4 ms·

I confess to also getting bugged by the repetitive "speaking only in memes" phenomemon that seems to pop up past a critical mass of community size. Weirdly to m

I confess to also getting bugged by the repetitive "speaking only in memes" phenomemon that seems to pop up past a critical mass of community size. Weirdly to me it seems like different ones go through different phases, but I haven't determined whether that's just an illusion created by my becoming attuned to one or another at various times. One of the last examples I remember is about 18 months ago I noticed everyone, everywhere, as if coordinated by some unseen entity, started replying "oof" to everything. Maybe this really is just a variant of the Bader-Meinhof phenomenon (another one of "those little memes" you mentioned, heh).

jrochkind1 4y ago
The meme to speak about speaking in memes would be to mention: Star Trek, the Darmok episode. Temba, his arms wide.
- ratww 4y ago
  That doesn’t bother me at all, because I never heard of it! Maybe I should start participating in Star Trek discussions!
  - jrochkind1 4y ago
    https://twincitiesgeek.com/2018/05/how-star-trek-the-next-generation-predicted-meme-culture/ https://twincitiesgeek.com/2018/05/how-star-trek-the-next-ge...
    - ratww 4y ago
      Thanks!
  - groffee 4y ago
    jrochkind1 and ratww at HN, ratww their eyes open!
  - kingludite 4y ago
    The episode involves a species that talks by referencing stories by title. It cant be translated without knowing the stories.
- allenu 4y ago
  Shaka, when the walls fell! I watched that episode in the last year and didn't make the meme connection until I was reading someone mention it somewhere. It would be interesting to have a modern take on that episode. The thing with memes is they don't necessarily convey an idea or a point that furthers a discussion. They're often just a way to relate something in the current context with a past idea (for a laugh), so it almost seems that a language based on memes would just end up stagnating culture.
themaninthedark 4y ago
>One of the last examples I remember is about 18 months ago I noticed everyone, everywhere, as if coordinated by some unseen entity, started replying "oof" to everything. Maybe this really is just a variant of the Bader-Meinhof phenomenon (another one of "those little memes" you mentioned, heh). Maybe but I think it is just more social signalling, to either show you are part of the opposition or to highlight the comment for like minded people. Similar to other comments : Yikes, Wrong side of history, a bad look, etc. Most of these comments are made on highly political threads, highly controversial topics such as system-d don't seem to evoke these kind of comments. That leads me to think that they are more emotional in nature than analytical.
- vxNsr 4y ago
  No that was definitely a thing. Less so these days, but it was everywhere for a few months. I’m seeing lots of “r00d” these days
gumby 4y ago
> I confess to also getting bugged by the repetitive "speaking only in memes" phenomemon You would have hated it, then, in the days of only one or two TV channels, and in towns where there weren't many newspapers. Which I suppose is a gloomy point: people have always been like this so it's unlikely to change.

jrochkind1 4y ago

The meme to speak about speaking in memes would be to mention: Star Trek, the Darmok episode. Temba, his arms wide.

ratww 4y ago
That doesn’t bother me at all, because I never heard of it! Maybe I should start participating in Star Trek discussions!
- jrochkind1 4y ago
  https://twincitiesgeek.com/2018/05/how-star-trek-the-next-generation-predicted-meme-culture/ https://twincitiesgeek.com/2018/05/how-star-trek-the-next-ge...
  - ratww 4y ago
    Thanks!
- groffee 4y ago
  jrochkind1 and ratww at HN, ratww their eyes open!
- kingludite 4y ago
  The episode involves a species that talks by referencing stories by title. It cant be translated without knowing the stories.
allenu 4y ago
Shaka, when the walls fell! I watched that episode in the last year and didn't make the meme connection until I was reading someone mention it somewhere. It would be interesting to have a modern take on that episode. The thing with memes is they don't necessarily convey an idea or a point that furthers a discussion. They're often just a way to relate something in the current context with a past idea (for a laugh), so it almost seems that a language based on memes would just end up stagnating culture.

themaninthedark 4y ago

>One of the last examples I remember is about 18 months ago I noticed everyone, everywhere, as if coordinated by some unseen entity, started replying "oof" to everything. Maybe this really is just a variant of the Bader-Meinhof phenomenon (another one of "those little memes" you mentioned, heh). Maybe but I think it is just more social signalling, to either show you are part of the opposition or to highlight the comment for like minded people. Similar to other comments : Yikes, Wrong side of history, a bad look, etc. Most of these comments are made on highly political threads, highly controversial topics such as system-d don't seem to evoke these kind of comments. That leads me to think that they are more emotional in nature than analytical.

vxNsr 4y ago
No that was definitely a thing. Less so these days, but it was everywhere for a few months. I’m seeing lots of “r00d” these days

gumby 4y ago

> I confess to also getting bugged by the repetitive "speaking only in memes" phenomemon You would have hated it, then, in the days of only one or two TV channels, and in towns where there weren't many newspapers. Which I suppose is a gloomy point: people have always been like this so it's unlikely to change.