Top 5 Olympic Memes

For those of you who don’t know what a meme is: have you been living under a rock for the past decade? To put it simply, a meme is, according to Google, “an image, video, etc. that is passed electronically from one Internet user to another”. Memes typically start when pictures of people/objects/animals surface and are edited or given captions for comic appeal. Memes are everywhere nowadays. They’ve expanded globally, starting out on sites like Memebase and Reddit and moving on to social networking sites, TV shows and even advertising.

The Olympics! The nation has the privilege of hosting it in our capital city this year, but that hasn’t stopped the World Wide Web from getting a kick out of it, too! Check out my top 5 Olympic-themed memes, in no particular order:

1 – The Ryan Lochte “Hey Girl” meme:

American swimmer Ryan Lochte has been circulating the internet for more reasons than for his Olympic victories this year.

The 28 year old is now the face of an exploitable meme. Exploitable memes are ’empty’ images, like templates, which users can add captions etc. to. For this meme, users start with the tag line “Hey girl” and add in a pun-tastic chat-up line. It’s the kind of meme that makes you want to laugh and cringe at the same time, which, in my opinion, is the best kind!

This isn’t the only Ryan Lochte meme going around, however. Over at knowyourmeme.com, they’ve posted a video montage of snippets of Lochte’s interviews, where he comes across dopey, air-headed and unfocused:

Maybe stick to the swimming, eh, Ryan?

2 – The Unimpressed Queen Elizabeth meme

Ahh, the Opening Ceremony. One of those iconic moments that will go down in British history forever. The same can also be said for the newly immortalized Unimpressed Queen Elizabeth meme. Those of you who saw the ceremony on television will know that old Queenie didn’t look too thrilled about her nation hosting the biggest sporting event in the world. In fact, she looked downright bored. You’d think after jumping out of a plane into the stadium next to James Bond* would have at least warranted a smile, but no.

*Yes, I know that it didn’t really happen. Shh!

Anyway, a picture of Her Majesty looking suitably unimpressed has now become an internet sensation, with photos being edited left, right, and centre. Here are two of my favourites:

3 – Kanye West’s ‘Imma Let You Finish’

Remember back in 2009 when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s Best Female Video win? When he rudely interrupted the country princess’ acceptance speech with “Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé has one of the best videos of all time!”? The internet went crazy, and the meme exploded onto the scene in a matter of days. Pictures of Edward Cullen with “Sesame Street had one of the best vampires of all time” and the like were spread like wildfire. It fizzled out for a while, but the Olympics provided the perfect opportunity to bring it up again. Check out this gem:

I think what I love most about this image is how badly Photoshopped it is. The fact that the creator pretty much just copy&pasted a map of the UK over Taylor Swift adds to the comedy!

Yo, Kanye. I’m really happy for you, and I’mma let you finish, but number 4 is one of the best memes of all time!

(See what I did there?)

4 – “Better drink my own piss”

Bear Grylls: adventurer, TV presenter, self-proclaimed piss drinker.

The 38 year-old Born Survivor/Man vs. Wild presenter took the internet by storm when he decided to combat dehydration by drinking his own urine. This triggered a barrage of images of him with the tag line “Better drink my own piss”. For example:

Of course, these are Olympic memes. Check out this awesomely witty twist:

The “Better drink my own piss” meme is probably one of my favourites. There’s so much potential to be witty, random or just plain hilarious. I also love the fact that Bear Grylls is totally aware that he’s a meme, and relishes it. Take a look at his tweet:

What a legend.

Lastly, a short but sweet one:

5 – Olympic Lolcats

Lolcats: Funny pictures of cute cats with captions. It’s as simple as that, really.

Isn’t it just adoable?!

Anyway, those are my top 5 Olympic memes. Do you agree/disagree? Let me know in the comments – I’m always looking for bigger and better memes!

Until next time, folks!