Category Archives: Internet Meme

If you’re not active on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter or Google+, you may be missing out on the joy of Internet memes. A meme (rhymes with cream) is “an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.” An Internet meme can be as short as a catch-phrase or as complex as a video clip. A lot of memes are simple graphics which are altered to suit different topics. When a meme is hot, you can be sure there will be variants related to birds or birding.

The catchphrase Keep Calm and Carry On was used on British public safety propaganda posters in Britain during World War II. A copy of the poster was rediscovered in 2000 and its modern popularity began to grow. In November 2008 Threadless released the first known parody of the poster with their Now Panic and Freak Out shirt. Many different parodies have been published since then, including some related to birds or birding.

The above images have affiliate links. If you’ve got your own ideas, it’s pretty easy to make your own using the funny Keep Calm-o-Matic website.

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If you’re not active on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter or Google+, you may be missing out on the joy of Internet memes. A meme (rhymes with cream) is “an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.” An Internet meme can be as short as a catch-phrase or as complex as a video clip. A lot of memes are simple graphics which are altered to suit different topics. When a meme is hot, you can be sure there will be variants related to birds or birding.

Canadian actor Ryan Gosling is the subject of several single-topic Tumblr blogs / meme themes. Images of Gosling are accompanied by captions that often begin with, “Hey girl,” followed by a sentence that would only be uttered by the world’s best boyfriend. After Gosling himself read some of the captions on MTV in December 2010, the meme took off with derivatives like Feminist Ryan Gosling, Hey girl. I heart NPR., Law School Ryan Gosling, and of course, Hey girl, bird with me?

While the popularity of this particular “Hey girl” variation probably reached its peak back January or February, you can still follow this brilliant birder meme via the Hey girl, bird with me? Facebook page or the original Hey girl, bird with me? Tumblr blog.

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If you’re not active on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter or Google+, you may be missing out on the joy of Internet memes. A meme (rhymes with cream) is “an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture” [Merriam Webster]. An Internet meme can be as short as a catch-phrase or as complex as a video clip. A lot of memes are simple graphics which are altered to suit different topics. When a meme is hot, you can be sure there will be variants related to birds or birding.

An Internet meme based on the Dos Equis beer The Most Interesting Man in the World campaign probably began sometime in late 2007. The standard text reads, “I don’t always x, but when I do, I y,” which parodies the ad campaign slogan, “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.”

The Most Interesting Man in the World: Cooper’s Hawk vs. Sharpie [hat tip Jeff]

The Most Interesting Man in the World: Chum Scrum [hat tip Corey]

Images of others in a sort of laid-back position were used for this meme as well, including Harry Potter, and a relaxed-looking cat – The Most Interesting Cat in the World.

The Most Interesting Cat in the World: Cats Indoors

The following image, which doesn’t follow the standard meme protocol, is the only other bird-related variation on this meme I could find.

The Most Interesting Man in the World: Birds Watch Him

If you know of any other bird- or birder-related variations on this meme, I would love to add them to this post. Please let me know!

Stay thirsty, my friends!

Share the birds, share the love!

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If you’re not active on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter or Google+, you may be missing out on the joy of Internet memes. A meme (rhymes with cream) is “an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture” [Merriam Webster]. An Internet meme can be as short as a catch-phrase or as complex as a video clip. A lot of memes are simple graphics which are altered to suit different topics. When a meme is hot, you can be sure there will be variants related to birds or birding.

Last week a fresh meme started with photos depicting varying perspectives on occupations in shareable six-image graphics. What People Think I Do / What I Really Do grew to include hobbies, locations, medical conditions, and much more. Here’s a birdwatching one that was posted on the ABA Facebook group page. [Facebook original posting]

Birding – What I Really Do (click to see larger)

For most of the occupation-based graphics, the captions indicating different perspectives were roughly the same: Friends; Mom; Society; Boss; Self; and finally “What I Really Do.” Arthur came up with this one for birders. [Facebook original posting]

Black Rail – What I Really Look Like (click to see larger)

In case you don’t know, a Black Rail is a very secretive, hard-to-see bird. And the Richard Crossley caption refers to a rather unique photographic bird guide he published last year. Note that the Black Rail photos in this meme image were taken by photographer David Seibel. You can read about them here: Photographing the Black Rail.

Arthur came up with another one, this time on a very hotbed issue: outdoor cats. He shared this one on the Alley Cat Allies Facebook page, where it received a lot of positive feedback and was shared over 160 260 times. [Facebook original posting]

Cats Outdoors – What I Actually Do (click to see larger – on Flickr)

In preparing the Cats Outdoors graphic, we came across a lot of Flickr photos of cats carrying dead birds. We created a Flickr group, Keep Cats Indoors, and we invite anyone to add appropriate photos to the group. Warning: the group contains graphic photos of dead birds and dead cats.

If you know of any other bird- or birder-related variations on this meme, I would love to know about them. One problem I have with the fast-paced world of Internet memes is finding them after the popularity of the meme has died down. The nature of these graphic memes means that they aren’t necessarily optimized for finding via search engines at a later date.

UPDATE 21-FEB-12

Birdwatcher | What It’s Really Like [FB link] (click to enlarge)

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