What is meme?

[Botany]

thanx

[EOTE]

1. A meme...

Is something that's repeated over and over again until a select portion of the population accepts it as fact.

[EOTE]

3. Actually, this link describes it better:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme

[wryter2000]

2. Idea with a life of its own

It was first posited in The Selfish Gene to be more or less the equivalent of a gene for and idea. A means for an idea to be passed along over generations.

[rock]

4. Try this at wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme

[patrice]

5. Kind of like a "sound bite"

except with deeper roots in cognition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme

Recently popularized by George Lakoff (Don't Think of an Elephant) and the Rockridge Institute.

The first time I saw it was over 20 years ago in Transformational Grammar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformational_grammar

[RufusTFirefly]

6. And while we're at it

... what is indolence?

[patrice]

7. laziness

lethargy

ennui

phlegmatic personality

apathy

[RufusTFirefly]

8. Er, thanks

Guess I should've included this: :sarcasm:

[Orrex]

10. Great screen-name

And welcome to DU, :sarcasm: or no :sarcasm:


:hi:

[RufusTFirefly]

14. Thanks! (Sincerely)

I figured my photo might provide a clue as to my tone in the previous instance, but I guess not.

P.S. I am a refugee from another political site, where I was a long-time poster.

[patrice]

21. I would probably have posted a response anyway.

I'm a wordie.

People ask for definitions for all kinds of reasons.

[Uncle Roy]

13. "Whatever it is, I'm against it!" ... (nfm)

[vote5polend]

9. How do I Shot Web?

Shoop Da Whoop, Is Dat Sum Battletoads?, delayclose.jpg, MILHOUSE IS NOT A MEME, the list goes on..


http://www.lurkmore.com/wiki/index.php?title=4chan

[Bluebear]

11. Broadway show from the 60's, if i recall. nt

[Maddy McCall]

19. Riiight.

That would be "Mame." :spank:

(And I know that you know that. :rofl:)

[BuyingThyme]

12. A selfish mother.

[trekbiker]

15. Richard Dawkins coined the term

in his book The Selfish Gene by shortening the greek word mimeme to sound like Gene (excellent book btw). Meme's exist in the human brain and spread to other brains thru the medium of language. They evolve over time much like living organisms evolve only much faster. Religion could be considered a very successful and long lived "meme". But most meme's do not survive very long

[goodhue]

16. an idea that spreads kind of like a virus, often widely and/or rapidly

[POAS]

17. From American Heritage Dictionary

"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."

[Maddy McCall]

18. A word that is completely overused at DU.

And often used in the wrong way.

[merh]

20. It's the sound I used to make before choir performance.

Or it is something repeated over and over again until it is considered the truth.