SciFri Extra: Science Diction On The Word 'Meme'

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Life Sciences, Wnyc, Science, Friday, Natural Sciences

4.4 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2020

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Remember that summer when the internet was one Distracted Boyfriend after another—that flannel-shirted dude rubbernecking at a passing woman, while his girlfriend glares at him? Everyone had their own take—the Boyfriend was you, staring directly at a solar eclipse, ignoring science. The Boyfriend was youth, seduced by socialism, spurning capitalism. The Boyfriend could be anyone you wanted him to be. We think of memes as a uniquely internet phenomenon. But the word meme originally had nothing to do with the internet. It came from an evolutionary biologist who noticed that genes weren’t the only thing that spread, mutated, and evolved. Sign up for our newsletter, and stay up to speed with Science Diction. Guest: Gretchen McCulloch is an internet linguist. For some fun, check out her book, Because Internet, and her podcast Lingthusiasm. She’s also appeared on Science Friday. Footnotes And Further Reading: For an academic take on memes, read Memes in Digital Culture by Limor Shifman. Read The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. Check out the first time the word meme appeared in an internet context, in Mike Godwin’s 1994 Wired article called “Meme, Counter-meme.” Credits: Science Diction is written and produced by Johanna Mayer, with production and editing help from Elah Feder. Our senior editor is Christopher Intagliata, and we had story editing help from Nathan Tobey. Our theme song and music are by Daniel Peterschmidt. We had fact-checking help from Michelle Harris. Special thanks to the entire Science Friday staff.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi there. Today we've got a little treat in store for all the word nerds out there. We're launching a
0:06.5	special series called Science Diction, a bite-sized podcast about words and the science stories behind them.
0:14.0	Each episode will feature a single word and how it came to be and the science that happened along
0:20.1	the way. For example, do you know where the word cell comes from?
0:24.1	A scientist looked at a piece of cork under a microscope,
0:27.2	and up close the cork looked like a bunch of tiny boxes,
0:31.2	and they reminded him of rooms where monks would sleep, which were called cells.
0:36.3	I just love that stuff, And that's the sort of thing
0:38.3	you'll be hearing in science diction. And if you like what you hear today and you just can't
0:43.2	wait till next week to get your hands on more stories like these, subscribe to science
0:48.7	diction. You can listen to all four episodes of the first season right now. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
0:57.4	So now I'm turning over the mic to our resident word nerd here at Science Friday.
1:01.5	Johanna Mayer, she'll be bringing you this series once a week for the next month. So stay
1:06.9	tuned for some wordy, nerdy goodness. I think you're going to like it.
1:11.2	The first word we're diving into is meme.
1:14.2	Here's science diction.
1:18.7	If you've been on the internet at all, the past few years,
1:23.2	this song is ingrained in your brain.
1:31.0	Yeah. This song is ingrained in your brain. The original Gangnam Style video has been viewed over three billion times, and it spawned endless parodies.
1:39.9	Versions inspired by video games.
1:43.9	And former presidential candidates.
1:48.1	Mitt Romney style.
	...

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