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submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[-] [email protected] 73 points 4 days ago

And just like that, memes evolve into their own language LMAO

[-] [email protected] 63 points 4 days ago

Astronaut, pointing his gun.

[-] [email protected] 26 points 4 days ago

Magneto, being finally satisfied.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago

So this is finally the way to foil LLMs

[-] [email protected] 24 points 3 days ago

Obi-Wan, on the high ground.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

Jack Nicholson, his head nodding.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

General Grievous, his delight in his greeting.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

A woodsman, nodding slowly

[-] [email protected] 45 points 4 days ago

Dicaprio, his wine raised.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

DiCaprio with a smoke & beer, pointing at tv screen.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Marty McFly, watching The Honeymooners premiere.

[-] [email protected] 38 points 4 days ago

There’s evidence of memeing using Egyptian Hyroglyphs. Hyroglyphs basically being emoji.

Round and round history goes…

[-] [email protected] 27 points 4 days ago

Spidermen, pointing at each other.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

Bearded man nods approvingly.

[-] [email protected] 27 points 4 days ago

Why use many words when one pic will do.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago
[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Kevin, his chili on the floor.

[-] [email protected] 17 points 4 days ago

There are a lot of English words that arose from memes. "Toilet," for instance, is like a four-layer-deep euphemism. The big development the internet brought to it was using more detailed imagery.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago

Would you please explain about the ~~fifty ways~~ four layers?

[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

Absolutely! I love this stuff. So, etymologically, the English word "toilet" (meaning the fixture where we put pee and poop) derives from the French word "toile," meaning "cloth used for washing." It's actually also the source of the English word "towel." But the way it got from "towel" to "poop hole" is complicated, and basically predicated on the reality that humans are squeamish about poop but have to talk about it kind of a lot (to find a place to put it, or excuse oneself so that they can put it there).

When indoor flush toilets were first introduced, the fixture itself was called a "sanitary basin." The room was called a "water closet," named in contrast to an "earth closet" (which was a... ehm...*non-*flush toilet. Basically, poop in a bucket, burn the contents of the bucket. The "earth" was "night earth," yet another euphemism for "poop"). People would say that they needed to"go to the water closet" instead of saying "I gotta poop."

But over time, the euphemism weakened. Instead of seeming like a polite way to say "I gotta poop," it started to become more rude. This happened around the same time that people were putting the poop fixture into the room where you put on your wig or your makeup or whatever, which was already referred to as a "toilet" (referring specifically to the small cloth used in the process of getting ready in the morning, itself also the result of a bunch of euphemistic and memetic mutation). In that process, the word "water closet" started to apply directly to the fixture itself.

Then, over time, that euphemism also weakened, and the word "toilet" also started to seem rude. But again, this happened as people were putting the bathtub into the room with the poop fixture, so the room became the "bathroom" and the fixture became the "toilet." That particular one happened pretty recently, so depending on your location or your age your grandmother might've still called the fixture the "water closet."

And there are a bunch of other words that have been euphemisms or reverse euphemisms for the fixture or the room or the process (lavatory, washroom, powder room, crapper, commode, throne, drop a deuce, freshen up, see a man about a dog). One of my favorites is "spend a penny:" one of the first flush toilets (not invented by Thomas Crapper, though he would indeed go on to become a major manufacturer of the fixtures) was on display at a World's Fair. You could use a freshly-cleaned one, and even get a shoe shine at the same time, for a penny. They're all memes (ideas with symbolic meaning that spread from person to person), all because people are squeamish about poop but need to talk about it.

Which means that the journey of the word "toilet" is through a bunch of memes: Cloth -> room for makeup -> room with poop hole -> fixture where put poop.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

The spend a penny one is written a little oddly, but public toilets in the UK used to require a payment of a penny to unlock the door in the 1800's. Pay as you shit

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

You don't know how to use the three seashells!?

[-] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago
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[-] [email protected] 37 points 4 days ago

Captain America, his memory ignited.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

Old Captain, refuses call

[-] [email protected] 36 points 4 days ago

Geordi, in the bottom-left pane.

Translation

[-] [email protected] 24 points 4 days ago

Geordi, asking to have finger pulled

[-] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago

Angry motorcycle guys, a chair thrown.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Table cat, screamed and pointed at.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Peter Parker, crying

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Michael Caine distracting the authorities.

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[-] [email protected] 22 points 3 days ago

I am now certain that this is exactly how this alien races language evolved.

[-] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

~~Someone~~ @[email protected] posted this a while back. Gold.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago
[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Yo indeed, lol. That makes sense.

[-] Evil_Shrubbery 9 points 3 days ago

Lemmy is fluent in this.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

This is the best meme I've seen this year. Congrats OP

[-] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago
[-] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago

Bob Belcher, donning his jacket on his way to the Cake show.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Gene, his burger costume emitting a worrisome smell.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Jeremiah Johnson slowly nodding.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Dorothy, annoyed with Blanche.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

I have a feeling there's a beautiful day in the future when someone asks "Do all Star Trek fans have an uncanny knowledge of 'Golden Girls'?"

And I'll just say "It's a long story."

[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

On the serious side, in the end O think it is because we tend to be people that enjoy well-written episodic shows and all but the last maybe 2 seasons of Golden Girls really fits the bill. They truly ran out of ideas by that time, sadly.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago
[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Stick-figure spitting cereal

[-] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago
[-] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago

Boimler, his eye first fell on USS Titan's bridge.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Shouldn't it be Lisa (Simpson) standing in front of a presentation screen? Or am I missing a meme?

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this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2025
516 points (98.9% liked)

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