Memes – The New Web Lingo
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
1. The word `meme’ (rhymes with ‘team’) was first introduced by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976. Meme comes from the Greek word mimema (meaning `something imitated’). Dawkins described memes as being a form of cultural propagation, a way for people to transmit social memories and cultural ideas to each other.
2. Well, that’s what Wikipedia had to say about this anyway. But I don’t think that was very helpful. So I’ll tell you, and give you some perspective too.
3. Memes are tidbits of everyday human experiences in the form of jokes or stories. They are usually expressed through an image or video. And they are heavily shared on the Internet, usually as one picture with superimposed text that will instantly have you in splits. (A video or a GIF can be a meme as well.
4. Many believe that the first Internet meme ever was a GIF or a video of a 3D baby dancing in his diaper, which went viral over mail networks at the time (in 1996, or so). Anything can be a meme. Different memes do different things but there are no set rules. Memes are so funny because they are relatable. A lot of us believe in crazy conspiracy theories. But these are best expressed only with the Conspiracy Keanu meme (which is a photo of Keanu Reeves’s very frightened expression from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, usually captioned with some crazy conspiracy theory).
5. We are now used to consuming quick, bite-sized pieces of humour and quickly moving on to the next. I like to call this phenomenon ‘Lolling While Scrolling’.
6. There’s more to memes than just humour, though. Many Internet memes are also about shock value and drama, for example, Success Kid (who is smug). Other memes talk about life lessons or advice.
7. We love memes. They make us laugh, think and share. But best of all, every single one of us can make one. And that, my friends, is the beauty of a meme. We were a little slow to catch up to meme culture. Our beginnings were humble – the Rich Delhi Boy and Indian Parent memes. But once we caught up, there was no looking back. Rage Comics became even more hilarious when we started using Rage faces to talk about Indian experiences and problems. Iconic celebrities like Amrish Puri and Nana Patekarstarted making appearances in rip-roaringly funny Facebook comments and post. We also adapted some of the more popular Western memes to suit our eccentric tastes. More recently the very popular Narendra Modi meme was actually inspired by the now extinct Dolan Duck.
8. In the end, it was a Twitter trend that was responsible for the explosion of the Indian meme culture. I’m talking about Alok Nath. We took the best Alok Nath jokes and created the `sanskariAlokNath meme. Many others followed suit and made their own variations and now it’s raining memes.
9. Memes are constantly evolving, mutating and dying out. Everyone loves memes and many are making them, so go out there and make your own.
On the basis of your understanding of the above passage answer each of the questions given below with the help of options that follow:
(a) According to Dawkins, memes are a form of sharing
(i) cultural ideas (ii) social memories
(iii) all of the above (iv) none of the above
(b) Memes are basically
(i) human experiences in the form of jokes and stories
(ii) all information shared heavily on the internet
(iii) all pictures superimposed on texts that make you laugh
(iv) all of the above
(c) the beauty of a meme is
(i) its humour (ii) its shock value
(iii) its life lessons (iv) that anyone can create one
(d) the first meme created contained
(i) Nana Patekar (ii) Keanu Reeves
(iii) A baby dancing (iv) Amrish Puri
Answer the following questions briefly in your own words:
(e) Are all memes hilarious? Give reasons for your answer?
(f) What are ‘Rage Comics’?
(g) Why are memes so popular?
(h) What kind of humour have we become used to now?
(i) What caused the phenomenon of Alok Nath memes?
(j) What are the ways in which memes can be shown?
(k) Find words from the passage which mean the same as each of the following:
(i) unconventional/odd (para 7)
(ii) non-existent/vanished (para 7)
ANSWERS:-
(a) (iii); (b) (i);
(c) (iv); (d) (iii)
(e) No, some memes talk about life lessons, while others such as the smug success kid memes.
(f)Rage comics used rage faces to express Indian problems.
(g)They are popular because they make us laugh and think can be easily created and shared.
(h) We are used to quick, small doses, or bite-sized humour that we can laugh at and move on.
(i) The AlokNath memes became a phenomenon due to their spread through Twitter.
(j) Memes can be shown as a picture with superimposed text, a GIF, or a video.
(k) (i) Eccentric; (ii) Extinct
Download the above Passage in PDF Worksheet (Printable)
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