The

I always wondered about it, but I never got around to asking.

AWESOME FROM SPOMETHONGAWFOOL

its a somethingawful thing.

The tale, it is a long and interesting one.

Here are some :words: about it: http://driph.com/words/2008/04/origin-of-awesome/

^ Summary: It originated on some pokemon fan site, SomethingAwful made it famous, 4chan drove the fad straight into the ground.

That's usually how these things work. They originate on SA or some place that an SA goon frequents, then the rest of the internet makes it famous. Fark and YTMND are also meme originators.

Thanks. So most fads originate from SA? I always thought most Internet fads originate from 4Chan.

SA makes more memes, but 4chan memes are more likely to become mainstream, which kind of defeats the purpose of an internet meme.

isn't that the definition of meme?

An internet meme is something you would only see on the internet and only a select few would understand.

Other memes (Rickroll, All your base, lolcats) became mainstream so that regular people were using them yet didn't know what they actually meant.

Long story short. Inside jokes are hilarious until people outside your group of friends start using them as well. Get my meaning?

that's not what meme means

that is what 4chan wants meme to mean, well, what /b/ wants it to mean, beacause they cant stand the idea that a meme could grow in areas out of their control, specificaly, in places where being rude to people who dont use it "correctly" would get you banned for being an ***.

So, in other words, they seem to think that meme = inside joke, when in fact it does not.

Okay, so what about ?

You should see the current SA : awesome :

The word meme classifies a much larger social group than 'a group of friends', and a meme can spread to anyone, which is the definition of a meme. The thing that annoys you is the the people that don't understand the origins/meaning.