Memelicious

OK, so I'm reading the Wiki-memia. Wow, it's long. I just wanted to mention points of interest along the way.

Meme as Unit: The idea that a word or phrase from a speech might have a longer life in the cultural consciousness than the original speech itself. "Play it again, Sam." And, how interesting that the original phrase is actually "Play it, Sam." This might correspond to my previous post about colloquializing the not-exactly-right phrase (not intended to sound angry but ponderous, although a re-read betrayed my underlying frustration, I think). The Lady Coffee set me straight about the free-flowing hand of the blogger. Find the comment here and give it a read. She makes good points. (The capitalized "She" may even be reading right now...)

I am so easily diverted. I have come to realize that having a blog is like having what one thinks in one's own mind is a captive audience. One can write about ANYTHING for as long as one likes and not be concerned with the yawns or the diverted gaze or the pretend-emergency-phone-call. The blog can easily become a receptacle for verbal diarrhea. (Is that gross? I have images of kissing the porcelain god there. Perhaps written diarrhea is more appropriate and less corporeal. Or is it simply the unnecessary comparison of a blog with a toilet that is distasteful? Have I crossed a line with the blogging community? Is this disrespectful of the art form or medium? Or is it just a mildly entertaining metaphor?)

MAN, it is easy to go off topic. Back to "Memes as Unit": I am interested in the survival of incorrectly adopted phrases. How is it, when it is so easily verified by viewing the film, that we still quote Casablanca incorrectly, a mere 64 years later? It doesn't take much to look up Four score and seven years ago... Are we sure he didn't originally begin with "Four score and nine years ago"? What happens to these memes when the original context is forgotten? We all can quote Lincoln's Gettysburg Address but how many can go further than those "keywords"? Will there be generations quoting forgotten speeches, films, books, giving them completely new, extra-contextual meanings? Just as "could care less" has been adopted by American society at large and afforded a grammatically different meaning which matches the original phrase, I marvel at the evolution of these linguistic mutants.

OK, so after plodding through the Wikipedia article, I thought I should summarize it before I completely lose my eyesight and the ability to type. Basically, as I understand it, it goes like this: Memes that meme for the meme of meming might not meme, but those memes which are memically memerated might memally meme. Or: I meme therefore I meme. Or: Just meme it.

Yikes.