddits, following accusations that the company had prevented /r/The_Donald posts regarding the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting from reaching the front page. On June 16th, Huffman posted a follow-up announcement, claiming that any changes to the front page algorithm were not intended to target /r/The_Donald posts. On October 27th, the front page of Reddit’s /r/all view became entirely populated with posts from /r/The_Donald (shown below). The following day, Reddit admins revealed that the site’s algorithms could not keep up with the pace of voting from /r/The_Donald users.^[4]

Nimble America

On September 17th, 2016, moderator TehDonald of the /r/the_donald^[3] subreddit submitted a post promoting the pro-Trump non-profit organization Nimble America, remarking that the community had “proven that shitposting is powerful and meme magic is real.” Meanwhile, Redditor NimbleRichMan submitted a /r/the_donald^[8] post asking for help defeating Hillary Clinton by donating to Nimble America. In the comments section, Milo Yiannopoulos replied with an endorsement of /u/NimbleRichMan, claiming he knew him personally. A majority of the subreddit’s community denounced Nimble America, with many speculating that it was a scam and form of “astroturfing.”

Spezgate

On November 23rd, 2016, Redditor OhSnapYouGotServed submitted a thread accusing Reddit admins of editing /r/The_Donald user’s comments, providing screenshots of insulting comments directed at Huffman, which had been changed to insult /r/The_Donald moderators.^[2] Within four days, the post gathered upwards of 32,900 votes (60% upvoted) and 7,100 comments. That day, Huffman replied to the post, admitting that he had replaced his name with /r/The_Donald moderators in several insulting comments after he grew frustrated “getting called a pedophile constantly” following the removal of the /r/pizzagate subreddit (shown below).^[11]

That same day, Reddit /r/Music and /r/Food moderator UnimatrixZeroOne leaked screenshots of a private chatroom for moderators and administrations, . The following day, the news site Inquir.io^[3] published an interview with UnimatrixZeroOne about the leak, in which he expressed regret for not censoring the chat log.

Traffic

Within 17 months of launch, the subreddit gained over 306,000 subscribers. During the month of November 2016, the subreddit received over 4.3 million unique visitors and 92 million pageviews.

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External References

About

Biggie Cheese is a rapping mouse character from the 2006 computer-animated comedy film Barnyard, who is named after the deceased rapper Biggie Smalls. Online, the character gained much notoriety after being featured in a series of screenshots depicting an erotic chat conversation.

Origin

On August 4th, 2006, Barnyard was released, which centers around a farm of talking, anthropomorphic animals who sing and dance while the humans are not present. In the film, a rapping mouse named Biggie Cheese performs a cover of the 1995 dancehall song “Boombastic” by Shaggy. On May 7th, 2010, YouTuber sytg100 uploaded a clip of the scene, which gained over 340,000 views and 200 comments over the next seven years (shown below, left). On April 4th, 2011, YouTuber amir bayatra uploaded the Biggie Cheese scene with the 1996 rap song “Big Poppa” by Biggie Smalls playing in the background (shown below, right).

Spread

Over the next five years, the character received few mentions online. On November 20th, 2016, the Unironically Exposing Furries Worldwide Facebook^[4] page posted screenshots of a chat conversation in which a person demands to role-play a sexual encounter with Biggie Cheese (shown below). The original post has since been deleted.

On November 21st, 2016, YouTuber Fudge uploaded a dramatic reading of the chat conversation (shown below, left). On November 23rd, YouTuber Gook Spook uploaded a remix of the song “Straight Outta Compton” over a spinning image of Biggie Cheese (shown below, right).

Also on November 23rd, Urban Dictionary^[1] user Choose another name submitted an entry for “Biggie Cheese,” defining it as “One of the best rappers coming in 2017.” The following day, Redditor Hatewrecked submitted a post recommending viewers “buy all Biggie Cheese stocks ASAP” to the /r/MemeEconomy subreddit.^[2] Meanwhile, the roleplay screenshots were reposted on Imgur^[3] by user Curiouspolice.

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“Please Explain” is a quote Australian senator Pauline Hanson. It has become a well-known in-joke in Australia.

Origin
Pauline Hanson is an Australian senator and leader of the right-wing One Nation party. The party has occassionally been involved in some controversy due to alleged racism. The quote first appeared in an interview on news show 60 Minutes. Pauline Hanson was asked by the interviewer, “Are you a xenophobic?” to which she replied, “Please Explain?”

Use
The meme is considered to be an Australian inside joke and one of the country’s earliest memes. It is generally used as a caption for images of Pauline Hanson. The meme’s spread can be attributed to the controversy sometimes caused by Pauline Hanson for alleged racism.

A documentary titled “Pauline Hanson: Please Explain” was made in 2016 and details Pauline’s life.

“Pauline Pantsdown”, a satirical character created by comedian Simon Hunt to parody Pauline Hanson, has also occassionally said the quote.

Profesor Rossa Shitposting (Professor Rossa Shitposting) is a related memes and videos based in the character Profesor Rossa, portrated by chilean scientist and TV icon Ivan Arenas in the cultural and kid show “EL Mundo del Profesor Rossa” (“The world of Professor Rossa”) when Arenas explores the world with emphasis in the animal kingdom.

The show aired between 1984 and 2001 haves another iconic characters in the 80’s and 90’s pop culture: Guru-Guru (a pingeon-based corporean character with a badspelled spanish, created by Francisco Ossa and later portrayed by Claudio Moreno), Don Carter (the mailman of the Rossa’s world portrayed by Juan Alcayaga) and the legendary pianist Valentin Trujillo as himself.

The Show

Phorbidden Video

Aftermath

Lujo

The Lujo (literally “luxury”) is a catchphrase of Rossa based in the phrobidden video, when Rossa tells Guru “SabeDon Guru? me quiero dar un lujo, me voy a poner a miar” (“you know Mr. Guru, I wanna make a luxury, I wanna piss right here”). The Lujo is one of the most based and exploted catchphrase in the memes of Rossa, replacing names of books, movies and situations with the Lujo.

Gere

ALUCINANTE
Alucinante (literaly “allucinating”) is a cathphrased used by the virtual nemesis of Rossa, Federico Sanchez of the chilean TV Show “City Tour”. A part of the Rossa memes shows the rivalty between him and Sanchez, referencing boths with their cathphrases.

RossaWave

About

The “Get Bond” button is a interactive button that was applied to the currency pouch interface in the popular online MMORPG Runescape (also known by “Runescape 3” to some). It quickly came under criticism shortly after implementation mainly on the subreddit /r/Runescape.

Origin

On November 29th 2016, a button labeled “Get Bond” was discovered under the currency pouch which could be used to buy a bond from nigh anywhere in game. Clicking on this button would allow the player the option of purchasing a bond for the current Grand Exchange price, shown in gp in a popup confirmation box, plus a +5% premium and stated if possible the bond would be placed in the player’s inventory upon purchase.

Spread

On November 29th 2016, shortly after the button was implemented and discovered by players it was met with displeasure and this quickly transported over to the subreddit /r/Runescape. A good amount of the front page was populated with various posts based on how the button was unnecessary as there are various easy and simple ways to obtains bonds as is and the fact many players are not happy with the way the currency pouch interface is currently anyways. Many of these posts also included various overly dramatic but could be considered humorous representations of how this button was/could be appearing in other parts of the game.

External References

^[1]MikShady – idk.

^[1]ProgsRS – When the shit hits the fan

^[1]Derparnieux – I’m so tired of these Bonds-related shitposts, why can’t I downvote them? Friggin’ Jagex…

^[1]Trinky – I love that the community bonds over things like this

^[1]Oquizza_Bawz – Can’t reroll my clue

^[1]paulohare – Anyone else getting this weird UI bug?

^[1]Bizniss_Man – WTF is this new daily challenge

^[1]legonick22 – “Honey, we’re out of lotion! Can you get some more?”

^[1]Dev0rp – Can’t turn off my PC anymore.

^[1]5-x – A taste of things to come

^[1]Billionairess – Problem looting Telos

^[1]Sickzaur – Increase Coeden’s Click Area

^[1]kunair – Can’t access uncharted isles and claimed island

About

“All I Want For Christmas Is You” is a popular holiday song by recording artist Mariah Carey. Upon it’s release, the song quickly became a holiday standard. It is the 11th-best selling single of all time and has been widely covered.^[1]

Origin

Carey released the song on November 1st, 1994 as the lead single off her first Christmas album, Merry Christmas. Upon its release, it was an immediate addition into the canon of Christmas songs. The New Yorker called it “one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon.”^[2] It was the most played Christmas song of the 90s in the United Kingdom, and is also a massive international success.

Spread

In the 22 years since its release, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has grown into a widely loved and universally acclaimed holiday classic. Notably, it was prominently featured on the soundtrack of the 2002 popular Christmas film Love, Actually.

The Love Actually version sparked renewed interest in the song. Since the film, it has been covered by a wide variety of artists, including My Chemical Romance (below), Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, and many others.

Rockerfeller Center Performance

On December 3rd, 2014, Carey performed the song at the annual New York City Rockerfeller Center tree-lighting ceremony.^[3] There, she failed to hit several notes and was often off-key, lead to widespread criticism and caused Carey to apologize for the performance. A video of the performance which isolates the vocals spread shortly after, underscoring the poorness of Carey’s performance.

YouTube Trend Bar Jokes

On October 14th, 2015, Reddit user linkognito posted an image of the YouTube trends chart for the song’s music video to /r/funny.^[6] Noting the beginning of an ascent in October, he captioned the picture, “It begins” (shown below). The post has 4,939 points.

On November 2nd, 2016, Twitter user Zach Cole tweeted an image of the YouTube trends chart for the song’s music video. Noting the beginning of an ascent shortly after 2016’s Halloween, he also captioned the tweet, “It begins” (shown below).

The tweet has gained nearly 55,000 retweets and has over 78,000 favorites as of November 29th, 2016. Its popularity led it to be covered by The Daily Dot.^[5]

Various Covers

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About

Britain’s Best Looking Couple, also known as “Is This the UKs Best Looking Couple?” refers to a series of tweets mocking an article by The Daily Mail which wondered if Mel Tansley and James Ferguson, both English models who are now engaged, were the best looking couple in the United Kingdom. The joke format is imilar to Name a More Iconic Duo in that it relies on using a single caption while users substitute different photographs.

Origin

On November 28th, 2016, The Daily Mail^[1] published an article about Mel Tansley and James Ferguson, an engaged English couple who are both models. The pair, who work out 7 days a week, fake-tan, and whiten their teeth, claim they are often stopped on the street by people who comment on their attractiveness. That day, their sister account @Femail sent out a tweet^[2] linking to the article with a photograph of the couple.

Spread

Immediately following The Daily Mail’s tweet, Twitter users began mocking it by posting pictures of various, generally unattractive duos of people or things with the caption “Is this Britain’s best looking couple?” or “Is this the UKs Best Looking Couple?” The first came from @youngvulgarian,^[3] who tweeted a picture of Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson (shown below). As of November 29th, the tweet has 29 retweets and 67 favorites.

Following that tweet, the trend quickly grew very popular as Twitter users added various strange, iconic, unattractive, and absurd duos to the caption. By the following day, the trend had been covered by Mashable^[4] and The Daily Dot,^[5] and had also become a Twitter Moment.^[6]

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References

Overview

Fidel Castro was a revolutionary and politician who served as the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008. While he was praised by many for expanding various socialist institutions in the country, including education and healthcare, others have criticized him as a dictator responsible for numerous human rights violations and executions. His death, which occurred in late November 2016, sparked many online conversations regarding the controversial political figure.

Background

On November 25th, 2016, Raúl Castro announced on state television that his brother Fidel had passed away earlier that evening. The following day, Castro was cremated according to stipulations within his will. From November 28th to the 29th, his ashes were placed on display at the José Martí Memorial in Havana for Cubans to pay their respects. Starting on November 29th, his ashes will be carried to Santiago de Cuba along a 560 miles route.

Developments

Celebrations in Miami

Following the announcement, Cuban-Americans celebrated Castro’s death on the streets of Miami, Florida (shown below).

Online Reactions

Barack Obama’s Statement

That day, United States President Barack Obama issued a statement about Castro’s death, which discussed improving relations with Cuba and extended condolences to the Castro family (shown below).^[2]

Donald Trump’s Statement

Also on November 26th, United States President-elect Donald Trump tweeted the message “Fidel Castro is dead!” (shown below).^[3] Within 72 hours, the tweet received more than 140,000 likes and 31,000 retweets. Later that same day, Trump posted a longer statement on his official Facebook^[4] page, where he referred to Castro as a “brutal dictator” who caused “tragedies, deaths and pain.”

Justin Trudeau’s Statement

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau released a statement praising Castro as a “legendary revolutionary and orator” and noting that it was “a real honor” to have met him during a visit to Cuba (shown below).

Following the release of the statement, critics of Castro’s regime condemned Trudeau for praising the deceased leader without mentioning his human rights record.^[5] On Twitter, many mocked the statement in tweets praising other controversial figures, along with the hashtag #TrudeauEulogies^[6] (shown below).

Meanwhile, users on 4chan’s /pol/ board began speculating that Trudeau was Castro’s illegitimate son, comparing various photographs of the two men (shown below).^[1] Additionally, a photograph of Castro holding Trudeau’s late brother Michel began circulating on social media, with some falsely identifying the child as Justin Trudeau.^[7]

Quote Hoax

Shortly after Castro’s death was announced, a joke began circulating online attributing the false quote “I will not die until America is destroyed” to Castro, insinuating that the former Cuban leader had died as a result of election of Donald Trump. On November 27th, Snopes^[8] published an article listing the quote as “False.”

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Michael’s Customer Rant refers to video footage of a customer, who identifies herself as a Donald Trump supporter, going off on a racially charged tirade against the manager at the arts and craft retail store in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Upon being uploaded to YouTube in late November 2016, the video quickly went viral and caused a stir on the social media

Background

On November 23rd, 2016, Chicago resident Jessie Grady recorded a video of an argument that had erupted between a white female customer and a number of black employees at the Lakeside location of the American arts and craft retail chain Michael’s. While the full scope of the argument remains unknown, Grady’s video shows a white female customer berating the black employees at a Michael’s store in Chicago, illinois for attempting to have her purchase a $1 reusable bag.

The woman believed she was being discriminated against because of her skin color and her support of Donald Trump, saying “And I voted for Trump, so there. You want to kick me out because of that? And look who won.” Grady told the Chicago Patch^[1] that she filmed ten minutes of the confrontation, which reportedly lasted for 45 minutes, in case legal action was taken against the employees.

Developments

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About

“Your new favorite show!” is a tagline that shows on a commercial for the animated series Teen Titans Go!.

Origin

On a Cartoon Network commercial for Teen Titans Go! at the end it says “Your new favorite show!” as a tagline. (Shown below)

Spread

[reasserting]

Various Examples

Search Interest

Nestor is a highly competitive Pokemon found in the Lake the of Moone. It is nearly entirely useless as a damage dealer, but it has a number of stat moves, making it extremely dangerous to face.

The pokemon gained popularity after The Night of a Thousand Nestors on Reddit, when Nestor supporters carried out a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate Nestor’s absolute hold on power in Reddit. Many of those killed were leaders of the Bulpapedia Political Front.

About

Kellyanne Conway’s “Working Hard” Photo refers to a picture of United States President-elect Donald Trump and his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway looking at a Macbook. After the photograph was tweeted by Conway in late November 2016, it widely circulated on Twitter accompanied by various humorous captions and photoshopped computer screens.

Origin

On November 28th, 2016, Conway tweeted a photograph of her and Donald Trump looking at a computer screen with the caption “@realDonaldTrump & I working hard tonight. Thank you for the privilege of a lifetime, #PEOTUS” (shown below).

Spread

The same day, Twitter user @ParkerMolloy^[3] posted the photo next to a photoshopped picture of a computer screen with instructions on “How To Be President of the United States” (shown below, left). Meanwhile, Twitter user @braddybb^[4] posted a blank photoshop template to accompany the photo, asking followers to “please meme responsibly” (shown below, right).

That evening, Twitter user The Cuckservative^[2] retweeted the photo with the caption “‘Now watch. I hate the tweet button and obtain full control of the news cycle’” (shown below). In 48 hours, the tweet received upwards of 5,000 likes and 2,500 retweets. In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the online reaction to Conway’s photo, including Bustle,^[5] Esquire^[6] and The Daily Dot.^[7]

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

The Trump/Romney Dinner Photo refers to a series of jokes about a photograph of Mitt Romney and President-elect Donald Trump eating dinner.

Origin

On November 29th, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump met with Mitt Romney and Reince Priebus at Jean-Georges, a restaurant located in the New York City Trump Tower, to discuss Romney potentially being Trump’s Secretary of State.^[1] Romney was an outspoken critic of Trump during the 2016 United States Presidential Election campaign, and Trump had mocked Romney’s failure during the 2012 United States Presidential Election. Photographer Drew Angerer took a picture of the dinner in which Romney is turned toward the camera with a small smile while Trump is seen lit from below, smiling (shown below).

Spread

The photograph struck many as awkward, especially considering the two men’s animosity towards each other, and Twitter users began making jokes about the apparent effort behind Romney’s smile and the lighting appearing to make Trump look sinister. One of the first tweets of the photo came from @Walldo,^[9] who posted it and invited his followers to “Caption this.”

Many compared Romney’s smile to the well-known look The Office‘s Jim Halpert gives to the camera in wacky scenarios,^[2] while others said it appeared as though Romney was selling his soul to the devil.^[3] Some compared Trump’s look to Saturday Night Live’s David S. Pumpkins. ^[4] The popularity of the joke led it to be a Twitter Moment^[5] and attract media coverage from The Daily Dot,^[6] Mashable,^[7] Romper,^[8] and more.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References

About

Unflattering Donald Trump refers to various humorously timed photographs of United States President-elect Donald Trump that are rumored to offend him. Many of the images have been widely circulated on Twitter and spawned numerous photoshopped variations.

Origin

On November 21st, 2016, the news blog Politico^[2] reported that Trump complained to various television executives and anchors about “photos of himself that NBC used that he found unflattering,” according to an unnamed source who attended the off-the-record gathering at Trump Tower. On November 24th, 2016, musician Charles Johnson tweeted a photograph of Trump along with the message “I hear Donald Trump really hates this photo: So make sure not to retweet it. Ever” (shown below). Within one week, the tweet gained over 29,100 retweets and 16,400 likes.

Spread

On November 25th, Twitter user @PixMichelle^[8] tweeted several photographs of Trump along with the hashtag “#TrumpleChin” (shown below, left). On November 26th, Twitter user @Marmel^[9] posted a profile photograph of Trump prominently displaying the subcutaneous fat sagging below his chin, juxtaposed next to a photo of a pelican (shown below, right). Within four days, the tweet received more than 12,600 retweets and 10,900 likes.

On November 27th, Fusion^[3] published an article about the unflattering photographs’ online circulation. On November 28th, 2016, The Ellen Show Executive Producer Andy Lassner tweeted the Trump profile photograph, urging followers to retweet the image (shown below).^[1]

The following day, Redditor LZMRaul posted the photograph to /r/photoshopbattles,^[4] inviting viewers to digitally alter the picture. Within 24 hours, the post gathered upwards of 17,200 votes (65% upvoted) and 1,700 comments, along with many photoshopped variations of the image (shown below). In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the photoshop meme, including UpRoxx,^[5] Crave^[6] and The Poke.^[7]

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Free Hans Island is a satirical dispute led by both Canadian and Danish Reddit users to claim ownership of Hans Island, a small, uninhibited barren knoll that sits in the center of the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait that runs between Canada and Greenland, which is part of the Danish commonwealth. The line for the border between Canada and Greenland crosses straight through Hans Island, causing mild dispute between the two countries over who has ownership.

Background

In 1972, a team of Canadians and Danes working in the Nares Strait determined the geographic coordinates for Hans Island. During negotiations between Canada and Denmark on their maritime boundary in 1973, both states claimed that Hans Island was part of their territory. No agreement was reached between the two governments on the issue.^[1] Over the following years, the dispute of the territory has become a long-running joke between the two countries. In 1984, the Danish Minister of Greenland planted a flag saying “Welcome to the Danish Island,” leaving a bottle of brandy, prompting Canadians to respond with a flag of their own, leaving behind bottles of Canadian Club. As of 2016, the dispute has not been settled.

Online Developments

In late November 2016, the dispute attracted a bevy of attention on Reddit, as members of /r/Canada and /r/Denmark engaged in an “upvote war” to gain control of Hans Island. The origins of the battle are unclear. According to one user named koproller,^[2] it began when he responded to an image macro on /r/funny that showed a picture of Hans Island and captioned with the flag/liquor story.^[3] koproller then made a subreddit called /r/FreeHans^[4] on November 26th devoted to the battle between Canadians and Danes for control of Hans Island. On November 26th, a thread titled “Denmark. Upvote this so that whenever people google Denmark, this photo comes up.”^[5] with a picture of Hans Island. The post gained over 6,000 upvotes in four days and made it to Reddit’s front page. A website devoted to arguing for Danish control of Hans Island, freehansisland.com,^[6] was created and covered the event with satirical hyperbole.

Search Interest

External References

About

One Finger Selfie Challenge refers to photo fad involving people taking nude selfies of themselves in front of a mirror while covering their private parts using only one finger. The goal is to not show anything thanks to an optical illusion induced by the reflection of the finger in the mirror. While it was inspired by a Japanese artwork from August 2016, the fad didn’t take hold before late November of that year, when it was picked up by Japanese Twitter users posting photographs of themselves doing the challenge.

Origin

On August 16th, 2016, Japanese artist Sky-FreeDom (Japan. スカイ) uploaded a picture of a nude girl taking a cellphone photo of herself in front of a mirror while raising her finger, which has the effect of covering both her breasts and genitals^[1] (shown below).

Spread

On November 22nd, 2016, Japanese twitter user がふ retweeted the picture, asking if the pose was actually possible (shown below). The tweet accumulated to over 4 880 retweets and 4 700 liks in the following week, prompting a handful of women and men users to respond with pictures of themselves naked doing the pose^[2].

The fad was first picked up by Chinese internet outlets posting compilations of images from the Twitter post^[3][4].

Davison’s Video

On November 27th, the first tweet acknowledging the fad by westerners came from Brazilian user Vinícius Curi^[5] who posted a compilation of photos and coined the terms “1 finger selfie challenge”. On the same day, YouTube user Davison uploaded a tutorial video with her take on the challenge (shown below). It gathered over 670 000 views in the following week.

The video itself brought attention to the fad, leading to several news pieces on the phenomenon^[6][7][8].
Official Tumblr^[9], Twitter^[10] and Instagram^[13] pages were also launched.

Criticism

On November 30th, French Huffington Post writer Claire Hervé posted an article about the phenomenon, noting that a fair amount of people following the fad were intimidated by the nude and public aspects of it, showing Instagram users partaking in the challenge by flipping their middle finger to their mirror while being fully clothed, or photographing their fingers up close for it to take the entire picture^[11].
Another article from Teenvogue^[12], issued November 28th, also pointed out how the fad may encourage body-shaming, inviting strangers to comment on one’s figure while rejecting various non-standard body types that may not pass the challenge.

Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

BODE refers to images with the word “BODE” (short for “bodacious”) overlaid on them. The images often are of overweight cats, and cat-like creatures.

Origin

On the 27th of November, 2016, Tumblr user loghain made a post (shown below) about a dream he had where images of fat cats were posted with “BODE” on top of them, standing for “bodacious”. Within 3 days, it gained over 50,000 notes.^[1]

Spread

On November 29th, 2016, tumblr user oh-yeah-mr-krabs posted an image (shown below, left) of an overweight cat with the word “BODE” stretched to seem as if it was on the cat’s back. It gained over 2,500 notes in one day.^[2] Later, user mergator posted an image (shown below, right) of a cat sitting up against the wall with the word superimposed on it. It gained over 8,000 notes in a day.^[3].

The next day, bntyhuntr posted an image (shown below, left) of a cat attempting to get through a hole, with “BODE” overlaid. It gained nearly 4,000 notes in a day.^[4] Later that date, tumblr user classicgansey made a text post (shown below, right) referencing BODE. It gained over 3,000 notes in six hours.^[5]

Various Examples

Search Interest

No relevant search interest available

References

The support page for Mewtwo on Super Smash Bros on the Nintendo Miiverse has been flooded for about over a year with Mewtwo and his 3 paws, often daily and multiple posts in a day. Some users keep posting nothing but these 3 paws posts and other users have followed suit and post about 3 paws every so often. Apparently, people think that these finger tips, or the balls on Mewtwos hands are paws, and such he has 3 paws.

About

Sans Puns is a popular meme of the fictional character Sans from the video game Undertale making his puns.

Origin

W.IP.

Spread

Somebody upload a video on Youtube called “This Is Your PUN-ishment!” the video is about the comics of Sans making puns the video made 57,823 views and 229 comments. (Shown Below)

Various Examples

Search Interest