It isn’t. Some people like to be pretentious.
Just because someone “coins” a word doesn’t make it a word. I read up on the “coining” and was not impressed. And a paper dictionary, even a 17 year old one, is better than an online one if you are not online.
People do like to be pretentious, but a meme is not the same as a cliche, regardless of how the term is used.
I would refer you to the link in my previous post for a good working definition of the term.
An example of how a cliche is different from a meme might be this: A limerick might become cliche (e.g. There once was a man from Nantucket…) but the limerick form itself (AABBA with an often humorous intent) is a meme.
It isn’t that important to me. You use it your way, and I’ll use it mine. In everyday life, it makes no difference.
Funny thing. As soon as I saw this thread title on the Board homepage listings, I felt the strangest feeling that I would come up in it somehow.
ETA: Thank you, Bosda.
The words mean completely different things. You could look it up.
Being extensively used for 35 years and appearing in just about every current dictionary makes it a word in my book.
How are you posting if you are not on line?:dubious:
I’m not online 24/7. I use wifi from a local business.
I did look it up. I got confused because the definitions I found seemed to intersect more than discriminate. Thus, I asked my question here and got what seems to be lacking in any dictionary I used: An excellent example from SiXSwordS.
But you are online when you are posting, and could easily access a current dictionary rather than an obsolete paper one.
According to Dawkins’ original concept, one could consider monotheistic religion or suicide bombing memes as well. Hardly anyone would refer to these as cliches.
Good point. And another example, instead of a definition. Maybe it’s my learning style–I seem to relate better to examples when trying to understand a distinction.
It is still easier to use a paper one even then as it is at hand, rather than me going to a non-bookmarked site, entering in a word, and reading the definition. I sometimes am amused by how lazy people are nowadays, even concerning things that take longer to do.
There probably is a meme for that.
To each his own, I guess, but I find it much easier and far faster to simply type in a word and get the definition instantly rather than haul a heavy dictionary off the shelf and page through it to find the word. And even if you don’t have a dictionary site bookmarked, you can just type “meme definition” into Google and it will give you the definition plus a bunch of links to different dictionaries. The added benefit is actually having accurate and up-to-date information.
Isn’t that a bit pretentious?
I actually dumped my paper dictionary about three moves ago. I find it a lot easier and faster to type the word into Google, especially if I’m uncertain of the spelling.
You might say that using the term meme has become a cliche, but the term itself doesn’t remotely have the same meaning as cliche. I can’t imagine why you would want to continue using a word in a way that most people would misunderstand.
I don’t use the word at all. People in “real life” don’t use it, and that’s why some people think it is pretentious.
Your “real life” may not be everyone’s real life.
There’s a word for comments like that…
I still have a couple of paper dictionaries around, but if I’m on the computer anyway, I’ll almost always Google an unfamiliar word or phrase.
I like paper dictionaries, though, because I can open one up in a random page, and stab a finger on an entry, and read it. As a small child this used to amuse me for long periods of time. Today, of course, I have Wikipedia, with the random articles.
Actually, I use “meme” in “real life” all the time. I also use “outlier”, and a host of other words. Your experience is not universal.