Need a New Word

[akirlu]

I'm probably alone in being bugged by this, but this business of calling word games, parlor games, lists, and quizzes that a bunch of people on LiveJournal happen to be doing at the same time "memes" seems like it bends the word "meme" in anti-useful ways. I guess the desire and interest in doing a particular quiz at a particular time could be called a meme, but it seems to me that there's a bit of conflation going on, and people are essentially referring to the quizzes, games, etc. as memes. At which point "meme" is in danger of becoming a universal noun -- anything people share in common is a "meme".

Well. Or maybe that's exactly right. Maybe every shared human behavior *is* a meme. Soccer is a meme. The Constitution of the United States is a meme. Getting together for coffee is a meme. Memes break down into overlapping and interpenetrating memes and it's turtles all the way down, baby. And maybe that's a useful insight into memetics, or maybe it isn't. But it just seems like we're in danger of becoming John Malkovich looking out his own head in BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, and we'll just be yammering, "Meme. Meme, meme, meme; meme MEME meme," at each other all day. That is, I think it's linguistically unhelpful to call everything a meme, even if, conceptually, there's something right about it. Words are supposed to be tools to grapple with our concepts, so they're more useful if they mean specific things. The tool that fits on everything grabs nothing.

Does this make sense to anyone but me? Meme. Meme, meme, meme. Meme! Meme mememememememememe ... Huh. I guess it is all about me(me) after all.

Comments

Meme me up, Scotty!

[webbob.livejournal.com]

I think the meme of using "meme" that way is beyond our control or opposition at this point.

Perhaps someone more advanced in the study of memetics will say otherwise -- a British fan perhaps (oh, sorry, that was emetics) -- but I am afraid you are much in the position of King Knut ordering the tide to go back and win one for the Gipper.

P.S. and re: your last paragraph, "Bloody Vikings!"

[hal-obrien.livejournal.com]

This has been a peeve of mine for a while, too. We ae the chorus and we agree.

[numbat.livejournal.com]

It's the same carelessness which allows people to label any sort of thought a rant or to call any and every online diary a blog. We can't stop the sillyness but at least we can make it clear that we won't join in.