# For the pre-Internet crowd: what'a good example of a pre-Intenet "meme"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 8, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660 "2014-07-08T18:39:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/41 "2014-07-09T00:10:26Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Where’s the beef? I’ve fallen and I can’t get up! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQlpDiXPZHQ&feature=kp We loved memes about old people back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/42 "2014-07-09T00:14:09Z")
All right, here we go, into the wayback machine… “Hey good lookin’, I’ll be back to pick you up later!” ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/43 "2014-07-09T00:22:14Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > All right, here we go, into the wayback machine… > “Hey good lookin’, I’ll be back to pick you up later!” I appreciate the offer but KISS MY GRITS! ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/44 "2014-07-09T00:28:19Z")
If it hadn’t already been mentioned in this thread, I would say: “Up your nose with a rubber hose.” But since that’s already been said… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/a4QXx9hIxJI/hqdefault.jpg "Hey good lookin'.. we'll be back to pick u up L8tr.") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4QXx9hIxJI) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/45 "2014-07-09T00:54:33Z")
[Mickey Mouse flipping the bird](http://www.themiddlefinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/mickey1.jpg). I saw a lot of this around the time that Iran was holding the American hostages. It usually had the words “HEY, IRAN!” right beneath it. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/46 "2014-07-09T01:02:30Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > [Mickey Mouse flipping the bird](http://www.themiddlefinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/mickey1.jpg). I saw a lot of this around the time that Iran was holding the American hostages. It usually had the words “HEY, IRAN!” right beneath it. Makes me think of some sort of game about that time with the catchphrase “Poke a hole-a in the Ayatollah” but I forget whether it was darts or something more sinister. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/47 "2014-07-09T01:04:33Z")
I had the privilege of traveling the US by car/trailer in 1972 when I was but a lad. All over the country in men’s rooms everywhere could be found various graffiti written on the walls of the bathroom stalls the usual stuff, but also this gem of wisdom: “Don’t switch Dicks in the middle of a screw, vote for Nixon in '72”. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/48 "2014-07-09T01:11:38Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/49 "2014-07-09T01:12:38Z")
[23 skidoo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_skidoo_%28phrase%29) > [@](#): > > 23 skidoo has been described as “perhaps the first truly national fad expression and one of the most popular fad expressions to appear in the U.S,” to the extent that “Pennants and arm-bands at shore resorts, parks, and county fairs bore either [23] or the word ‘Skiddoo’.” ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/50 "2014-07-09T01:31:50Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > [Mickey Mouse flipping the bird](http://www.themiddlefinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/mickey1.jpg). I saw a lot of this around the time that Iran was holding the American hostages. It usually had the words “HEY, IRAN!” right beneath it. Speaking of flipping the bird, when I was a teenager there was a popular character on Tee shirts and posters who would almost always be flipping the bird. He was green and furry and looked kind of like if the Grinch was just a head with legs and arms. Don’t know if it had a name but there was a window where it was everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/51 "2014-07-09T02:00:47Z")
Given that a “meme” in its original construction means a unit of cultural transmission analogous to the gene then pretty much anything can be a meme, not just pictures of cats with captions, catch phrases from TV shows, or graffiti. The idea of a meme is a pretty good meme. John 3:16 was a popular one. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/52 "2014-07-09T02:08:32Z")
“If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it’s yours. If it never returns, it wasn’t yours to begin with.” Also: “Ass, gas or grass. No one rides for free.” ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/53 "2014-07-09T02:17:39Z")
Charles Mackey had a [chapter](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24518/24518-h/dvii.html#follies)on this sort of thing back in 1852. What a shocking bad hat! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/54 "2014-07-09T02:30:06Z")
[You want it _when?_](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_QMuDihPPyPA/S2rAbY5DyEI/AAAAAAAAMWU/aFu8lyP1mMU/s400/you-want-it-when-cartoon.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/55 "2014-07-09T03:30:45Z")
Senegoid. You beat me to that one. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/56 "2014-07-09T03:35:25Z")
Mad Magazine generated quite a few? “Potrzebie”. “What, Me Worry?” ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/57 "2014-07-09T03:39:22Z")
“If you see this van a’rockin’, don’t come a’knockin’!” (Bumper sticker on those tricked out vans.) ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/58 "2014-07-09T03:40:50Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > [Here](http://kellyr108.hubpages.com/hub/Slug-Bug-Rules-and-Variations-of-the-popular-road-game) you go. Ahem… the proper term is “Punch Buggies”, which an optional suffix clause “No Punch-Backs!” 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/59 "2014-07-09T03:46:23Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Mad Magazine generated quite a few? “Potrzebie”. “What, Me Worry?” Yowzah! Check out the top poem(?) at [http://www.wanderingherpetologist.com/mad-axolotl-poem/](http://www.wanderingherpetologist.com/mad-axolotl-poem/) > [@](#): > > I Wandered Lonely as a Clod ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/60 "2014-07-09T03:54:14Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Given that a “meme” in its original construction means a unit of cultural transmission analogous to the gene then pretty much anything can be a meme, not just pictures of cats with captions, catch phrases from TV shows, or graffiti. The idea of a meme is a pretty good meme. > > John 3:16 was a popular one. Would “jumping the shark” qualify? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660.md?page=4)