Can You Improve Your Vocabulary by Viewing Meme Content?

There’s no question that memes are some of the world’s most popular digital content that spread quickly across social sites. But even though they have a massive audience across the globe, memes are definitely not for everyone.

Have you ever come across a meme that has many likes and shares, but you can’t understand what’s so funny about it or why it’s so popular? Well, you’re not alone. Many people just can’t understand the language of memes, particularly if they reference popular culture that they aren’t familiar with.

Language purists would hate memes because the meme language is filled with intentionally misspelled words, grammatical errors, and fragments that would make English teachers cry. But that’s the way things go for this internet slang — and you really have to keep up with the trends if you want to understand what each meme actually means.

Memes and Popular Culture

The ever-evolving communication landscape saw the advent of memes in the 1990s when computers began to be popular in households, not just in offices and business establishments.

Starting as jokes and satirical pieces that either got you in stitches or rolling your eyes, memes would soon become a diverse group of digital content that had its community of like-minded individuals who simply love these totally relatable (to them, anyway) pieces of art.

Whether GIFs or images, memes were originally meant to entertain.

As the meme community grew, memes became internet slang that many people can’t understand if they aren’t into this kind of thing. As the meme community grew, memes became internet slang that a lot of people can’t understand, if they aren’t into this kind of thing. There are so many fake words and grammatically wrong phrases that made it to meme language, it’s tough to keep up with trends unless you’re an avid meme fan.

LOLCat-speak is filled with mixed-up grammar and intentionally misspelled words, with heavy use of “Z” instead of “S.” For example, one such meme wrote, “Iz ma birtday. Can has cheezberger?”

That’s funny and totally easy to understand. But there are also so many complicated memes out there that you can only understand if you are familiar with the pop culture reference or if you’ve been brushing up on your meme dictionary by browsing through memes on social sites.

Check this picture…

Did you understand what it meant? Your old English teacher would faint if she saw you writing in this manner now. But the internet is really just making fun of the English language by introducing variations that can only be understood by the elite few — the ones who meme language, anyway.

Going back to the example, “Whom’st” is clearly not a word in the English dictionary, but this meme slang is a pseudo-superlative for the “Who” and “Whom.” The glowing eyes at the end for “Whomst’d: signal ironic superior intelligence.

This meme sparked many others of its kind, all with supposed superlatives but using intentionally wrong, made-up words.

Think of this one:

Did you get what that meant?

Unless you’re an avid gamer, you probably wouldn’t understand why this has become so popular. The meme started when Imgur user hieronymus7z uploaded a gallery of “fallout photo manipulations.” It depicted a deathclaw from the Fallout series.

Take note of that if you want to stay updated with the meme-speak that people might use on ESPA if you’re on the platform.

Learning the Meme Language

No one’s forcing you to understand memes, of course. But as social media communication continues to evolve, it might be a good idea to catch up on this trend.

Have you noticed how old memes constantly resurface from time to time? That’s the beauty of memes — they can be timeless. With the right topic, memes can be relatable even many years after they were first created.

Variations of these memes have surely been done and shared around, but it’s impressive that these original memes continue to be so trendy and relevant.

If you want to keep up with the times and communicate efficiently with the younger generation, you should try learning meme language if you can.

This will prevent miscommunications in the future, particularly if you find your kids or friends posting suspicious-looking memes. You don’t want to get into a fight, only to later learn that you just misinterpreted the whole thing.

If you’re just starting now, you’ve got a lot to catch up on, but you can begin by browsing through sites for memes. For sure, you’ll be so confused about everything you see, with the overwhelming volume of different memes to interpret.

But don’t attempt to understand them all. You can simply keep yourself updated with trending topics and start from there. Just browse through as many as you can and try to find a connection. It can be a daunting task, but the more you acquaint yourself with trendy topics and old themes, the more you’ll begin to easily understand what each one means.

Indeed, you can establish a proficient vocabulary in memes through constant viewing and interpreting of the same.

Understanding Memes and Creating Good Ones

Meme development has become so easy these days, thanks to the many meme generators you can find on your browser or mobile apps. Many even let you generate relevant memes by just typing in a keyword.

But this means that many people may generate memes that are out of context or have fake information. If they get lucky, the memes could even go viral!

Though many people would quickly realize what’s wrong, others might take these memes at face value and end up getting swayed by the fake information. The visual content often attracts readers, yet the final message could mess things up.

There are so many memes circulating on the internet now that it’s really impossible to filter them out for misinformation. But if you actively create memes, think about the future and what you really want to happen. Are these the memes you want your kids to learn from when the time comes?

It’s important to use a value-sensitive design methodology in creating your memes. That means that you should still account for human values and principles when making modern memes. Think about what you really want your audience to learn.

Can you make a difference in their lives?