– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

...

AMANDA BRENNAN: A lot of my work is

focused on keeping on the pulse of trends of internet culture.

My name is Amanda Brennan.

And I'm a Content and Community Associate at Tumblr.

I am also a meme librarian.

...

A meme is a piece of content that

travels from person to person and changes along the way.

The term was coined in 1976 by evolutionary biologist Richard

Dawkins in his book "The Selfish Gene."

He originally used it to describe

pieces of cultural transmission, so stuff

like melodies or catchphrases, even trends in fashion.

...

Before the internet, memes still came in all shapes and sizes.

One of the earliest instances is Kilroy Was Here.

It's this piece of graffiti that was popularized in World War II

by American soldiers.

So when new soldiers came through,

they knew that their people had been there.

...

Another one that's a great example

is the Star Wars opening crawl.

It's been used in parodies since two years

after the original film was released.

Internet memes can take many different forms still.

They can be hashtags, emoticons.

They could be a video or a vine.

Songs can be memes.

What lives solely in internet space

can sometimes be very fleeting or temporal.

Flash animations like Homestar Runner

were huge in the early 2000s.

2005 marked the birth of YouTube and every video meme.

BRIAN COLLINS: And boom goes the dynamite.

AMANDA BRENNAN: In 2009, we really thought

about stereotypes and representing them

online in stuff like Advice Animals and Rage Comics.

2013, we changed language with doge.

Dogs were assigned their own dialect,

just like cats were in the early 2000s.

[MEOW]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

...

Memes had a longer life span a few years ago.

Now, we see memes like "If a Dog Wore Pants."

It got super big.

It appeared on the "Today Show."

But after a few days, no one was really talking about it.

It's so important right now to be

archiving this stuff because meme culture is really

rapidly growing.

And it represents what's going on the outskirts of pop

culture.

We can learn so much about how people communicate

through internet memes.

We also really learn about communities.

There's a series of blogs called "What Should We Call Me" where

people will change it a little bit

to be about their profession or their locality.

And using the reaction gifs, they

can identify their feelings and share it

within a community that knows how they feel.

Memes are fun.

And they're really cool.

And it's a way to sometimes work through hard stuff.

It adds more nuance to speech and interaction.

We have no idea how people were really

sharing their weird cultural ideas before the internet.

Now, someone can tweet something and someone

across the globe can identify with it.

SPEAKER: Have memes changed the way

you communicate with friends?

Let us know in the comments below.

And to find out how a former corporate lawyer gave up

his career to be a full-time LEGO artist,

check out this video right here.

NATHAN SAWAYA: I left the law firm behind to play with bricks

full time.

The bricks I use in my art are the very same bricks

that people could purchase at a toy store.

I don't paint them.

I don't have access to special colors or special shapes

and sizes.

And we're in my art studio today,

where I have over 5 million LEGO bricks.

SPEAKER: Thanks for watching.

And be sure to subscribe for more Seeker Stories.

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
focused /ˈfoʊkəst/ B2	adjective - having a clear aim or purpose; concentrated.
culture /ˈkʌltʃər/ B1	noun - the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or group.
evolutionary /ˌiːvəˈluːʃənəri/ C1	adjective - relating to the process of evolution.
transmission /trænsˈmɪʃən/ B2	noun - the action of conveying something from one place or person to another.
instance /ˈɪnstəns/ B1	noun - a particular example or case.
popularized /ˈpɒpjʊləraɪzd/ B2	verb - to make popular.
original /əˈrɪdʒɪnəl/ B1	adjective - not copied or imitated.
form /fɔːrm/ A2	noun - the visible shape or configuration of something.
temporal /ˈtempərəl/ C1	adjective - relating to worldly affairs; temporary.
stereotype /ˈstiːriətaɪp/ B2	noun - a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.
dialect /ˈdaɪəlekt/ B2	noun - a particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group.
span /spæn/ B1	noun - the length of time that something continues or exists.
rapidly /ˈræpɪdli/ B1	adverb - at a fast rate.
outskirts /ˈaʊtskɜːrts/ B2	noun - the outer parts of a town or city.
communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/ B1	verb - to convey information, ideas, or feelings.
nuance /ˈnjuːɑːns/ C1	noun - a subtle difference in or shade of meaning, expression, or sound.
identify /aɪˈdentɪfaɪ/ B1	verb - to recognize or establish as being a particular person or thing.

Key Grammar Structures

• A lot of my work is focused on keeping on the pulse of trends of internet culture.

  ➔ Gerund as subject complement, present perfect continuous

  ➔ The phrase "keeping on the pulse" functions as a gerund phrase acting as the subject complement, describing *what* the work is focused on. The verb 'is' is followed by a present participle. The phrase 'focused on' uses the present perfect continuous to show an ongoing focus.

• He originally used it to describe pieces of cultural transmission, so stuff like melodies or catchphrases, even trends in fashion.

  ➔ Infinitive of purpose, apposition, 'so' as a conjunction introducing result

  ➔ "to describe" is an infinitive of purpose, explaining *why* he used the term. “melodies or catchphrases” are examples of “pieces of cultural transmission” – this is an example of apposition. 'So' introduces the result of the previous clause – he used it *and therefore* provides examples.