The one about memes (for Memorial Day)

Now, who can see the mistake in that title? Raise your hand...yes, Babs? Meme rhymes with cream? Thank you! I can see you use your dictionary. Six? Well, that's wonderful. No, I only have two, plus a paperback Roget's.

Meme is a word that was coined by Richard Dawkins, who writes about genes. He coined it in his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene, shortening the Greek work mimeme, "something imitated."

Traveling hither and yon on the World Wide Web, (triple dub never quite caught on), I've found the word meme defined as innocuously as:

"A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another." (from the American Heritage Dictionary, linked on Answers.com.)

and as viciously as:

"a mind virus that lives in the minds of people and is spread through proselytization and other means. " (from The Christianity Meme Web Site)

Holy Toledo, Batman! I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!

So all this time, I thought a meme was something bloggers created. Turns out, memes are big!

But now that I've gotten all that research out of the way, I'd like to talk about memes in the blogging sense. A meme on a blog could be "13 on Thursday" where people list (how clever!) thirteen things on Thursday. Um. Or it could be "Show and Tell," where people post pictures on a theme (But don't tell Blackbird, she doesn't like to think she does memes.) Another popular meme at Pink Sneakers N'at is Loretta's List Friday.

Some of my favorite memes:

My own, which I made when I played fast and loose with Loretta's first List Friday.

Joke's first Meme. It's the "things you'd have to -- to understand me better) Joke's, Gina's, and Badger's and Babelbabe's.

Joke's second Meme. (He often has a lot of free time.) Go to his March archives. Scroll down to March 12. I can't find a direct link. But here are Babelbabe's and Gina's.

Memes are everywhere--it's the attack of the meme! (And I still can't make it pronounce right in my brain...) Before we looked it up on the 'net, Babs and I conjectured on what it could mean: Me-me (as in ME!). If you pronounce it wrong, it sounds like the beginning of "memory." (And a lot of memes are about reminiscing...)

So go be creative! Make up your own meme! Or find one at The Daily Meme.

Now you know.