this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
240 points (97.6% liked)

Antique Memes Roadshow

5939 readers
2 users here now

Giving you the backstory and appraisals of vintage memes!

Submissions should be vintage memes or commentary about vintage memes. Commenters are advised to appraise the internet value and provenance meme antiquities.

Rules:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Quite a few of these seem like the sort of things people have been writing on walls throughout history.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

IMO to be a meme it has to have learned symbolism. Kilroy was the guy always in front of you in the strange new lands you visited, Drake indicates which thing is preferable to the other. Neither are intrinsic. Maybe it has to be somewhat humorous or ironic too, because I don't think a crucifix or the Latin letter "A" qualifies.

The hand print example could work if it was actually a rude gesture in the original culture, the intent was to troll all future generations and they were added to gradually over time.