Memes.
They are the Superbowl commercials of our daily lives, offering a moment of laughter or introspection without the obligation of remembering who made them. The word “meme” became part of my vocabulary about six months ago, thanks to my teenagers, who are constantly enhancing my life with important terminology. Without them, I would be the Fred Flintstone of social media living in a world of The Jetsons, texting “Yabba Dabba Doo!” with my thick thumbs only to have it auto-corrected to “Abba Dances Too!”
I would be alone in the cyberworld. A man on a deserted social media island. Out of touch. Except for the Abba spam.
But fortunately my kids keep me plugged in and — when it comes to what’s trending — on the cutting edge. Sure, if we’re being honest it’s an edge that needs sharpening. That’s what I have my teenagers for! And yes, they sometimes (i.e., more often than not) regret keeping Dad in the loop with what’s trending. For example, when the “Damn, Daniel!” vines and memes went viral, my kids shared them with me — which got me thinking:
What if Daniel had been Danny LaRusso from “Karate Kid” instead?
After my youngest daughter saw this posted on my Facebook page, along with a shout out to her, she tried convincing me she lost her iPhone and was therefore unable to share any new social media trends with me. Probably forever.
Which inspired this…
It also lead to a personal challenge to create a new meme every day, which I’ve been doing for the last few weeks and posting to my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages. Mostly because I know it really embarrasses my teenagers, whose friends follow me on one or all of those pages. And yes, I’ve been laughing maniacally.
For example…
While I’m not going to post all of them here, I’ve selected a few of my favorites to share with you, based on the collective groaning from my teengers…
I’d like to point out I don’t always pick on my kids. Our pets are also fair game…
Especially our dog, Stanley.
I’ve also chimed in on politics a few times, mostly as a healthy way of venting my frustration to find my happy place. Assuming we’re out of bacon…
However, I think it was Abe Lincoln who said it best. At least, I’m pretty sure this is how he said it…
Other times, it’s just been me and my random thoughts that have lead to inspiration. Or that’s what I’m calling it, which sounds better than mental disorder…
Or as in the case of yesterday, a meme based on personal experience that proved to be an unintentional audition for “So You Think You Can Dance?”
I’ll leave you with something a little more introspective because, well… it doesn’t happen very often.
Looking forward to seeing all of you at the pond…
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Ned's Blog 
Sir you have a very good blog site, hope you don’t mind but I am going to reblog this for you, hopefully that will get you a little bit more traffic.
Thank you so much, and hopefully it will give some of your readers a laugh or two. I think we can all use a little more of that these days 😉
Reblogged this on Truth Troubles: Why people hate the truths' of the real world and commented:
This man, in my opinion has a very good and humerus blog. Please consider tapping into his site through this reblog of his material. Thank You.
I appreciate you sharing this, and giving me a chance to share a few laughs with your readers. Many thanks!
How come men get to have god for a best friend? … dog, I mene. My lemon??? Errr… my melon isn’t working today. I think. Thus is so confusing.
Great post. 🙂
I think it’s kind of like riding shot gun in the car; we called God first…?
And thanks, Lynette — there’s nothing wrong with your melon, er… lemon, by the way!
All is not lost. Teenagers grow up to be as stupid as they now think we are.
Hahaha! Something to look forward to witnessing 😉
Thanks for improving my vocabulary. I need a teenager (no thanks, just kidding) to keep me on top of things. I knew about those sayings, but I always thought they were called sarcasm. (silly me) Excellent column.
Thanks, Sheila. And for leaving such a lovely comment, you can borrow one of my three teenagers any time. Tomorrow works, actually…
Man, I knew those glasses would change you. You’ve become a philosopher!
I’ve always made a spectacle of myself (ba-DUH-bum)
I guess this subject lens itself to puns, eh?
In retrospect, they say hindsight is 20/20.
Eye suppose.
You’re a visionary, Mikels.
WHEW! There’s lots there to re-meme-ber. Ha! Well done Ned – love the one of the teen and laughing maniacally.
Thanks, Paul. That one is my daughter’s personal favorite.
Ok, not really…
Are there any mountains you have yet to conquer, Ned?
I haven’t poop-scooped the back yard since last week, so there’s always that…
That’s why you have kids, right?
To be honest, the poop-to-dog ratio seems inaccurate. I’m starting to wonder if my kids are going in the yard too, just to spite me.
I wouldn’t rule it out.
Thanks Ned…I’ve didn’t understand memes until now.
You’re welcome, Robert! I’m nothing if not educational. Or so I tell myself.
Love these! and I love the way your mind works! 😀
Thanks, Courtney! I’m not sure my teenagers share your sentiment Hahaha!
Yeah… well they are too young to get it!! LOL! 😉
I wondered what I was hearing just before I opened this post. Now I know – it was the collective, worldwide groaning. (Although the one about the cat did make me laugh.)
What’s that old saying… The world that groans together…? 😉
Oh, these are priceless!! Laughed at all of them, especially the presidential candidates like a McDonald’s menu and one of them definitely is a clown!
Haha! Thanks so much 😉 You only get one guess as to who the clown is… although it could be a tie!
Same (what my kids say when they want to say, “I do that too”). You sauced some good ones.
My kids roll their eyes when they see me using language hip to their generation; copying is the best form of flatter (or something like that).
Thanks for the smiles.
True dat.
And thanks for laughing along, maniacally or otherwise 😉
I’ve really been enjoying the memes!!
Thanks, Susan! My kids have, too! *Maniacal laughter!*
Hahaha…..that’s what therapy is for!!
Lol! That’s what I keep saying but they still won’t pay for me to have any!
What’s the point in having kids?? Lol
There have certainly been times when I thought the “making them” part was the climax of parenthood.. er, uh… high point.
Yeah, I like the new memeisms coming from our Nedism… I bet you’ll have years of fun with this. And that bee one is still my fave… so damned funny.
Thanks, Robyn 😉 They’re fun to do.
And as for the bees meme, I also had my kids watch Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” right after our trip to the park, just for good measure.
The only thing I’ve ever had go viral was a dumb meme I made while telling my friend about my morning with my kids. So far, 12 million people have viewed it. I spend four years writing a book, and 12 people read it. This is the world in which we live.
Hahaha! So true, Mandi. It’s all truly a crap shoot, but if you can have fun and enjoy what you’re doing all along the way, you’re already a winner — and the rest is just icing.
And yes, I realize icing and dice is a really bad analogy combination. You can’t even roll dice in frosting.
Please PLEASE make a meme as “the world’s most interesting man.” I even picked out your phrase….
“I don’t always wear a red thong, but when I do, it’s in front of everyone and really cold outside”
Your creativity inspires me, Ned! I only go to Facebook once/day (usually), so I’ll keep my eyes open for your daily memes. Love it!
Hahahaha! That has serious potential, Michelle. And by that I mean potential jail time, depending on the photo 😉
meme-mania!
You are the Edgar Alan Poo of memes.
Coming from you, that memes a lot.
Never more
Yay that you discovered memes via your teenagers. These are funny and not groan worthy at all. 😃
Thanks! Although I don’t think my teenagers are quite as happy for me!
I prefer to be the cannonball. And – Stanley is on fleek. That is all.
What’s fleek? An illegal drug? That would explain a lot, actually.
On fleek = flawlessly styled, groomed; perfect, flawless. Used discriminately by teens today. My nephew introduced me to it. Don’t worry – I had to look it up too. Still – Stanley is on fleek. :p
Lol! I thought my kids were holding out on me! I actually Googled it. Fleek is apparently also some kind of soicla media app, like SnapChat or Tinder. But I like your meaning of fleek much better.
I can’t wait to drop that word into conversation tonight with my teens!
Can you please record that and share it?
Hahaha! I’m on it…
My 10 yr old isn’t into social media…yet, so I still get to embarrass him in public. It’s great. The 26 yr old, however, is fair game…and he’s too busy to “unfriend” me! Ha!
Lol! My 21-year-old daughter can dish it back, so I don’t mess with her unless it’s an evasive maneuver. But my three teens (15, 16, 17) are still worried about their image, so they live in perpetual fear of Dad doing something embarrassing around their friends — you know, like breathing.
Still LOLing! 🙂 And couldn’t help but read some comments here. I love the first one who is going to reblog and hopes you get more traffic from it. It made me think, if you got many more commenters, I’d be scrolling for another half an hour to get to the bottom to leave my own, LOL 😉
Lol! It was really nice, though 😉
It’s always a compliment, I was just concerned you may need longer pages, lol. 😉
Hahaha! Yeah, the threads get really hard to read when it turns into one
word
at
a
time 😉
🙂 No worries, I’ll still visit. 🙂