There’s times when I use terms and phrases in every day speech that are commonly used online but just sound weird to say out loud in public. This week it has become apparent that I need to introduce some of these slang words into the rez vocabulary. It is my duty and responsibility to honor the elders of my community and bring everybody up to speed with some of these internet terms and I hope the coming faces of the future generations will do the same for me someday because I am starting to get up there in age myself and feel like I’m barely hanging on to my technological edge.
1. Memes (pronounced ‘meems’) – A meme is a popular picture taken out of context from a movie or iconic photo with hilarious sayings or phrases written usually using a play on words or portraying some other form of humor. Post-viral memes take on a life of their own and many, many others arere-created by regular people who inject more mileage into a meme with their own brand of humor. There are many native humor memes on Facebook. Some of the most popular memes are Scumbag Steve, Good Guy Greg, Ermahgerd Girl, Grumpy Cat, Sweet Brown (above), Y U NO Guy, Overly Attached Girlfriend, Philosoraptor, and Ancient Aliens Guy. For more see http://www.knowyourmeme.com
2. Selfie – Taking a picture of yourself with the camera on your phone is simply called a “Selfie” and is what young people do now these days (I hear) and could be considered a female thing, although that is starting to change. They are popular because they are easy to create and share. Comedian Chelsie Peretti says “loneliness and desperation for attention are crucial ingredients” for a good selfie. The selfie is most likely responsible for the advent of the duck face pose which has been misinterpreted by many native people as rude pointing into the camera.
3. Next week we will learn more about the Google and the Internets…
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