About

#SaltBae is a nickname given to Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe, who was widely discussed on social media following the circulation of a video in which he flamboyantly sprinkles salt on a carved steak.

Origin

On January 7th, 2016, Gökçe uploaded a video of himself carving a steak and sprinkling salt over his forearm on to the meat (shown below). Within 48 hours, the video gained over 2.4 million views and 8,700 comments.^[1] That day, Twitter user @lolalissaa^[3] reposted the video along the the message “so this is #saltbae.”

Spread

That evening, @lolalissaa reposted another video in which Gökçe hangs a cooked slab of meat over a woman’s mouth, garnering upwards of 3,100 likes and 2,500 retweets in two days (shown below).

Also on January 7th, 2016, Twitter user @elBeardedBandit^[1] tweeted a You vs. The Guy image macro featuring a screenshot of Gökçe sprinking salt (shown below, left). Within 48 hours, the tweet garnered more than 48,000 likes and 33,000 retweets. The following day, Twitter user @NerdyAjet^[4] posted an illustration of Gökçe (shown below, right).

On January 8th, Twitter user @Ratchetveli tweeted a parody video of himself making greit with the hashtag #GritsBae (shown below). That evening, a Twitter moments page titled “The world is obsessed with a Turkish meat monger” was created, highlighting tweets about Gökçe’s video.^[2]

On January 9th, Twitter user @j.kube posted a parody of Gökçe’s video in which he carves several slices of bread before sprinkling salt over his forearm (shown below). In the coming days, several news sites published articles about Gökçe’s online fame, including The Verge,^[5] The Telegraph,^[6] NY Mag^[7] and Elite Daily.^[8]

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

Stu, a gross is 144 eggs is a Tumblr Post that features Stu Pickles ordering a Gross of eggs and somehow not realizing that a gross is 144 eggs. This sparked a post to have multiple edits and gain quick popularity.

Origins

The scene is from Episode 5b on Season 3 of Rugrats titled “the Stork” aired on Oct 24, 1993, on Nickelodeon. The first source of the meme showing up is a video that was posted on Jun 13, 2010

Spread

On May 11, 2016, a Tumblr user by the name of omny87^[1] made a post about how much chances Stu would have to realize his mistake.

Stu, let me ask you a question: how did you not realize until then that you had too many eggs? Nobody sells eggs in a big cloth-covered basket, so you must have done that yourself. That means you spent god-knows-how-long opening up twelve whole cartons of eggs, carefully placing each egg one-by-one inside a big basket, and then covering it with a big picnic cloth… and at no point- at no point- did you ever stop and think “gee, there might be TOOMANYFUCKINGEGGS HERE”

You really have lost control of your life.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

Not Available

External References

^[1]Tumblr omny87

About

Whisper in Ear Goosebumps is an image macro series featuring a photograph of someone whispering in an ear, followed by a picture of goosebumps on a person’s skin. The image is typically captioned with humorous phrases presented as if they being whispered in someone’s ear, causing the person to be visibly aroused.

Origin

On September 22nd, 2014, Tumblr user earthdad^[1] posted a photograph of raised goosebumps on an arm with the caption “me: thinks of memes” (shown below). Over the next several years, the post gained over 188,000 notes.

Spread

On August 28th, 2016, Twitter user @scobes^[2] tweeted the whisper and goosebumps images along with the caption “be my mcchicken” (shown below, left), referencing a viral video in which a man masturbates with a McDonald’s McChicken sandwich. On September 22nd, Twitter user @Reverend_Scott posted the same images with the caption "I have puppies you can pet (shown below, right).

On October 9th, Tumblr user bts420^[3] posted the images along with the caption “peaches n cream sweeter than sweet chocolate cheeks n chocolate wings,” garnering upwards of 2,200 notes within three months (shown below, left). On November 23rd, the shrekflix Instagram^[5] feed posted the image set along with the caption “Theres choccy milk in the fridge” (shown below, right). On December 31st, the meme generator site Surf.co^[4] launched created a template page for the image macro series.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

“wyd after smokin this?” refers to a series of jokes in which a user posts a picture of especially powerful-looking marijuana and asks “wyd (what’re you doing) after smokin this?”, followed by a picture representing a particularly outlandish activity to illustrate the level of intoxication caused by the weed.

Origin

On August 7th, 2016, Twitter user @cristhegoat^[1] posted an image of a massive marijuana blunt laced with wax asking “wyd 10 minutes after you hit this?” (shown below).

Spread

On August 9th, parody account ‏@WORIDSTARHIPH0P^[2] posted a screenshot of @cristhegoat’s tweet accompanied by an image of a photoshopped Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story investigating a floor. The tweet, shown below, popularized the joke template, and has gained nearly 1,800 retweets and over 3,700 likes as of January 17th, 2017.

In the coming months, many variations playing on the template appeared. On October 24th, Twitter user @KyInDaClouds^[3] posted the question with a purple, crystallized strand, inviting replies. This coincided with the ascent of the meme’s popularity in Google Trends, likely leading to its late-2016 peak.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External Reference

“eNGLISH” is a song by Maxime Augustin, uploaded to YouTube on the 17th of December, 2016. The song is in the genre of hip hop, with an eccentric, dissonant and clustered style of production and rapping, and a more bizarre element being its abrupt stop at the two minute mark. The song became viral after becoming circulated as a YouTube ad, which quickly became highly viewed and noticed by intrigued and confused viewers. The video currently has 13 million views.

Pyrocynical, a popular YouTuber, later uploaded “Have you seen this YouTube ad?”, which noted and mocked the song.

About

Badly Explain Your Profession is an online survey game in which participants attempt to humorously describe their career of choice in an unconventional manner.

Origin

On January 1st, 2017, Redditor dotbomber95 submitted a post titled “How would you badly explain your hobby?” to the /r/AskWomen^[8] subreddit, where it received upwards of 190 comments within two weeks. On January 4th, Twitter user @Stat__Murse^[4] posted an image with the message “Badly Explain Your Profession” along with the hashtag “#BadlyExplainYourProfession”^[1] (shown below).

Spread

On January 5th, 2017, Redditor limbodog submitted a post titled “Reddit, how would you really badly explain your job?” to /r/AskReddit.^[2] On January 7th, fitness writer James Fell posted a “Badly Explain Your Profession” image on his Facebook^[10] page, accumulating upwards of 7,000 shares and 1,100 comments over the next 10 days. The following day, the image was reposted on 9gag,^[11] where it garnered more than 9,400 points and 6,700 comments within nine days. On January 10th, the business news site Inc.^[6] highlighted several notable responses from Fell’s Facebook post.

Meanwhile, Imgur^[7] user thedivineandprofane posted uploaded the same image, which gathered upwards of 59,600 views and 1,800 comments over the next week. Also on January 10th, Redditor sixpancakes submitted a post titled “How would you badly explain your profession?” to /r/AskReddit.^[3] That day, a thread titled “Badly explain your job” was submitted to the WeddingBee Forums.^[5] On January 12th, BodyBuilding Forums member Sinan09400 submitted a post titled “ITT Badly explain your profession with one sentence” to the Misc. board.^[9]

Search Interest

External References

About

BibleThump is a graphic emoticon featuring the face of the character Isaac from the video game The Binding of Isaac, which is commonly used to convey a feeling of sadness in various chats hosted on the live streaming video platform Twitch.

Origin

[Researching]

Spread

On February 19th, 2014, Redditor ralphplzgo submitted a post asking about the meaning of BibleThump to /r/OutOfTheLoop,^[2] where Redditor Sauceror221 cited its origins on Twitch.

On August 8th, Mashable^[1] published an article titled “‘Twitch-speak’: A Guide to the Secret Emoji Language of Gamers,” which described BibleThump as a emote for “sadness.”

The website ICryEveryTime features a flash animation of BibleThump emotes falling down the screen with a violin playing in the background (shown below).

Search Interest

External References

The DeuS meme first originated from a full 2 minute reaction video where DeuS was noted to go full Fanpoi over a nikolai, after unwittingly introducing chapter 16.5 of SOA to the server he committed sudoku and retreated temporarily. Speculated to return at some point in the future, the legend of DeuS continues.

See also: The exodus of DeuS and The great re-naming

About

Blurry Ham refers to a photograph of a box filled with several slices of ham, which appears blurry and out of focus due to the deli meat’s semi-translucent layers. In early January 2017, the photo was widely circulated online, with many comparing the image to optical illusions like #TheDress and The Legs.

Origin

On January 5th, 2017, Redditor MelvinDickpictweet submitted a photograph of sliced ham titled “This sliced ham looks like it’s out of focus” (shown below). Within four days, the picture gained over 40,300 points (84% upvoted) and 1,200 comments on /r/mildyinteresting.^[1]

Spread

On January 6th, YouTuber HaBLA Espanjol uploaded a video of the ham titled “Out of focus sliced ham: The Movie,” garnering more than 655,000 views and 1,100 comments within 72 hours (shown below).

In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the online reaction to the ham photo, including The Daily Dot,^[2] UpRoxx,^[3] Mashable,^[4] The Daily Mail,^[5] Kottke^[6] and NY Mag.^[7]

Search Interest

External References

About

Tomi Lahren is an American television and online conservative political commentator known for her talk show Tomi on The Blaze.^[1] In 2016, she gained national attention for her conservative commentary on the 2016 United States presidential election, most notably through the videos of her “Final Thoughts” segment which spread widely on social media.

History

Lahren first hosted her own show, On Point With Tomi Lahren, on One America News Network beginning in August 2014. There, she began drawing attention following her commentary on the Chattanooga shootings^[2] and commentary in which she countered the idea that Republicans are old rich and white by pointing to prominent Democrats, saying, “Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden. Old, rich, white, and if the pantsuit fits … male too?”

In August 2015, she did her final show with One America News Network and in November of that year began her show with The Blaze. Here, she introduced her “Final Thoughts” segment, which became particularly popular on social media. One of her first segments to draw national attention was her “Final Thoughts” on the Colin Kaepernick National Anthem Controversy, aired in August 2016 (shown below).

On November 30th, 2016, Lahren appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah for a 26-minute interview segment (shown below).

While Noah attempted to listen and reason with her, critics noticed that Lahren dominated the segment, reiterating her opinions without regard for Noah’s objections.^[3] This led to a divided reaction among liberals. Some praised Noah for his candor in the face of Lahren’s obstinance,^[4] while others criticized him for allowing Lahren’s viewpoints to reach their widest audience yet.^[5]

Reputation

Lahren is known for her controversial, conservative stances on issues, particularly issues of race. She is most known for being anti-Black Lives Matter, and many critics have called her racist, which she disputes.^[6] Some critics have even gone so far as to call her “White Power Barbie” and “the next Ann Coulter.”^[7]

Online Presence

Lahren is very popular on social media, with over 486,000 Twitter followers^[8] and over 3.8 million Facebook likes.^[9]

Old Tweets

On January 9th, 2017, Twitter users began retweeting old Tomi Lahren tweets from when she was a college student.^[10] Some of the more popular tweets, some of which Tomi Lahren has since deleted, featured her talking about partying using the hashtag “#popthatp” (short for “pop that pussy”), while in others she complained about summer school and working for her mom.

Related Memes

Wrong Names

On January 3rd, 2017, rapper Wale released a song called “Smile” in which he mentioned Tomi Lahren, mistakenly calling her “Tammy Lahren.”

That day, Tomi tweeted “So if you’re gonna put someone in a song…diss ’em.. perhaps get their fricken name right next time @Wale”.^[11] The next day, Wale responded “Ok Tammy”^[12] in a tweet that gained over 172,000 retweets and over 301,000 likes. It also spawned a brief Twitter trend in which people called Tomi Lahren other names that began with T. The moment was covered by SelectAll.^[13]

One of the most popular tweets regarding the incident was tweeted by @bboothie,^[14] showing the character Tammy from Bob’s Burgers, a middle school reporter from an episode in which the character Tina acts as an investigative journalist, and Tomi Lahren, captioned “i now see how wale got confused.” The tweet, shown below, gained over 32,000 retweets and 67,000 likes.

Tomi Lahren Logic

As Lahren grew more popular, Twitter users began using images of her face during one of her “Final Thoughts” segments to make outlandish political statements in parody of Lahren’s style. Around this time, an edited image of Lahren to make her mouth look especially large also began appearing with these types of jokes. The Daily Dot^[14] covered the spread of these jokes on January 10th, 2017.

Personal Life

As of January 10th, 2017, Lahren is 24 years old. She grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota, and attended UNLV, which she graduated from in 2014.

Search Interest

External References

The video “JIMMYNEUTRONHAS A SMALLPENIS” by nokeric https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO9DKxP7pFI contains a voiceover with the text “WADDUP, BITCH, YOUWANNASUCK MY FUCKINGDICK? THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT, LITTLEBITCH, LITTLEPENIS, LITTLEPENIS, LITTLEPECKERPENIS, that’s what I thought. That’s what i thought, that’s what i thought, bitch, that’s all you got, that’s all you got.”.

About

Nostalrius was a private World of Warcraft legacy server which allowed players to experience an early version of the online game often referred to as “Vanilla WoW.”

History

In July 2010, the Nostalrius YouTube channel was launched, featuring videos on the development of the Nostalrius World of Warcraft server (shown below). On January 13th, 2012, the Nostalrius Facebook^[2] page was created. On October 12th, 2014, developers created the /r/NostalriusBegins^[3] subreddit for discussions about the developing server.

On February 11th, 2015, a release trailer for the upcoming server was uploaded to YouTube (shown below). On February 28th, the server was officially launched under the title “Nostalrius Begins.”

Shutdown

In April 2016, Nostalrius developers received a cease and desist notice from United States and French lawyers acting on behalf of Blizzard Entertainment, forcing the server to shutdown.^[4]

Elysium Project

In late 2016, Nostalrius and Elysium partnered together to work on the Elysium Project,

Traffic

As the most successful unofficial World of Warcraft server, Nostalrius maintained a player base of more than 15,000 online during peak hours.

Search Interest

External References

The rising multi genre songwriter Kolade Olamide Ayodeji releases his latest studio endeavor; a remarkable new album entitled ‘Best Moment of our Lives’. The eclectic new collection of songs includes ten brand new tracks penned by Kolade that span an array of genres, primarily electronic, pop and dance.

This latest entry in Kolade’s discography further concretes his place as a relevant and prolific songwriter in the music industry today. Acting as a true jack of all trades, he writes, arranges, produces and promotes his music. Having graduated from an eminent business school with a bachelor of science in business management, Kolade excels not only in the artistic side of music, but the business side as well.

Over the years, Kolade has been lauded by fans and critics alike for his compelling lyricism and razor sharp production prowess. He has placed a semi-finalist both in the Song of the Year awards and the United Kingdom Songwriting Contest. Though, his new album largely in pop styling, his talent is not exclusive to that genre. Kolade has written, produced and released hip hop, r & b, country, gospel and more.
‘Best Moment of our Lives’ is released on Kolade Olamide Ayodeji Entertainment, the songwriter’s own independent record label.
Once again, music enthusiasts and critics are sure to be impressed by Kolade’s all-encompassing musical skill set. From infectiously catchy beats to heart-touching melodies, ‘Best Moment of our Lives’ is worth picking up.
​

https://www.facebook.com/KoladeOlamideEntertainment
https://www.youtube.com/KoladeOlamideEntertainment
https://twitter.com/KoladeO
https://soundcloud.com/koladeolamideayodeji
olamidekolade17@gmail.com

About
“Jacksepticeye Punches Himself During Outro” is a YouTube video showing YouTuber and Let’s Player Jacksepticeye accidentally hitting himself in the face with his fist while doing his outro in a vlog, specifically a subscriber special video.
Origin
On January 4, 2017, Jack uploaded a video announcing that the channel officially hit 14 million subscribers, during the video Jack thanks all the fans for the support and other people such as Mark, Felix and his editor Robin, as well as telling the viewers about his plans in 2017, at the end when Jack is doing his usual outro, he hits his face (actually the side of his head), and he laughs at it and continue his outro, at the very end after the outro music, Jack humorously blames his hair for it.^[1]
Spread
On the same day, YouTuber ThatBoyHM^[2] uploaded the intro and the video received 1,388 views and 80 like in its first week. Another YouTuber, Chloe Bo’s^[3] uploaded the exact same outro, however it was recorded on a mobile and it received 1,233 views and 28 likes in the first week . four day after, YouTuber Daniel James Howell^[4] uploaded the same outro, however his video 5 seconds shorter than the first two videos, the first received only 39 views and 3 likes as well as one dislike.
External References
^[1]YouTube – 14 MILLIONSUBSCRIBERS :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljrkdfRw7vc&t
^[2]YouTube – ThatBoyHM’s channel :https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyMVjHIRXaSTTa62jDh4IIg
^[3]YouTube – Chloe Bo’s channel :https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC185gyydMcHBUFPul561HCw
^[4]YouTube – Daniel James Howell’s channel :https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkH9xgJSJIPavp7ryEzitEA

About

Super Mario Odyssey is a video game in the Super Mario series by Nintendo due to be released for the upcoming Nintendo Switch console.

History

When Nintendo announced the Nintendo Switch on October 20th, 2016, its trailer offered a glimpse at Super Mario Odyssey.^[1] Nintendo formally unveiled Super Mario Odyssey with a trailer (shown below) at the Nintendo Switch event held on January 12th, 2017.

The trailer first finds Mario in a city similar to New York City, dubbed “New Donk City” in the game. It appears the game will return to the open world-style of game found in titles like Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario 64. Series creator Shigeru Miyamoto also said that Odyssey would return to the tougher, less casual-friendly style of those titles.^[2]

Reception

Reaction to the Super Mario Odyssey trailer has been mixed. Kotaku^[3] noted that while the game looks fun, the city setting that includes realistic human beings made Mario appear out of place. Users compared the idea of Mario in a realistic human world to the notoriously awful-looking Sonic ’06, as well as Grand Theft Auto and the Simpsons episode where Homer enters reality.

Search Interest

External References

About

Italian Military Jokes are quips aimed at mocking the effectiveness or prowess of the Italian military. Online, images of pizzas floating on the ocean are often jokingly described as photographs of the Italian Navy.

Origin

[Researching]

Spread

On January 25th, 2014, the Italian Armyball Facebook^[2] page was launched, highlighting depictions of the Italian military as various Polandball-style illustrations.

On March 15th, 2015, Redditor SapSal submitted a PolandBall comic titled “Italian Military” to /r/polandball,^[4] garnering upwards of 470 points (96% upvoted) and 70 comments prior to being archived (shown below).

On June 24th, 2016, the PolandBall Facebook^[3] page posted a graphic pacing Italy at the very bottom of a chart ranking various country’s military history (shown below). Within seven months, the post gained over 6,500 reactions and 1,500 shares. On April 21st, Imgur user TheExistentialDreadKickedIn uploaded a GIF of a pizza floating in the ocean titled “Italian Navy.”^[1]

On January 10th, 2017, Redditor x2K284 submitted a screenshot of Google Image Search results for “Italian Navy,” featuring pizzas and pizza-shaped flotation devices floated in water (shown below, left). On January 18th, Redditor SirJilliumz submitted a Fake History image macro mocking the Italian Navy to /r/MemeEconomy^[5] (shown below, right).

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

Madagascar is a 2005 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and released to theaters on May 27, 2005. The film tells the story of four Central Park Zoo animals who have spent their lives in blissful captivity and are unexpectedly shipped back to Africa, getting shipwrecked on the island of Madagascar.

History

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 55% approval rating based on 178 reviews. On Metacritic, the film has 57% approval rating based on 36 reviews falling under the “Mixed or Average” category.

Online Relevance

Related Memes

Circus Afro

Circus Afro, also known as Afro Circus, is a song from the trailer for the 2012 3D-animated film Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, which is sung by the character Marty, voiced by actor/comedian Chris Rock, wearing a rainbow-colored afro wig and full body clown paint. The song gained notoriety for its obnoxiousness after the trailer aired during an episode of the animated series The Legend of Korra.

I Like to Move It

“I Like to Move It” is a song by American electronic dance duo Reel 2 Real (Erick Morillo), featuring ragga vocals by Trinidad and Tobago rapper The Mad Stuntman (Mark Quashie). The song appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1994, peaking at number 89, reached number 5 on the UK Singles Chart, was a number one hit in the Netherlands and was a number 8 hit on the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

Search Interest

External References

About

Meitu is a Chinese photo-editing app for iOS and Android. With the app, users can upload pictures of themselves and apply one of several features, such as airbrushing or skin-blemish removal, to the photo. The app surged in popularity in America and the UK in 2017 when people began sharing pictures using the app’s Anime-like filters that gave users’ photos large eyes and a hand-drawn art-style.

History

Meitu was developed by Chinese company Xiamen Meitu Technology in 2008.^[1][2] It remained a popular app in Asia. In 2014, the app was valued at $2 billion dollars. Investors include Innovation Works, IDG, Qiming Venture Partners, Tiger Fund, Ce Yuan Ventures, H Capital, Foxconn and China Asset Management Co., Ltd.

2017 Surge

When the app was released in the UK in January of 2017, it surged in popularity, going from the 973rd to the 68th most popular free app between January 14th and January 18th.^[1] It instantly generated media buzz. Telegraph,^[3] The Independent,^[4] SelectAll,^[5] and many more media outlets covered the app’s surge in popularity, and Twitter users’ use was compiled in a Twitter Moment^[6] on the 19th. One of the most popular uses of the app has been to upload pictures of Donald Trump. Pictures of Trump in the filter have served as header images on Select All, Telegraph, and more.

Search Interest

External References

About

Donald Trump Inaugural Address Photo refers to a photograph of United States President-elect Donald Trump seated a desk ostensibly writing his upcoming inaugural address.

Origin

On January 18th, 2017, Trump tweeted a photograph of himself seated at a desk holding a pen and pad of paper along with the message stating that he is “writing my inaugural address at the Winter White House” (shown below). Within 24 hours, the tweet gained over 90,000 likes and 19,000 retweets.^[1]

Spread

Shortly after, Twitter user @BenjaminJS^[4] posted a photoshop of the picture with Trump drawing on the paper with Crayons (shown below).

Also on January 18th, UpRoxx^[2] and The Huffington Post^[3] published articles about the online reaction to the photograph.

Search Interest

External References

About

“i lik the bred” refers to a poem written by gimmick Reddit account poem_for_your_sprog in response to a thread about the worst thing health inspectors have seen on an inspection. The poem has been celebrated and parodied on Reddit and Tumblr.

Origin

On October 25th, 2016, Reddit user Chamale^[1] responded to a thread asking “Health Inspectors of Reddit, what’s the worst violation you’ve ever seen?” by telling a story of their stepdad working as a baker in an authentic 18th century recreation of a New French fortress. After convincing the health inspector that the kitchen was as health-conscious as possible without sacrificing the integrity of the 18th-century recreation, they saw an escaped cow of the fortress licking all the bread. Redditor poem_for_your_sprog, whose gimmick is to respond to comments by turning their content into poems, wrote a poem^[2] in response to the story that read:

my name is Cow,
and wen its nite,
or wen the moon
is shiyning brite,
and all the men
haf gon to bed -
i stay up late.
i lik the bred.

The comment gained over 32,500 likes in 3 months.

Spread

The poem was instantly a hit among poem_for_your_sprog fans. The account’s devoted subreddit,^[3] which as of January 19th, 2017 has almost 5,000 subscribers, regularly references the poem. Soundcloud user hindulaatti wrote a song^[4] using the lyrics of poem_for_your_sprog’s “i lik the bred” and subsequent poems written in doggo speak.

On Tumblr, the poem was an instant hit. The day it was posted to Reddit, user phantomrose96 posted a screenshot of the poem. In 3 months, their post has gained over 127,000 notes.^[5]

The poem grew a fandom on Tumblr, and inspired many parodies, artworks, and homages.^[6] One of the more popular parodies was written by user sashayed^[7] that wrote a poem about a cow licking a cat. The post and its subsequent discussion have gained over 17,000 notes.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References