# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/121 "2014-07-20T02:48:30Z")
[Rosie the Riveter](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/We_Can_Do_It!.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![applebetty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4af34b/32.png) [@applebetty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/applebetty)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/122 "2014-07-20T05:44:51Z")
[Avis rent-a-car buttons](https://www.google.com/search?q=avis+rent+a+car+buttons&safe=off&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=pFXLU4n3LqT2iwLbwYD4Dw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg&biw=780&bih=571#imgdii=_) We Try Harder! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/123 "2014-07-28T13:39:09Z")
There were no pre-Internet memes? Surely you can’t be serious! ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/124 "2014-07-28T14:23:03Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > There were no pre-Internet memes? Surely you can’t be serious! We’re quite serious. And stop calling me Shirley. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/125 "2014-07-28T14:53:41Z")
The old highway Burma Shave signs. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/126 "2014-07-28T15:33:57Z")
I remember in an anthropology class I took once, the instructor showed a slide of a stone carving from some time in the Ice Age, which showed a monkey looking behind himself in puzzlement as he shat out an enormously long turd, and there was a bird sitting on the end of the turd looking back at him. According to the instructor, similar carvings had been discovered all over Europe and constitutes the first known widespread “joke.” So maybe the first meme dates back about 11,000 years or so? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/127 "2014-07-28T15:56:56Z")
> [@dotchan](#): > > The old highway Burma Shave signs. > **[Twitter](https://xkcd.com/491/)** ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/128 "2014-07-28T16:15:01Z")
> [@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. Yup. I get the idea that most folks here don’t quite understand what the term really means. Maybe we need a new term to describe the stuff listed in this thread. Or a new term to mean what “meme” really means. My favorite memes: the wheel agriculture languages phonetic alphabets Leave it to the Internet to change a word’s meaning from a very useful one to a trivial one. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/129 "2014-07-28T18:36:28Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > You’ve helped me remember a kid’s thing that probably doesn’t pass the “meme” test (whatever that might be): > > The deal was that you would make the OK sign with your fingers and place it below the belt somewhere (knee was the most popular spot) and if you caught somebody looking at it, you were free to perform an act of choice (usually the Slug-bug option or – in the case of an attractive opposite sex object – a surreptitious smooch (or worse)). It had a name that I don’t recall but it was a big deal in 1950’s Alabama high school environs. > > Anybody know what I’m even talking about? The 30-year-old junior high school students at my last restaurant played this game, and called it “Cheerio”. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/130 "2014-07-29T15:33:01Z")
Shouting “Where’s the Beef?!” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/131 "2014-07-29T15:38:48Z")
Would “23 Skidoo” and “So’s your old man!” count? Maybe “The British are coming” or “Remember the Alamo”? I always try to use that old saw, “Get the behind me, Satan” whenever it’s appropriate. ---
**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 29, 2014, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660/132 "2014-07-29T18:15:07Z")
The thread about Pismo Beach made me think of this one: “I knew I shoulda taken that left toin at Albukoyke.” - Bugs Bunny [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-pre-internet-crowd-whata-good-example-of-a-pre-intenet-meme/692660.md?page=6)