# Can anyone explain a couple of Dope memes to me? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 2, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852 "2010-10-02T17:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/1 "2010-10-02T17:08:56Z")
I’ve tried searching for these both with the board search and Google, to no avail. [ol] [li]Once, in \, for 20 minutes.[/li][li]Duran Duran / Rio[/li][/ol]I believe the first one has something to do with being at the bottom of the ocean…? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/2 "2010-10-02T17:16:45Z")
> [@DarrenS](#): > > Once, in \, for 20 minutes. Apparently this meme [made the news](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=490684). ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/3 "2010-10-02T17:20:23Z")
> [@DarrenS](#): > > I’ve tried searching for these both with the board search and Google, to no avail. > > [ol] > [li]Once, in \, for 20 minutes.[/li][li]Duran Duran / Rio[/li][/ol]I believe the first one has something to do with being at the bottom of the ocean…? 2 was just an occasion when about a dozen people in rapid succession answered the same question about a piece of music… you should be able to guess which one. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/4 "2010-10-02T17:21:27Z")
I could swear we had a sticky that explained some of our nonsense but I’ll be damned if I can find it now… ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/5 "2010-10-02T18:09:38Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > I could swear we had a sticky that explained some of our nonsense but I’ll be damned if I can find it now… **Ruby** , I’m guessing you mean [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=320298)? Might be good to add these memes to it. I’ve been around quite a while but I didn’t know what they meant. Thanks for the responses everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/6 "2010-10-02T18:37:01Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Apparently this meme [made the news](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=490684). Correction - the _topic_ of that meme made the news, simply because the topic of that bit of news was actual news (“noteworthy person of note dies”). We did not actually create something that made it out into the wild. It originated from a supposedly bunk list of “interesting” facts someone was trying to debunk. For some reason, that one really caught on here. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/7 "2010-10-02T19:39:07Z")
> [@](#): > > For some reason, that one really caught on here. IIRC, it was helped along by a copy-and-paste glitch which led to it showing up twice in the OP. Which, of course, everyone else turned into a joke, by repeating it even more in the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/8 "2010-10-02T19:55:14Z")
The original meme was something like, “The Marianas Trench, the deepest point in the Earth’s oceans, has been visited just once, for 20 minutes, in 1960.” Like a bunch of other things, once it got repeated a few times it caught on and became a meme. Similarly, “Rio, by Duran Duran,” “1920s-style death rays,” “Og,” “penis ensues,” and “I burning your dog.” ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/9 "2010-10-02T19:58:33Z")
I guess part of the popularity is they are so handy as [snowclones](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclones), especially the “Once…in _x_…for _y_ minutes” one. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/10 "2010-10-02T20:57:16Z")
The Marianas Trench one started because someone posted it innocently enough in a relevant thread, but due to a glitch, it showed up like three times in a row. Then, of course, everyone else in the thread repeated it too. Har har. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/11 "2010-10-02T22:02:54Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > The Marianas Trench one started because someone posted it innocently enough in a relevant thread, but due to a glitch, it showed up like three times in a row. Then, of course, everyone else in the thread repeated it too. Har har. Ah, same as the “1920s-style death ray” meme then. ---
**Author:** ![Rin\_Twisted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Rin\_Twisted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rin_Twisted)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/12 "2010-10-03T00:28:59Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > The Marianas Trench one started because someone posted it innocently enough in a relevant thread, but due to a glitch, it showed up like three times in a row. Then, of course, everyone else in the thread repeated it too. Har har. Are you sure? I remember reading the thread in question the last time someone asked about this, and I remember the OP repeating it numerous times himself, for dramatic effect. And then other Dopers, amused by it, repeated back too. Shoot, who was the OP? I’m off to search… Okay, this is it: [Marianas Trench joke](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=283407) and while I’m at it, here’s the [Rio one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=296939) …reading those again made me smile 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/13 "2010-10-03T02:38:39Z")
> [@DarrenS](#): > > Ah, same as the “1920s-style death ray” meme then. Found [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=202225), and linked to in the Marianas trench one. I hadn’t realized that one was seven years old. How time flies. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/14 "2010-10-03T03:41:52Z")
Perhaps we should have an _in memoriam_ sticky for all of the dead SDMB memes. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/15 "2010-10-03T04:26:52Z")
Like: [ol] [li]Once. In 1960. For 20 minutes.[/li][li]_Rio_, Duran Duran[/li][li]Hi Opal![/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/16 "2010-10-03T07:11:36Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [li]Hi Opal![/li][/LIST] Is Opal related to Opalcat? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/17 "2010-10-03T07:25:27Z")
I’ve seen Gaudere’s Law on farflung internets. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/18 "2010-10-03T08:18:50Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > > [li]Hi Opal![/li][/LIST] > > Is Opal related to Opalcat? Opal _is_ Opalcat. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/19 "2010-10-03T16:03:26Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I’ve seen Gaudere’s Law on farflung internets. Sure you’re not confusing it with Godwin’s Law? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852/20 "2010-10-03T16:36:40Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > > [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > > > I’ve seen Gaudere’s Law on farflung internets. > > Sure you’re not confusing it with Godwin’s Law? I’ve seen it used elsewhere but just thought it was SDMBers using it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-a-couple-of-dope-memes-to-me/555852.md?page=2)