Does Rome vaguely cross my mind regularly? Only from the standpoint that Latin words and phrases come up from time to time, as does mention of Romans like Julius Caesar. That doesn’t make me stop and think about the Roman Empire, however.
How often do I actually actively think about the Roman Empire? Very rarely.
But if he ever does cross the Rubicon, will he not become Emperor for Life (dictator perpetuo)? Yuk.
Nobody expects … the Roman Empire!!!
[cue scary music]
I’m a woman, so I didn’t answer the poll (which means it’s annoying to see the results, by the way – yet another reason to put an “other” category in polls) but this:
I’m in the United States.
Joe Biden is the President of the United States.
Joe Biden is a Roman Catholic.
The Roman Catholic Church was founded in the Roman Empire.
Me too. Plus I correspond with some Roman reenactors. So weekly, for me.
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What is the Roman Empire? Is that one of the new, more correct, names for an NFL team that had to be changed, like the Redskins?
It just occurred to me what a very unfortunate name that is for a condom, assuming we’re thinking of the horse.
I saw an article about this which I presume inspired the thread. I rarely think about this except when I do. I’ve read quite a lot of books on it and know the basic history. If someone quotes, say, Seneca, or whatever in Latin, or modern Italy, I usually just consider this in a narrow context without remembering the whole shebang. However, it is a common enough feature of movies, magazines or media that I would guess once a week? At most? An odd question.
Generally when I’m playing Civ IV and the Romans happen to be one of the opposing civilizations. Otherwise if I happen upon a documentary about Rome.
And what country did Lorenzo Pietro Berra’s parents immigrate from? 
At the risk of runing the humor by explaining the joke - I think there’s an interesting study in meme culture here. The original TikTok trend is pretty typical humor for people in my age group (younger Millenials - you can lump in older Zoomers - younger Zoomer humor gets even more abstract*).
There are a few factors that make this funny:
it’s a callback to the “how often do men think about sex/every seven seconds” meme of our youth. Like all generational cohorts, us Millenials love our callbacks. We may not have control of Christmastime radio playlists there, but the internet is our domain, and here our nostalgia is dominant.
it subverts the meme because the men in the joke aren’t actually thinking about sex at all. That’s a popular subversion, pushing back on the “boys will be boys” narrative of prior generations and declaring that there’s more to masculinity than being sex crazed - as exemplified by the " *He’s Probably Thinking About Other Girls" meme I used above.
I Bet He's Thinking About Other Women | Know Your Meme
the specific subversion is something totally random and unrelated. This is another hallmark of Millenial humor, which is often absurdist and referential in nature.
I think what is most interesting is the way that Boomer/Gen X dominated platforms like The View (and let’s be honest, the Dope) are reacting to the trend. I think that while “the Roman Empire” was picked by the Millenials or Zoomers who started this trend because it is random, this story gained traction over other stories because of what the Roman Empire means to many people who studied history through a more classical lens. Maybe I’m off basethere, though.
I would agree humour changes throughout the decades, as is obvious from being a fan of stand up comedy. The problem with using generations for these things is, even if you agree on dates, things in 1980 and 1996 (or 1997 and 2012) and other following equidistant years were pretty different, humourwise.
Sure, the memes may have been slyly addressing stereotypes. If so, the article I read (below) bashed the joke into the ground and then kept jumping on it.
“Ladies, you would be surprised how often men think about…”…. I guess we, as men, should be glad they didn’t mention something we really think about (also stereotypes): Star Wars, superheroes and the ferschlugginer Marvel Comic Universe, the price of gas, that creepy scene from ‘Salem’s Lot where the guy bangs on the window, or how the board game Clue and Tarantino movies both teach the same valuable lesson about running for cover if everyone around you suddenly seems to be named after a colour (hint, politely leave rather than accept an invitation to the conservatory). 
As for the “what is he up to” meme, what is the spousal equivalent of the fairly true statement “happy wife, happy life”? Even the brother from another mother has a sister from another mister…
I agree that the meme is overgeneralizing, but I think that’s the joke. However, I don’t think it’s necessarily about “the humor that was popular when that generation was in its prime” but rather “the humor preferred by members of that cohort today”. And I think there’s some truth to the trends it satirizes.
I can’t read the article due to a paywall, but it doesn’t surprise me to see “mainstream” culture as represented by Boomers/GenX totally missing the point of a Millenial meme. Our memes are very referential (see the prominence of Sponge Bob, or Shrek, etc) - this one is, too - and if you don’t get the reference you’ll very likely miss the point.
I’m showing my (late) Boomerness here but …
Speaking to the 4-panel cartoon @Babale cited from reddit:
I totally got the Boomer & GenX panels. And the difference in how the humor was delivered and meant to be received.
I got the point of the Millennial one, but to me was more offbeat / odd / thought provoking than funny.
I could not make anything of the Zoomer one. A nonsense pastiche of words and images is the most I can do with it.
Star Wars is significantly influenced by ancient Rome:
Oh that’s good. My husband (Millennial) was worried it was some Jordan Peterson shit.
Fellas, is it gay to think about the Roman Empire?
That was actually entirely unintentional, believe it or not
