To Answer That Question… – Hobbits In Rivendell

A meme is:

An idea that, like a gene, can replicate and evolve.

A unit of cultural information that represents a basic idea that can be transferred from one individual to another, and subjected to mutation, crossover and adaptation.

A cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior) that is passed from one generation to another by nongenetic means (as by imitation); “memes are the cultural counterpart of genes”.

Origins of the word

The term and concept of meme is from the 1976 book by Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene. Though Dawkins defined the meme as “a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation,” memeticists vary in their definitions of meme. The lack of a consistent, rigorous definition of what precisely a meme is remains one of the principal criticisms leveled at memetics, the study of memes. (from the Wikipedia)

(Definition courtesy The Daily Meme.)

So, a blog meme is a sort of viral idea that mutates as it moves between blogs. In our case it was a list of six words to describe ourselves. Most of the time people “tag” others and encourage them to participate; anyone who read our meme and wants to participate is hereby ‘tagged.’ Sorry we didn’t think to clear this up earlier – now that three people have asked us about it, we thought it time to answer!

Cheers,

– D&T

One Reply to “To Answer That Question…”

Thanks. I’d say I’ll sleep better tonight now that I know what “meme” means, but I know I’ll be thinking of my six words instead.

Origins of the word

One Reply to “To Answer That Question…”

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