Everyone has a meme they don’t understand. Here are ours

A fierce conversation got started in SB Nation Slack when an undisclosed staffer asked what “big mood” meant. It sparked a conversation that turned into a group confessional about memes that people were either unsure of in the past, or memes that they still don’t understand.

So we’re here to spill these truths out, and perhaps you can relate.

Or laugh at everybody below. Who knows?!

I’m flying into this one blind because I only learned about it a couple weeks ago.

Based on quick Googling, I can deduce that this began as background music on some app called Ditty, was originally used as a way to describe curvy women, then it became a way to describe anything curvy, and now it kinda describes someone or something who gained weight, but still looks good? At least I think that’s what it describes. I could be totally wrong.

Assuming there’s at least some semblance of reality in those two paragraphs, my big question is: why is there an extra “c?” Does the word “thick” really have that negative a connotation that we need to change one letter to make it sound cooler? Why not just rebrand the word “thick?” It’s not like we’re saving space in text messages or tweets or whatever by typing in fewer characters.

They sound exactly the same. They take just as long to type. Why is it that we need two different words to describe the same phenomenon? Just because a word has been used one way for a long time doesn’t mean we have to invent a new spelling to describe it in a different way? — Mike Prada

I must admit I still don’t really get this meme. Maybe I get it in the abstract, but not in the practicum as far as how it’s used.

In theory I imagine you’re mocking someone or calling them dumb when you use it? But, like, there are plenty of dumb moments from the show to make fun of someone’s intelligence with. This meme strikes me as a square peg in a round hole. The biggest thing that gets me is the font that goes along with it though. Good heavens, even typing the heading on this section was a chore. Out of all the Spongebob memes, this is objectively the worst. — Richard Johnson

Aren’t there other emojis to describe the emotion you’re trying to convey with this?

Is there a single situation where you need to use THIS emoji instead of substituting another more appropriate emoji? If not, why does this exist? — Mike Prada

At first I thought it was funny because like, ha ha, who would ever use an eggplant emoji, it’s probably the most useless emoji. No one needs a little cartoon picture of an eggplant.

Then I realized it was because it looked like a dick. — Louis Bien

What is this post why are you people still here? SAVE YOURSELVES - Kofie Yeboah

**scrolls up**

Wait, never mind. I understand this meme just fine. — Matt Ellentuck

I keep seeing people post a screenshot of some idiot’s tweet and then post a tweet from dril and nine times out of 10 I can’t figure out why they’re connecting the two of them. What the hell is going on? — Fooch

Not to get too meta, but seriously what falls under a meme now? I thought it was just a picture, but are all popular phrases now memes? Like I know what all of the above are, but did I consider them all memes? No. Has it morphed into a catch-all word? At least I don’t pronounce it “mee-mee”. — Caroline Darney

I agree with Caroline here. I have no frickin’ clue. That’s because I was born in 1980 and had a rotary phone. I remember once when someone said I was young and upcoming. Now I barely make the 40-under-40 lists. And my 16-year-old daughter says meme about everything and I don’t get it. And, yes, the first time I ever said the word, I said “mee-mee.” At least my daughter and wife laughed for a few days over it. — Sam Eggleston

What in the blue hell is a yeet? Is it an exclamation? A proclamation? Can it be a verb? Do I yeet? Or is “it” yeet? Have I yeeted (yote?) How have myself or my loved ones been affected by yeet? Have we been yut? Should I contact my doctor if this is the case? How many milligrams of yeet should I take per day? Can I yeet irresponsibly? Help me. — James Brady

Listen: I understand that almost all online interaction is a desperate clamor to the digital void, each post, photo, tweet, comment merely asking for some recognition by another. We all sign on each day, searching for some form of validity, each “like” from someone else a small rush of dopamine that allows us to carry on, at least for that moment, and not feel so soul-crushingly alone. We are all of us searching for relatable content, things that allow us to say “I have felt that which you are feeling, Fat Jewish, and that makes me feel less strange, and sad, and isolated. I will now tag a friend, who can laugh at this thing with me. And this will all allow me not to have to think about my own mortality for a few moments, which will be a nice break for my psyche.”

I get all that. But what I don’t get is how “big mood” and “relatable af” and “I feel seen” are any different from the other. Aren’t all three just saying “I identify with this thing!”? IS THERE SOME SUBTLE VARIATION I CANNOT UNDERSTAND BECAUSE I WAS BORN IN THE MID ‘80s?! SOMEONE HELP ME. THE YOUNGS IN OUR OFFICE KEEP LAUGHING AT ME. — Nate Scott

Not understanding a meme? Couldn’t be us. — Jessica Smetana & Harry Lyles Jr.