# What's the oldest internet meme you can remember seeing/hearing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 16, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990 "2014-01-16T19:17:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/41 "2014-01-17T03:18:53Z")
[B1FF.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIFF) On the Web, probably Ate My Balls, Mahir, and Hello My Future Girlfriend. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/42 "2014-01-17T03:29:27Z")
I remember my dad when I was a little kid telling me about All Your Base. He thought it was really funny and I didn’t get it at all. My dad was a weird dude. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/43 "2014-01-17T04:41:45Z")
> [@Kyrie\_Eleison](#): > > [Kibo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Parry). I will refrain from signing this for him, but [here’s](http://archive.birdhouse.org/etc/kibosig.txt) the infamous sig if you want to see it. I actually had a brief exchange with Kibo. Sadly, I no longer remember the newsgroup or the topic. My first online experiences were either Compu$erve or Sierra Online. I’ve still got the Sierra games somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/44 "2014-01-17T11:43:57Z")
I remember this from around 1993 or so. [http://w2.eff.org/Net\_culture/Folklore/Humor/abort\_retry\_ignore.poem](http://w2.eff.org/Net_culture/Folklore/Humor/abort_retry_ignore.poem) ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/45 "2014-01-17T12:44:48Z")
Ham§ster Dance. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/46 "2014-01-17T15:01:41Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > There’s also [List of Internet phenomena](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_phenomena) which I’ve been looking through to see what familiar things are there. So far, no mention of those clips I mentioned in the OP (cubicle guy and chimp stinkfinger) but lots of others I seem to recall and oodles that I have yet to encounter. > [@Chronos](#): > > Some of these aren’t really memes. Yeah, everyone knew Badger Badger Badger… and Hampsterdance, but people referring to them would just link to them. The defining trait of a meme is that it gets passed along. > [@Zeldar](#): > > I guess I’ve never been clear on the distinctions between viral videos, memes and other “must see” stuff people share in email and such. Is there a reliable glossary for all that? I’ll add another wiki link that’s useful for fixing my understanding of what these distinctions must be: [Viral video.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_video) ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/47 "2014-01-17T15:23:19Z")
The Good Times virus hoax. Alert letter explaining that it was a hoax was dated 1995. Ooh, and [Zen and the Art of the Internet](http://www.cs.indiana.edu/docproject/zen/zen-1.0.html), does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/48 "2014-01-17T15:34:53Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > [Spam came into being in the 1980s.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(electronic)#Etymology) I came in to mention this. I remember being on AOL chat rooms when it was, like, AOL 2.0, and your account was charged by the minute. Whenever it got slow or boring, someone would start quoting the Monty Python spam sketch, which would get everyone joining in and sort of kickstart the conversation. Pretty soon, people were doing it to be annoying or to derail a chat, and “no spamming” rules had to be put into place. I can remember doing it myself, come to think of it. I’m sure that wasn’t the genesis of the idea, but I do remember feeling vaguely smug when “spam” entered the mainstream vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/49 "2014-01-17T15:50:43Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > The Good Times virus hoax. > > Alert letter explaining that it was a hoax was dated 1995. > > Ooh, and [Zen and the Art of the Internet](http://www.cs.indiana.edu/docproject/zen/zen-1.0.html), does that count? Wonderful glance at the picture that far back! Thanks for sharing! ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/50 "2014-01-17T16:17:20Z")
I saw my first Nigerian 419 scam via telex at work between 1988 and 1990. The Neiman Marcus cookie recipe is the first email glurge I recall receiving, probably around the same time. I recall the hamster dance as well. Seems like someone used it as an email sig the first few times I saw it. The ones above I saw at work prior to having a home pc. I heard the all your base are belong to us, but not until we bought a computer at home and I started gaming in the mid 90’s. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/51 "2014-01-17T16:51:22Z")
I remember Hampsterdance, Dancing Baby, and All Your Base as the earliest I experienced. That horrid baby came first though. The school folders with that likeness printed on it…_shudder_. I actually had an All Your Base t-shirt at one point. That one was the best of the early ones in my opinion. What about [Zombo.com](http://Zombo.com)? “Welcome…to zombocom!” I stumbled upon Kibo, but way after the fact so I don’t think that counts. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/52 "2014-01-17T18:09:20Z")
(Slight hijack) I had a horrible flashback to Hampster Dance the other day when my kids were watching Disney’s “Robin Hood.” [I had never made the connection.](http://youtu.be/_or3MKiU8Rw?t=48s) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/53 "2014-01-17T20:37:49Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Good job on the dates, **ZipperJJ**. Some of the other earlier ones I can vaguely pin down are the “Badger, badger…” and all those shock faces that would jump out and scare the piss out of you. > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > The site says Badger, Badger was 2003!! > [@Zeldar](#): > > That can’t be accurate, I don’t think. I’d place it pre-2000 at a minimum. But my memory hooks for it may be crossed up with something else like it. It was a meme by at least December of '99 and a Google search by date returns a “badger badger mushroom mushroom” YouTube comment on 8 July '98. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/54 "2014-01-17T20:41:13Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > It was a meme by at least December of '99 and a Google search by date returns a “badger badger mushroom mushroom” YouTube comment on 8 July '98. How did someone leave a YouTube comment 8 years before it was created? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/55 "2014-01-17T20:44:50Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > How did someone leave a YouTube comment 8 years before it was created? That’s what Google says: > [@](#): > > Jul 6, 1998 - Amanita Muscaria Mushrooms (Fly Argic or Soma) are mildly toxic raw … Viking" Kelly “Badger Badger” “Mushroom Mushroom” Snake “Chocolate Rain” Mentos. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/56 "2014-01-17T20:48:52Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > It was a meme by at least December of '99 and a Google search by date returns a “badger badger mushroom mushroom” YouTube comment on 8 July '98. Thanks much for helping me relax on what bit of memory I still have going. I had been making excuses to myself of how after my “retirement” I stayed in touch in email with some work buddies and surely we swapped viral videos and suchlike. I still can’t find anything to confirm dates on those clips (monkey and keyboard smasher) I mentioned early on. Once I can assure myself that those were things I saw on the internet at work, and not after I had to do my surfing from home, I can let the thing go. As it is, the blurring of things like this play tricks on my memory. I have trouble telling when I did stuff by a matter of years as it is. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/57 "2014-01-17T21:05:28Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > That’s what Google says: YouTube was first launched in February of 2005. When I do the same search the first hit is a video on [albinoblacksheep.com](http://albinoblacksheep.com) posted in may of 2005. The second hit is a YouTube video posted January of 2013. Searching on the phrase “amanita muscaria mushrooms (fly argic or soma)” [yields this video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s_fpRUqpuE), which was posted in 2006, but it does not contain any of the words after the ellipsis. Where exactly did what you have in the quote box come from? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/58 "2014-01-17T21:10:07Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Where exactly did what you have in the quote box come from? I quoted from the results of the Google date search that I mentioned earler. For badger badger badger mushroom. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/59 "2014-01-17T21:15:14Z")
But what website did it link to? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990/60 "2014-01-17T21:17:37Z")
It’s for a YouTube favorites page. Something’s obviously wonky in those results. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-internet-meme-you-can-remember-seeing-hearing/678990.md?page=4)