Memes: Head-scratchers for Boomers and Gen Xers?

In tackling the subject of memes, I might have bitten off more than I can chew, but isn’t that the Gen X way? We were the latchkey kids, the ones who figured things out without a guidebook or adult supervision, so memes shouldn’t be that hard, right? Nope.

To dive into this, I solicited cross-generational advice from the experts, starting with my kids. My daughter warned me that explaining memes would be a Herculean task. She knows of what she speaks for she devoted an entire college paper on this very topic, some ten years ago.

And yes, the concept of memes isn’t new. Richard Dawkins coined the term back in 1976, in a book I’ll pretend I read. But today’s memes are like an inside joke shared by millions, except you’re the only one left out, like Burr as he sang The Room Where it Happens. Millennials, Gen Z, and the Alphas understand this as if it was written into their DNA, but for Boomers and Gen Xers, a little simple explanation might be in order.

Let’s start with the basics: how to say the word meme. It’s pronounced “meem,” not “me-me” like you’re eager to recite in class, and definitely not “meh-meh,” unless you’re a Filipino coaxing a baby to drink milk. If you need further clarity, I suggest watching the YouTube channel PronunciationManual, which helpfully demonstrates how not to say it. According to them, it’s “mmmmemehehhhhhh,” which sounds like a goat complaining to a human.

The word has been appearing in crossword puzzles since World War II with the clue “Same: French.” However, “mem” when referring to “même” is an adjective that means “same,” “itself,” “very,” “exact” and “precise,” or an adverb meaning “even.”

Now that we’ve nailed the pronunciation, let’s get to the nitty-gritty. Listen up, my same-generation or older friends.

Memes are cultural snapshots, little bursts of humor or commentary shared widely across the internet. But they’re also fleeting — here today, forgotten tomorrow — no different from fashion fads. Early viral internet memes, like the “Dancing Baby” or the infamous “All Your Base Are Belong to Us,” emerged at the turn of the millennium. The Dancing Baby became a household sensation after sharing some screen time with Calista Flockhart in Season 1 of Ally McBeal while dancing to the tune of Blue Swede’s cover of Hooked on a Feeling. Why? Who knows? It was the ‘90s. Things were weird. “All Your Base Are Belong To Us” is from the poorly translated 1989 video game Zero Wing that inexplicably became an early internet sensation. Again, weird times, too near the ‘90s.

Fast forward to today, and memes have evolved into an entirely new language. You’ve got memes about practically (or perhaps, impractically) everything: distracted boyfriends, First World problems, real-name Google searches, cats, Drake, Elon Musk, and even Jason Momoa sneaking up on Henry Cavill. I’ve seen a dog looking confused, a frog sipping tea, or a cat crying — which somehow, I’ve heard, is a metaphor for capitalism. (Please don’t ask me. Ask your kids.) For Boomers attempting to understand the meme world, it’s like trying to figure out how photos and other data can be stored in “the cloud.” Gen Xers like me are simply trying to hang on and avoid embarrassing ourselves too much.

Take the Winnie the Pooh meme, for example. You’ve most probably seen it: Pooh Bear, usually happy and carefree, is suddenly serious, staring intently at a piece of paper. It’s the visual embodiment of confusion, often captioned as something like “Boomers trying to understand memes,” or “My aunt figuring out what shimenet means.” It’s brutally honest but accurate. That intense concentration? Yeah, that’s me, staring at my phone without my glasses at a meme while my head is buzzing with the sound of a dial-up internet. Buffering, buffering...

Then there’s Laptop Girl (Filipino actress and PBB: All In alumna Maris Racal, with the TikTok handle missmariestella), who has become a viral reaction image — a young woman sitting before her laptop, with an expression conveying various emotions, like complaining about work but doing it anyway (“I need the money/job.”), or crying while retaining one’s internal sassiness, or contemplating the rationale behind a school paper that you must finish to pass the course.

Filipina tennis star Alex Eala might have unintentionally launched a new chapter in the “demure” craze after her playful Instagram post from the WTA 500 Guadalajara Open. For an action pic, she wrote, “You see how my outfit matches the court? Very demure, very mindful.” This echoed the current trend popularized by TikTok star Jools Lebron, who made “demure” a thing by pairing it with modest fashion and a healthy dose of irony. Now, thanks to the unexpected popularity of her early posts, Lebron is traveling the world and funding her transition, while the rest of us are still trying to understand how memes can have such real-world consequences.

And that’s the thing about memes: they aren’t just jokes. They can actually shape people’s lives, careers, and even elections. But let’s not go down the rabbit hole of political memes and how some questionable figures get elected because of them. I will say this though: it’s incredible how memes that start as harmless jokes can spiral into something much, much larger than intended.

Then there’s the whole GIF situation, which adds an extra layer of complexity. Short for Graphics Interchange Format, GIFs – those looping, short clips that oldies but goldies love to use on Viber – are like the hyperactive little sibling of memes. Pronounced “jif” (according to the guy who invented it, and yes, like the peanut butter smuggled by Yuri in Stranger Things Season 4), they’re everywhere, adding motion to internet culture.

Despite all this confusion, Boomers and Gen Xers try. We really do. I spend enough time with younger generations and dare to ask for clarification that when I see a new meme, I actually understand it and instantly become a member of the tribe. Will I share it with my older friends? Maybe not. Explaining jokes is frustrating and counter-intuitive.

Ultimately, the struggle to understand memes isn’t just about figuring out a new form of communication. It’s about bridging the generational gap. Back in the day, humor had structure: an intro or setup, the punchline, then the laugh tracks. But now, everything is fast, fragmented, and dripping with irony. It’s not just about the punchline anymore, but getting the reference, often to another meme from years ago, requiring some knowledge of the narrative’s cultural history.

And even if we don’t always understand the joke, we’re still part of the fun. The attempt, the bewilderment, the earnest sharing of a meme that’s three years old — it’s all part of the culture. Next time you see Boomer or fellow Gen Xers squinting at their phone, trying to make sense of a crying cat or a panda bear being all clumsy in its pen, just smile and let them have their moment. Sometimes, the confusion is the best part.