If you think about it, paintings were the original memes . Past painters made realistic depictions of people with all sorts of intentions in mind. Portraits, depictions of rural life, images from literature: whatever they meant to people in the 1800s doesn't matter that much. Now, they are prime fodder for memes. The expressions made by people in paintings are objectively funny. Their exaggerated or intentionally demure vibes make them the perfect subject for relatable memes. Even though I'm no…

Unless you were blessed enough to go to school when “cool” gen X teachers used memes in their lectures while desperately trying to connect with the youngsters, it's novel to see memes used educationally. History and memes have some exciting things in common. Memes and history are constantly repeating themselves. Image macros Historical events occur, and most of them are quickly forgotten, with only a few juggernauts sticking in the public memory. If someone ran up to you on the street and asked

Dinosaurs might have gone extinct, but Dino memes are forever.

It's absolutely accurate when people say the world is living in unprecedented times, but there have been more than a few eras of history that were blessed with the same insane and unsettling energy. As a generation, for many of us this may be our first or second time experiencing uncertainty and suffering - for some older people who may not meme, it could be the fourth or fifth. And while we aren't celebrating the pain or tragedies of previous decades or centuries, it's kind of nice to remember…

The socratic philosophers of ancient Greece weren't so different from us. If Diogenes were alive today, he'd probably be subtweeting Plato about his subpar interpretation of Socrates, and virtue signaling about his choice to live in poverty with stray dogs. Kanye and Kim's toxic relationship is just a contemporary version of Zeus and Hera. It's no wonder memes about classics and ancient history are popular—humans haven't really change that much. If you have a taste for history and humor, we've…

“You employed the use of a double negative in the title of this article. It shows a command of the English language that is subpar at best and frightening at worst.” If some variation of that thought ran through your head when you read this headline, you're a regular Young Sheldon. Or you're adult Sheldon; knowing pedantic weirdos, you're probably an adult Sheldon. Young Sheldon is at least cute enough to find slightly bemusing, but regular old elder millennial Sheldon can be a real irritating…

Hello, hello, hello. We here at Memebase have got some good news for history enthusiasts who also happen to be people of culture. And if you're truly a man of culture you'll know we're talking about those of us who enjoy anime. Thanks to the incredibly specific r/HistoryAnimemes community, there's a relatively unknown hub of hilarious and spicy history meme/ anime meme mashups—basically the best of both worlds. As is the case with most history memes, some of them are a bit depressing or spicy i…

It is time for a history lesson! Do you know anything about the origin of the memes you consume to make life more tolerable? The truth is that memes aren't just funny pictures you find on Reddit or Memebase. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins originally introduced the term "meme" back in 1976, and it obviously had nothing to do with the internet A meme, by Dawkins' definition (via the Oxford Dictionary) is "An element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another…

There are many memes that leave a person with zero questions. Those relatable work memes , anything hyper-topical, parenting memes. They're all pretty self-explanatory. Work sucks, bosses are terrible, parenting leads to lack of sleep, we all know the drill. We'd be remiss to not include that dogs and cats are cute. When the basicness of these memes gets to be dull, or we actually want to use our brains, we turn to history memes. While we're not history dunces, we can hardly pretend to be histo…

Heads up: I'm a millennial. As a small child I used to play in the dirt, create morbid stories starring my American Girl Dolls, and play old Star Wars games on the family PC. Memes didn't exist, and I didn't have access to the internet. Many Boomers take pride in the fact that their means of entertainment were extremely analog when they were youths, but I don't. It's actually my belief that memes would have enriched my younger days. I mean, it's obvious that being exposed to memes as a kid woul…

The 1990s was the golden age of edutainment. I might be a little biased, but I wholeheartedly believe that The Magic School Bus and Bill Nye The Science Guy are the only reasons that there are any Millennial and Generation Z scientists. If your 5th-grade science teacher rolled out a big fat TV on a questionably secure cart, you knew you would have a fantastic day of learning (and not being able to get the Bill Nye theme song out of your head). Although the 90s produced some of the best edutainm…

Memes both cultured & dank

Are you tired? Do you want to go back to bed? Are you a sleepy baby who doesn't want to go to your pathetic little job? Well, you don't have to! After all, you're a baby, with no responsibilities or bills or cleaning or anything to do except for consuming media. In fact, it looks like you're on the fast track to becoming an iPad baby. Do you know what an iPad baby is, you ignorant infant? An iPad baby is a gross toddler who can't look away from their filth-encrusted tablet for one second, even…

No lies detected.

Congratulations, readers. You've survived the perils of Monday. While I, too, experienced that reluctant and sluggish submission to responsibilities, I also had a therapy session this morning. Which makes bending over for the man a little more tolerable. Instead of focusing on the time that's been spent on boring things like “work” and “chores,” it's important to be present and enjoy the moment, however possible. We've put together this big batch of memes with the intent of aiding you in that q…

They're a blast from the past.