We're more familiar with our favorite memes than we are with some of our favorite celebrities. We use them all the time; some of us even have a 'meme-bank,' in which we keep the perfect meme for any given occasion. Over time, we get to know their faces very well!
That makes us feel a little bit sorry for the people pictured in those memes. In the majority of cases, they never asked to be famous. They've just been caught in a microsecond of their lives, frozen in time forever, and doomed to be posted on the internet for eternity.
Even though the memes don't change or age, the people in them do. Many of them now bear almost no resemblance to how we have always pictured them. Whether they've grown up, re-thought their dress sense or just moved on, here's what the most famous meme stars look like now!
Who can forget Scumbag Steve? Whenever you want to find a picture of someone who looks a little shifty, slightly unreliable, and generally not someone to be trusted, Scumbag Steve is at the top of the list. His bizarre outfit looks like it was picked up while blindfolded at a thrift store, and he has the demeanor of someone who knocks at your front door and tries to sell you meat or clothes he's just stolen from a store downtown.
Poor Steve never asked for any of this. He's not even called Steve; his real name is Blake! He took the picture for fun at his grandmother's house, and didn't expect it to be broadcast to millions of people around the world. He's active on social media, but these days he has a more suspicious attitude towards being photographed, as you can see in his more recent pose. We can't say we blame him.
There are a lot of girls who've looked at pictures of the famous 'overly attached girlfriend,' and thought 'I sometimes resemble that meme.' There are also a lot of people who know what it feels like to date someone like the image she represents. If you've ever had a partner who's a little extra, likes to know where you are every minute of every day, and would preferably like to be there with you, then we bet your friends have sent you the overly attached girlfriend meme more than once.
As we'll see is the case for many people on our list, Laina Morris actually made the video the meme came from as a joke. She embraced the fame it brought with it though, reprising the character for several television advertising campaigns. She still regularly releases videos for her one million YouTube subscribers.
There's no polite way of discussing this meme, so we'll just get right into it. Unfortunately, we all know what it's like when we need to 'pass wind,' but we're trapped in a situation where it would be completely inappropriate to do so. That leaves us pulling pained facial expressions while we're trying to prevent the inevitable from happening, and the famous 'trying to hold in a fart guy,' has become the relatable face of those moments.
Plot twist - Michael McGee wasn't trying to hold in a fart at all. He's just capable of making the veins pop out of the side of his head whenever he feels like it, and his school friend thought it would make a great picture for Twitter. Almost immediately, he became the poster guy for something he wasn't even doing at the time. How does he feel about it? Well, he's rolling his eyes in this newer image!
Those mid-teenage years can be hard. We haven't properly grown into our bodies yet, we don't know the best way to wear our hair, many of us have braces and spots, and our fashion sense could use some work. Worst of all, there's always someone around to take an official photograph of you during these formative years, and you're stuck with the photo forever. That's a real case of bad luck - and nobody sums it up better than Bad Luck Brian.
We suppose that the only good luck that Kyle Craven has had from his image going viral is that he isn't really called Brian, and so people don't always make the connection when they meet him. He doesn't even know how the picture ended up online; it never made it into his school yearbook. He's taken it in good humor, but prefers to live a quiet life with his wife, and works for his father's construction firm.
Have you ever been served a soy latte instead of a caramel macchiato at Starbucks? Been to the local store and found out they're completely out of avocados? Been unable to log onto Facebook for twenty minutes in a public place, because there's no Wi-Fi connection available? Then you, too, have suffered from first world problems, and chances are you used this famous meme to illustrate your woes!
The well-known shot of a crying woman in close up is actually of Italian Silvia Bottini, and she wasn't really upset when the photo was taken. She's an actress, and she was giving a performance. Given that she works in the performing arts, she's turned her meme fame into a career positive - she's currently working on a movie about what it's like to have your face turned into a meme. Hopefully, she gets in touch with the other people on our list, too.
Did that person really just say what you thought they said? Have they expressed something so unreasonable, or so in defiance of the obvious facts, that you're shaking your head in disbelief? When it happens, you sometimes have the words to express what you're thinking. Instead, you'll send the meme of the blinking guy. His astonished expression says more than a verbal retort ever could.
The man who became a meme is Drew Scanlon, who was innocently watching his friend crush it on a video game when the footage was recorded. He didn't even know there was a camera on him. Taking his internet fame and running with it, he's now decided to become a professional YouTuber, backed up by 16,000 people who financially support him via Patreon. Yes, we said 16,000! We might need to post the blinking face ourselves now that we know that.
There are two types of people in the world; those who can pose for photographs, and those who can't. To those of us who can't, the ones who can are the height of irritation. We can spend hours on our hair, our outfit, and our perfect smile, and yet when the camera flashes, we're either blinking, facing the wrong way, or in the middle of sneezing. At the other end of the scale, there's this guy who looks fresh as a daisy while running a marathon, with his hair perfectly in place, and not a trace of sweat anywhere.
The happy runner is Zeddie Little, who makes a habit out of running marathons. We suppose that if you do them all the time, making it look effortless is a little easier than it would be for most of us! Zeddie has an active Instagram profile, from which it would seem he's still out there running. Fortunately for our sanity, he doesn't always look as incredible as he does in his meme pose, as we can see in the picture on the right.
Sometimes, a thought just hits you. It doesn't matter where you are, or what you're doing - inspiration will strike like a lightning bolt and leave you reevaluating everything you currently think you know about life. For Sudden Clarity Clarence, it happened in the middle of a nightclub. Look at that expression, and tell us that he hasn't suddenly deduced the Theory of Everything. That's the face of enlightenment!
It might be the case that the revelation that struck 'Clarence' is that he was making himself too available on the internet, and that he should retreat into the shadows to live his life more quietly. He's very difficult to track down online, and we don't even know his real name - but we did manage to find this more recent photograph of him. It looks like he's still out there partying. Good for you, Clarence!
Ahhh, this is a sad one. Until very recently, Grumpy Cat was the face of all of us who were being made to do something we didn't want to do. Those early mornings when we woke up and didn't want to go to work or school, those awkward social engagements that we just knew were going to be a disaster, and our general sense of malaise with the world around us were all best summed up by the permanently-dour face of Grumpy Cat.
Sadly, Grumpy Cat passed away a little earlier in 2019. She was never truly all that grumpy - she just had feline dwarfism coupled with an overbite that made her look like she was frowning all the time. She and her human made a fortune from her likeness over the years, and she lived as happy and comfortable a life as any cat could wish for. She was still pulling her famous face right to the end.
If you've never come across the true identity of Confused Math Lady before, you might want to take a seat. We might have a revelation for you. Despite what seemingly everybody on the internet thinks, Confused Math Lady is not Julia Roberts. She's an actress, but she's actually Brazilian Renata Sorrah.
Sorrah did bear a passing resemblance to Roberts in her younger years, although the scene from which the meme is taken is actually a little old now. It's a clip from the Brazilian telenovela 'Senhora do Destino,' which translates as 'Lady of Destiny,' and originally aired between 2004 and 2005. It's our understanding that it the broadcast didn't have all the mathematical equations stamped onto it, although that doesn't take anything away from the perfectly perplexed expression of Sorrah. We've all been there, trying to make sense of out of a situation that simply doesn't stack up, and whenever it happens, Sorrah is our spirit animal.
If anything sums up the mindset of the human race perfectly, it's the fact that we created the internet, allowed the entire population of the world the chance to access it and learn whatever knowledge we wanted to learn, and we've used the time and space to fill it with pictures of cats and dogs. When we look at the face of the famous 'doge,' we can't even be mad about it. Isn't he just the cutest and fluffiest boy ever?
Nobody knows why this particular good boy was chosen to be the universal face of dogs - perhaps it's the happy expression, or it might just be the fluff ratio. In any event, we're pleased to say that doge is still with us. He's not a puppy anymore, but he's retained plenty of his youthful fuzz, and has an army of loyal followers on his own personal Instagram account. We suspect that someone helps him with the uploads.
The 'roll safe' meme is usually used sarcastically to represent a bad idea which someone actually tries to pass off as a good idea. 'Can't lose my driving license if I don't have one,' would be one such example, although there are thousands more. The meme is generally known as 'roll safe,' and features a smiling man tapping the side of his head, as if to indicate his fearsome brain power.
People have a tendency to think that this one comes from a television show in the 1980s, but it's actually a lot more recent. The man in the picture is a British actor called Keyode Ewumi. Being meme-famous has been a shot in the arm for his career; he's since been cast in a brand-new television show called 'Enterprice,' and is making the most of casting directors knowing who he is before he walks through the door!
If you thought that Bad Luck Brian was caught at the absolute peak of his awkward teenage years, you obviously never saw this meme of the even-more awkward Ehmahgerd kid. This meme is particularly cruel; even the name of it is supposed to mock the way that people talk when they have braces in their mouth. Ultimately, this poor child was only posing for the picture because she was so happy to have a brand-new collection of 'Goosebumps' books. Years later, she became 'Ermahgerd, gersbermps,' and then a thousand different variations on the same idea.
In real life, she's Maggie Goldenberger, and she's grown up a lot in the many years since this very-1990s picture was taken! Even though her treatment on the internet could have made her bitter, she's actually decided to treat people kindlier than they've treated her, and become a nurse. We wonder whether she asks people if they've ever laughed at the meme before she starts administering treatment.
Smiling when you're dying inside is a rite of passage for all of us at some point in your life. Of course, it's fine that your friend has just asked you if you mind them dating your ex. No, you don't mind that you've been passed over for promotion yet again for someone who's obviously less qualified for the job than you are. Just smile and accept it, even if your eyes are telling a totally different story. You (unsuccessfully) try to hide the pain, just like Hide the Pain Harold.
Nobody knows for sure what emotion Hungarian man Andras Arato was trying to convey when the famous picture was taken; as far as he was concerned, he was just posing for a few stock photos. He's enjoyed all the attention that's come to him late in life though; you'll find that he's very active on social media, taking new pictures for people to turn into memes. Hide the Pain Harold is now available in hundreds of different poses!
Has something happened that you can't explain? Does science have no answers? Are the Government lying to you about the real story? Then there's only one possibility left; 'aliens, bro.' This wild haired meme is a favorite of everybody who wants to promote - and also mock - conspiracy theories all over social media. The Pyramids? Aliens. The Bermuda Triangle? Aliens. The British Royal Family? All aliens.
For once, this meme isn't a misrepresentation of the original image. The man pictured is Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, and he really is an alien researcher and investigator. He believes that aliens have been visiting our world for years, and have embedded themselves into the fabric of reality right in front of our eyes. And yes, he really was serious about that hairstyle, too. Becoming so well-known has helped to raise Tsoukalos's profile, which means he has a larger audience to share his alien theories with. It's worked out well for him.
Children often express their emotions more openly and honestly than adults do. As grown-ups, we learn to filter what we're really thinking in order to avoid hurting other peoples' feelings. Children haven't learned that skill yet. If they think you're not making any sense, they'll let you know about it - often with a big 'I have no idea what's going on right now' shrug, as Good Luck Charlie does in this famous meme. It's commonly used to mock people on Twitter post nonsensical arguments.
In the case of this meme, the name has been taken from the television show that featured the footage; 'Good Luck Charlie' was once a fixture on the Disney Channel. 'Charlie' is actually Mia Talerico, who's still only ten years old, and remains active in the world of acting. She could probably still pull off that completely dismissive shrug if she wanted to, too.
How would you describe the expression you see in the picture on the left-hand side? Pensive? A little bemused? People tend to use it to mean that they're dubious about something someone else has said, whether it's a suggestion, or a statement. If someone posts the Conceited meme to you, they may be questioning your intentions, your honesty, or the quality of your idea. You never see it for positive reasons.
The man pulling his best doubting face for the camera is a rapper called Conceited, and the image was actually taken in the middle of a rap battle. It was something of a delayed response; the footage had been on the internet for years before someone gave it the meme treatment. In the here and now, Conceited can be seen starring in the MTV series 'Wild'n Out.'
It probably says a lot about the way in which we conduct ourselves online that we have so many different memes to express disapproval or disagreement with something that someone else has said. If, though, you've just seen or read a comment that's so nonsensical - or so illiterate - that you can't even make sense of the poster's original intention, then it might be time to post the squinting woman to make your point.
Someone did Kalin Elisabeth dirty when they took this picture; she was trying to get into position for an Instagram shot, and someone with a different camera took the snap before she was ready! Happily, she saw the funny side of it. It brought her plenty of new Instagram and Twitter followers, and she even joins in with the fun by posting new meme pictures of herself. None of them have ever quite caught on like the original.
Finally, a positive meme! Lil Terrio doesn't care what you think of him, or how he looks, or how he dances. He's just going to carry on doing in anyway. He's living his best life, and you can either get on board with it, or you can move on. This is a celebration meme, and it got so hot at once stage that even kids who looked like Lil Terrio were being given the meme treatment. It's like there wasn't enough of the original meme to go around!
Lil Terrio has a lot of social awareness for somebody so young. Realizing that becoming a meme star has given him a platform to make positive changes, he's taken to Instagram to document his attempts to get into better shape, and to live a healthier lifestyle. Also - having been trolled about his appearance by some of the less kind folk on social media - he's now heavily involved in anti-bullying causes. Dance like no-one's watching, help like no-one's judging. He's an inspiration.
The phrase 'my momma said,' will take you back to a number of arguments you probably had with friends as a child. 'My momma said I'm not allowed to play at your house, because it's dirty.' 'My momma said your daddy didn't go to work abroad he left your momma.' It's the know-it-all kid who's heard something they shouldn't have done from their own parents about either you or your own parents, and is now reciting it back to you. Perhaps you even did this to other people!
As you might be able to tell if you know the story, or if you look closely at the picture, the little girl in the picture is actually megastar Cardi B. She sort-of did this to herself; she posted the picture to Instagram, and the memes started appearing the very next day.
To about 80% of the world, the somewhat-mystified looking man in the image on the left-hand side is the face of confusion. Some people post it when they feel like they have no idea what they're doing, or can't follow the plot of a TV show or movie. Others post it when they think someone else is making a fool out of themselves online. The remaining percentage of the people using the meme actually know the true identity of the man in it.
Fans of the NBA would be able to help them out. This is Nick Young, a once-promising shooting guard who played for the LA Lakers and the Washington Wizards. For reasons nobody can accurately explain, his career now appears to be over at the age of 33 after his cutting by the Denver Nuggets. Why is nobody offering him a position? We don't know. We'd post a confused Nick Young face as a response to that question.
The beautiful face of crime! He's fine now, but life could have taken a very different turn for this man, who's generally thought of as being the most handsome felon of all time. His real name is Jeremy Ray Meeks, and he found his fame in 2014 after police on anti-gang operations in California arrested him on suspicion of theft, and illegal firearms possession. The former member of the Crips was guilty as charged, and served a two-year sentence. When he got out, modeling agencies were waiting for him.
From there, it's all been one long, steep, uphill curve. Meeks has appeared on runways all over the world, is a constant presence at red carpet VIP events, and has entered into a relationship and had a child with the daughter of a British billionaire. His Instagram account shows him living the lavish jet-set lifestyle, all over the world. And they say crime never pays!
No matter what's going on in the world, and how busy our lives become, it would seem we're always going to have time for a cute animal. How do we know that? Because of the staggering level of fame achieved by this little chap, who's become known as the 'Ikea Monkey!' The Japanese snow macaque was found wandering through a Canadian Ikea outlet in 2012, wearing an adorable little coat. He'd escaped from his owners - and with his fame came a significant legal battle.
It's against the law to own a monkey in Canada, and so his Japanese owners weren't allowed to take him back. He now spends his life being well-cared for on an animal sanctuary, unaware of the fact that he's an internet celebrity. Under his new name of Darwin, he's no longer required to dress up like a human being, and gets to spend a lot more time with other monkeys just like him.
We're really hoping you'll recognize this still from the video of Antoine Dodson which made him famous in 2010, because if you don't, we're going to struggle to explain why became so well known! Dodson was interviewed by a news channel in his native Alabama after an intruder had broken into his family home and attacked his sister, which Dodson referenced with a now-notorious sentence of advice, beginning with 'You better hide yo kids hide yo wife.'
The internet did what it always does, and within hours Dodson was a meme, a social media celebrity, and even the subject of a remix where his words had been set to music. In the years since he's become a singer and songwriter in his own right, as well as finding some acting work. Although he identified as gay in 2014, he went on to marry and have a child, eventually accepting himself as bisexual after years of struggle.
We're all familiar with the concept of a 'scenery selfie.' The idea is a basic one - you travel to somewhere that has a famous landmark, for example, the Statue of Liberty of the Eiffel Tower, take a picture in front of it, and make sure you include your face in it just to make sure that everyone knows you really went there. Most of the time, whatever's pictured in the background is impressive. For four-year-old Zoe Roth, it was a house fire. Not only that, it was a house fire she seemed to be enjoying, judging by her smile.
People's reactions to the photo varied from being amused by the naivety of youth to shivering in fear that she may be the world's youngest and most evil arsonist. Roth is no longer four years old, but she still enjoys a good fire. Take this deliberate recreation of the famous picture, for example. Based on her Instagram account, she seems to be keen on traveling. If she turns up near you, be sure to keep her away from matches.
When she was a very little girl, it was apparently difficult for anything to impress Chloe. Even though she was only two, she'd seemingly seen and heard it all before. There's a story behind this famous picture - her parents had just informed her and her sister Lily that they were going to Disneyland for the day as a surprise. Even though that's the dream of many a small child, Chloe looked like she'd rather be doing just about anything else!
Both Chloe and Lily have done very well in life, thanks to this picture. They have a joint Instagram account with over half a million followers, and get modeling and photography bookings from all over the world. The money is going into their joint college fund. Best of all, a year or so later she went to Disneyland again - and she was much more excited about it the second time around.
Talk show moments have been going viral on the internet for as long as the internet has existed, and it used to be the case that we relied on the Jerry Springer Show for the most eye-grabbing moments. All of that changed when the badly-behaved Danielle Bregoli appeared on the Dr. Phil show, completely rejecting all advice offered to her by the host, the audience, and just about everybody else. When she invited an audience member to 'cash me outside, how 'bout tha?' - which was an invitation for a physical fight - her notoriety was sealed.
Bregoli has spent all the time since capitalizing on that notoriety. She's never changed her behavior, but she has taken it to the next level. Bregoli is now better known to the world as Bhad Babie; a rap star signed to Atlantic Records. She has a gold selling album, and became the youngest-ever female artist to reach the Hot 100 at the first attempt with her debut single.
Gavin isn't so much a single internet meme, but a whole series of them. It's almost as if he was raised for the purposes of bringing joy to the internet. Thanks to his wonderfully expressive face, he seems capable of capturing almost any mood perfectly; in many cases, he seems to be able to grasp the complexities of the human condition far better than people ten times his age.
There's a little bit of 'pushy parent' syndrome going on with Gavin. He's been turned into an Instagram star, with his every mood, thought and feeling captured and shared with the world, as if he belongs to all of us. He's still a very young man, so we won't know how he actually feels about any of this until he's older, but right now he's got a photo for every mood. If you can't say it with your own face, say it with Gavin's.
Here's a meme that you'll see on a daily basis, often posted on the Twitter feeds of politicians, or those in positions of authority. It's also been posted when a celebrity has attempted to take to social media to give a laughably poor excuse for their latest bout of infidelity, or bad behavior. The question posed by the image is always the same - why are you always lying?
Nick Fraser, the man behind the meme, did indeed say those words. He wasn't trying to question us though; he was just singing his own version of the song 'Too Close' by Next. As an entertainer, he was looking for fame and attention when he posted the cover online. He definitely got all of it - just not quite in the way he was necessarily expecting. He's rolled with it though, and is still trying to turn his meme exposure into a music career.
'Like a boss!' When things go just the way you planned them to do, you turn to the success kid to show the world that you've nailed it. Passed that test? Been offered that job? Successfully completed a DIY project? The expression of self-satisfaction and the clenched fist of celebration let everybody know that you've won at life today, without you even having to say a word.
The little fist-pumping boy in this meme is Sammy Grimer, who wasn't even a year old when he had his epic moment in front of the camera. The picture may have saved his father's life; when his dad was struck down by illness and required a kidney transplant, Sammy used his meme notoriety to drive a crowdfunding attempt successfully raising the money required for the expensive treatment. Then, he celebrated with a brand-new fist-pump picture!
As the joke always goes, how do you know that someone's a vegan? Don't worry, they'll tell you. It often feels like the older generation has it in for 'woke' Millennials, choosing to mock them for anything from their taste in clothes to their dietary preferences. The picture that's frequently used to mock them online is the famous hipster barista, with his edgy scarf, beard, t-shirt, and tattoos.
Dustin Mattson, the owner of the scarf, is a barista in real life. The picture was taken to support an interview he'd given to Eater Atlanta, in which he was promoting the cafe he works in. He's less than happy about the reception it received, feeling that those who make artisan coffee aren't treated as kindly as those who make artisan food or beer. Still, it can't have hurt the publicity and marketing for his professional venture.
Not everybody you come across in life fits neatly into a pigeon hole, or behaves in the way that you expect them to behave. Just because you're a wise and elderly university lecturer doesn't mean that you can't also be a totally awesome skateboarder in your spare time. Just ask Tom Winter.
Winter has retired from his lecturing days now, but still pursues skateboarding, which he always used to consider to be an easier and more environmentally-friendly way to get into work than driving, or waiting around for public transport. He became something of an internet hero when the first images of him were posted online, with the original picture often being captured to suggest that he had a formal qualification in something cool. You're never too old to do the things you love - we're just sad that we missed out on the opportunity to sit in Winter's classes!
Not every use of memes on the internet has to be to poke fun at somebody, or demean the person who's featured in them. On occasion, they're used to mock the prejudices of others. That was the case in the use of 'Successful Black Man,' around whom a caption would usually be printed which started off with a racial stereotype, and then subverted that same stereotype below the picture.
We're happy to report that 'Successful Black Man' really is exactly what his nickname suggests! The pose was struck for a stock photo, and originally put online by Shutterstock, with the title 'Handsome African American businessman dressed in a black suit,' which doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Although we don't have his name, it's understood that the subject is both a professional bodybuilder and an electrical engineer.
The concept of being 'friend zoned' is very well known online, even though there are some who feel that it doesn't exist, and it's just a fairly sexist way of criticizing the choices that women and girls make when they're deciding how to date. The unofficial face of the friend zone is 'Friendzone Johnny,' who achieved his internet fame in 2012, turning up at his friend Liz's house at midnight to make sure he was the first to wish her a happy birthday.
Liz was delighted with the candy and flowers, and uploaded a picture of her surprise visitor. A few hours later, the whole world is laughing at him. Johnny - real name Johnny Solis - insists that he was only being friendly, but based on the newer picture to the right, we're not completely sold. That's a guy who thinks he's smoother than your average.
Similar to 'Hide the Pain Harold,' Crying Piccolo Girl is the embodiment of doing one thing, while feeling something completely different. It would be hard to think of a more cheerful musical instrument to play than the piccolo, but based on this visual evidence, it seems like every second is emotional agony for this poor player.
As always, there's a story behind the picture. This is Roxanne Chalifoux, who'd been playing piccolo for Villanova ever since she joined. The tears are bittersweet; she was crying because as she played, she realized that she'd never get the chance to do it again. The game was her very last as a Villanova senior. They say you should never cry because it's over, but smile because it happened. Perhaps she remembered that piece of advice a little later on. Based on her smiling older self in the picture on the right, it seems she got over it in the end.
This is another meme that's all about stereotypes, and it caused considerable upset to the woman who was used as the focus of it when it first appeared online. There's a perception that there's a certain type of conservative woman who likes to stay at home, enjoy the wealth that comes from her husband's work, and then complain about said husband's perceived lack of assistance at home. The meme was known as 'suburban mom,' and you might have seen it with even-less pleasant captions than the one we've used as an example here.
This lady is no suburban mom though - she's author Carly Phillips, who already has a successful career, and plenty of her own money. At first, she said that she was 'furious and hurt' at being used in such a way, but over time she's mellowed to it, and now accepts that it has a funny side when it's not being used too aggressively.
Many of the memes which we now know and love started out life as stock photos. There's a certain insincerity about the way they're posed which makes them rich sources of mockery. Those who came across this picture online thought the girl in it looked like a wide-eyed college freshman, who came from a sheltered upbringing, and therefore would become easy prey for the more worldly-wise boys she'd meet at university.
Kerin Portillo, the subject of the meme, may indeed once have been a sheltered freshman, but if she was, she grew up very quickly. The Colombian quickly realized that the meme was being shared as much for her good looks as it was anything else, and increased her charges for modeling services as she started to become better known. As we can see in the picture on the right, she's enjoying the fame.
The best sort of meme is one which you can use for multiple different purposes. In the case of 'too damn high,' we've used it seen in all kinds of contexts. Music fans use it when their favorite bands announce the prices for their new concert dates. Young people use it when they're trying to find somewhere to live, and they're bemoaning the price of rent. We've also seen party animals use it when they've slightly overdone it the night before.
The picture is actually of a man named Jimmy McMillan, and was taken during 2010 when he was trying to get elected as the governor of New York. He wasn't successful that time around, but he tried again four years later, and this time he managed it. We guess the barrier for entry wasn't 'too damn high' that time around.
We've gone with 'Ten Guy' for the name of this meme, even though you might have come across him as 'Really High Guy,' or 'Stoner Stanley.' His happy but slightly vacant expression gives us the impression of somebody who's having a good time, but doesn't really know why.
As the caption to the meme on the left suggests, he's often been used as a visual aid to remind us of all the silly little things we do when we're not thinking about it - for example, turning down the radio in the car in order to help us to read. There's nothing wrong with his face though, and he hasn't been captured in a moment of intoxication; he just happens to look like this, and judging by the photo on the right-hand side, he's this happy all of the time.
This is the guy you'd always want on your side when things weren't going your way. With his friendly smile, the somewhat 'relaxed attitude' suggested by the cigarette he's smoking, and his general air of worldly wisdom, Good Guy Greg is the guy who'll tell you to go home from a party when you're making a fool of yourself. He'll talk you out of a fight, and he'll give you that piece of relationship advice that makes all the difference.
Although he's replaced the cigarette with a toothpick, Greg seems to be the exact same 'gregarious' (sorry about the pun) person he always was. He makes his living as a commercial fisherman, and he has the exact same welcoming smile that tells you that you could unburden all your problems on him, and he'd still be able to guide you towards the light at the end of the tunnel.
Although it seems like it was a million years ago now in terms of internet history, there was a point when you couldn't click a link, open a page, or seemingly go about any of your daily business without having your eyes and ears assaulted by the irritatingly-catchy 'What Does the Fox Say?' It racked well over three hundred million views on YouTube, and was more or less the precursor to 'Baby Shark.' Then, just as quickly as it had arrived, it was gone.
The man in the fox outfit was known as Ylvis (not to be confused with Elvis), part of a Norwegian band who are also known as 'Ylvis.' The band consists of him and his brother, although they've never quite been able to follow through on the success of their original creation. The last evidence we can find of them releasing a single was in 2014.
We're not sure whether 'Alex From Target' counts so much as a meme, or just an outrageously over-the-top expression of lust from the girl who first discovered him when she was doing her shopping. Alex - full name Alex Christopher LaBeouf - was innocently going about his job when a girl in the queue decided he looked like Justin Bieber, and put a picture of him on Twitter. Apparently, the rest of the internet agreed, and he soon went viral as an everyday heartthrob.
LeBeouf seemed to take the picture another way; he took one look at his own pose, and decided that he wasn't looking buff enough. Perhaps taking inspiration from his own surname - which loosely translates as 'the beef,' he became a regular visitor to the gym. His thousands of Instagram followers can watch him bulk up in real time, and he's managed to convert his moment in the spotlight into a little acting work. He has a credit for appearing in 'Coming Home,' which was released in 2016.
OK, we admit it - McKayla Moroney isn't a meme, she's a person. But she's a person who became a meme, so that still counts in our book! There aren't all that many people out there who avidly watch women's gymnastics, so Moroney is far better known for her meme fame than anything she'd achieved in her career before that point. Her face has been used as a byword to mean 'I'm not impressed,' based on a photo of her looking disappointed with herself after only securing a silver medal at a tournament.
At a later tournament, Moroney went on to win a gold medal, and looked a lot happier about it. The pictures from that event didn't get her the meme treatment, sadly, so she'll always look disappointed to us! She's now completely retired from the world of gymnastics, and is focusing her energies on trying to make a new career in music.
Although memes are supposed to be silly, entertaining, and amusing, we sometimes don't think about the people behind the images. That was the case with Lizzie Velasquez, who was the subject of hundreds of cruel memes after a picture of her standing next to a tree was posted online by a friend. The general gist of the memes is that she was ugly, undatable, and undesirable.
There's a reason that Velasquez looks the way she does - she was born with an incredibly rare medical disorder which makes it impossible for her body to take on body fat. Nobody could have blamed her for hiding away forever after seeing the cruel memes, but instead, she's tackled them head on, and has become an author and a motivational speaker. She's since moved into television, and there's even talk of a movie of her life. People laughed at her, but she's definitely getting the last laugh.
Back to happier topics, we've all encountered the most interesting man in the world at least once on our internet travels! With his conversational pose, his fine suit, and his trusty beer in front of him, he's about to regale you with a fascinating tale about his life. No matter what he has to say, it's bound to be smug, or condescending. A typical caption for this meme would be something like, 'I don't always study, but when I do, I make sure it's the night before the exam.'
As some of our readers will know, the world's most interesting man is actually the American actor Jonathan Goldsmith, and the image is taken from a beer commercial. After it went viral, it's believed to have increased sales of the beer by upwards of fifteen percent, so we imagine the company behind it were more than pleased. Of all the things he's ever done in his acting career, it'll probably always be the one he's best known for.
The cute little girl who's the star of the 'Why Don't We Have Both' meme is asking us all a fundamental question; if there are two perfectly acceptable options, and we're not restricted to having just one of them, why don't we have both? She's the face of indecision on social media, and the response you probably get from your significant other every time you're offering options on what you should have for dinner this evening.
Younger readers may not know this, but the picture comes from an Old El Paso commercial. The girl is called Mia, and remembers very little about filming the original commercial other than being taken to a very large house to do it! She's now a very gifted artist, although she also says she's unsure whether she should pursue that for a career, or follow her interest in psychology. Why can't she have both?
To some of you, it's absurd that we even have to explain where this meme came from. To those people, we'd like to point out that it's now been twenty years since the release of the first 'Matrix' movie. The chances are that most people under 25 have never seen it, and so they know this iconic picture of Morpheus better as the meme that appears to tell you a fact that's about to blow your mind. Conversely, it's also sometimes used to point out the obvious.
Morpheus was, of course, played by the actor Laurence Fishburne, who never actually said a line that began 'what if I told you,' in the entire movie, or any of its sequels. It's up there with 'beam me up, Scotty,' and 'play it again, Sam,' as famously misremembered and misquoted lines. Or is it all just a glitch in the Matrix?
A favorite of many heated debates on Facebook and Twitter, this shouting image of Captain Picard from 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' often comes with a sweary caption, expressing frustration that someone is either behaving a certain way, or failing to grasp a point or idea that should be very easy to comprehend. There are times when expressing your own irritation just isn't enough; only the anger of Captain Picard will suffice.
'Star Trek: The Next Generation' finished more than 25 years ago, and so to the younger generation of internet users, this is just a funny picture of a bald man in red pajamas, shouting at people. The rest of us know that it's seasoned British actor Sir Patrick Stewart, who will shortly be back on television reprising his most famous role. As a bit of trivia, the character isn't even angry in the clip this image is taken from; he's passionately reciting lines from a Shakespeare play!
Have you ever waded into a debate full of younger people online, pretending to understand what they're talking about and attempting to use the same language they do? If so, you may have found yourself confronted by the 'How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?' meme, which pokes fun at either those who refuse to grow up, or those who have exposed themselves as being hopelessly out of touch with their juniors.
The actor inhabiting the role in the meme is instantly recognizable to anybody who knows him - it's Steve Buscemi. He's such a big star that listing all of his major roles would take us the rest of the space we have, but 'Reservoir Dogs,' 'Con Air,' 'Armageddon,' and 'Ghost World,' are just some of the bigger hits. The meme comes from his appearance on the TV show '30 Rock,' in which he was parodying '21 Jump Street.'
This one is a collector's gem. A lot of people in the UK know who it is immediately, but to the rest of the world, it's the picture that best sums up the feeling of being overwhelmed by emotion. The crying old man is used a lot when your favorite character dies on a television show, your favorite sports player leaves your team, or any other occasion on which you need to express your tears. What could possibly be sadder than an old man crying?
The meme has been everywhere forever, but it comes from an episode of the BBC show 'Doctor Who,' first broadcast in 2009. The actor is Bernard Cribbins, who's waving a solemn goodbye to the Doctor, knowing full well that he's seeing him for the very last time. Cribbins was a children's entertainer during the 1970s and 1980s in his home country, and so when he cries, so does everybody who grew up watching him.
