Fluther: What does it mean when someone writes the name of something ...

What does it mean when someone writes the name of something followed by , I... (example: fluther, I...)

Asked by f2b (29

) October 1st, 2010
57 responses
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I keep seeing people on facebook, myspace and twitter posting this and I cannot figure out what it means. Usually they post someones name followed by , I… but its not limited to just names (I recently saw someone on youtube write: cancer, I…) I do know that its a meme but its so new I cannot find practically any info on it.

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Answers

These three dots are called ellipses and wikipedia describes them here . . .

Kayak8 (16457

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And welcome to Fluther by the way . . .

Kayak8 (16457

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I think the question is talking about the meme (ie. Fluther, I…) that’s going around, not what an ellipsis is.

jballou (2128

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What meme? I haven’t seen this anywhere.

Jeruba (55836

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Can you give us an example with a complete sentence? It’ll make it easier to help you.

Blackberry (33949

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Maybe the thing to do is ask someone who’s written it what they mean by it. Then you can come back and tell us, because it sure looks like we don’t know.

Jeruba (55836

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I’m not seeing anything in searching for this. Except now Google does suggest “I…” which leads nowhere. Is that the influence of helpful fluther folks all searching at once?

Blueroses (18256

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I don’t understand, either. Is the person expressing shock? Or being speechless? “I…..(have no words)”?

Can we see a full sentence using this?

What is a meme???

ANef_is_Enuf (26839

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@TheOnlyNeffie
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meme
Basically just something people copy from each other.

Fyrius (14560

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@TheOnlyNeffie A meme is a “thing”. When used on the internet, it usually means an internet meme, or internet phenomenon, like LOLcats, lots of youtube videos gone viral, pedobear, etc.

MyNewtBoobs (19059

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Response moderated (Unhelpful)

I would think an i . . . meme would be Ipod, Ipad, etc . . .

Kayak8 (16457

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Response moderated

oops! I meant to write,

Thank you for the welcome kayak8. Forming a sentence is a bit difficult but Here is an example of a conversation I saw on facebook: John says to Jane: “your wall sucks” Jane responds: ” John, I…” another person comments: “John, I…” and so on.

f2b (29

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I @f2b I could so use that on Fluther . . . I would interpret it as “I just don’t even have the words to describe how your comment made me feel.”

But then again, I am thinking in the context of ellipses as I have no understanding of memes.

Kayak8 (16457

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@Kayak8
Pretty sure that’s not it.

I just came across this would-be meme in action. I’m guessing it’s probably a line from a film or something that people found noticeable enough to start repeating ad nauseam on the internets. That’s usually how these things take off.
The canonical context seems to be with a picture of a handsome comic book guy looking downwards.

Fyrius (14560

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Oh! It’s just the point of the ellipsis then. It’s like when you don’t have anything else to say to the person because they irritate, exhaust, or vex you.

Blackberry (33949

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@Fyrius Link, please?

MyNewtBoobs (19059

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@Fyrius your correct about the handsome comic characters. There is a video on youtube with this and the expression. Here is the link if anyone has not seen it yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC6xZLWmN2w

f2b (29

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@f2b I guess if you can work beyond Mario being a handsome cartoon character looking down . . .

Kayak8 (16457

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Or maybe, just speculation, it means that “instead of posting the same stupid, knee-jerk comments we always post or have the same stupid, knee-jerk flame-bait conversations that we always have and been had by millions of people millions of times on the internet, we’re just going to post “John, I…” because even we, the idiots who post these comments, have finally gotten tired of it”.

Well, maybe that’s just wishful thinking. A girl can dream, can’t she.

lillycoyote (24865

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lillycoyote, I…

jballou (2128

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@lillycoyote Your comment sure sounds like flame-bait. hope you see the irony in that

f2b (29

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@f2b If you think something is flame-bait, then simply flag it as such and the mods will review it.

MyNewtBoobs (19059

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I am sooooo lost. I, . . . .

Kayak8 (16457

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@f2b My answer sounds like flaim-bait? It does? How? Directed at whom? Really, I baffled , no smart assery here at all, I’m genuinely curious. How is it flame-bait?

lillycoyote (24865

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@Kayak8 ::facepalm:: Oh, God, please don’t bring it here. Fluther is awesome because it’s actual words and explanations, not memes…

MyNewtBoobs (19059

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Oh, great. I get it now. Welcome, @f2b. Looks like you started something here. I’m going to remember this thread.

I don’t see @lillycoyote‘s comment as flame-bait at all. I think it’s a pithy commentary on a certain caliber of Internet poster.

Jeruba (55836

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@papayalily, I…

f2b (29

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@f2b Yeah, I don’t really get the meme, so I have no idea what you’re trying to say when you do that.

MyNewtBoobs (19059

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@papayalily but when I do it, you understand it and indicate that I am reducing the quality of Fluther by failing to use my words? Why do I feel like I am 6 years old?

Kayak8 (16457

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@Kayak8 No, when you do it, I think you’re teasing because I’ve interacted with you before, I’m just aware of the contagious power that memes have. When @f2b does it, I don’t know what it means because they are new.

MyNewtBoobs (19059

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@papayalily I don’t even understand what a meme is, I am still working out the goat is a breast thing from the wiki link @Fyrius posted.

Kayak8 (16457

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@f2b, I…

Just kidding. I think the whole point of this is that NONE of us understand it. Who knows, maybe the people who started it don’t even understand it. Look how fast it caught on here.

jballou (2128

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@Kayak8 Ignore that. It’s… I don’t know what it is, but there’s a good chance that it’s vandalism. Here’s a better description for this particular usage, and then a list that will probably help more, since the best way to understand memes is to go the route of “what do these all have in common” (at least, I think so).

MyNewtBoobs (19059

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@papayalily OK, that was a much more helpful link. So would the overall concept of “jumping the shark” be considered a meme?

Kayak8 (16457

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@Kayak8 No, jumping the shark is more of a concept. A meme is more specific than that. It would be something that you send to your friends, that people copy and make variations off of.

For example, the meme we’re all trying to get to the bottom of is “Your name, I…” Generally speaking the “rules” of a meme are pretty strict.

Another example is the “Mission Accomplished” meme where people photoshop various people who have obviously failed at what they do in front of the infamous banner George W. Bush stood in front of when he declared we had won the war in Iraq in 2003.

jballou (2128

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@Kayak8 Maybe. I honestly don’t get memes outside of internet culture, because on the internet they’re almost always really stupid (although some come with a side of mildly entertaining, and a few like LOLcats come with a jumbo-sized milkshake of AWESOME). In the larger sense of the word, I’m kinda lost.
Technically, jumping the shark is a “trope”. I usually think of memes as like tropes and idioms, but if you made it totally stupid and pointless.

MyNewtBoobs (19059

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@papayalily That helps! Thank you.

Kayak8 (16457

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@jballou Good example. Another would be when Kayne West interupted Taylor Swift, and everyone spent the next 2 weeks saying “Yo so-and-so, I’m really happy for you, I’ma Let you finish, but blank has one of the best blanks of all time!”

MyNewtBoobs (19059

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Or Why is Keanu sad?

Blueroses (18256

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@papayalily
Can’t do that. It was on 4chan. There’s no way that thread is still there. Sorry. :/

@jballou
To be accurate, the word “meme” is originally a scientific term, and in that usage, “jumping the shark” qualifies. So does a recipe for cookies or for making spears, or skipping rope, Elvis hair, the word “besides”, or the notion that the accused is innocent until proved guilty. It’s basically just any idea or action that people copy from each other.

But yeah, it’s used with a more specific meaning on the internet. An internet meme is more like an inside joke.

Fyrius (14560

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@Fyrius That helps the most! I get the concept of “inside jokes.”

Kayak8 (16457

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Would the concept of OJ Simpson and the joke about “back-slash/back-slash” have been a meme in its day?

Kayak8 (16457

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Hahahahha! This thread was comical.

Blackberry (33949

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@Kayak8
Ah. Glad to help. :)

In the original sense, any joke is a meme if people tell it on. And if it’s widespread I suppose it’s a meme in the narrower internet sense too.

Fyrius (14560

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@Fyrius Yeah, I was really just trying to define the word for the context in which I was using it for the sake of clarity, but you’re definitely correct about the strict definition.

jballou (2128

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Maybe the… is meant to replace a cuss word, kind of like how #&&$*#& is sometimes used instead of the F word.

weeveeship (4665

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@jballou
Yeah, I understand.
Your explanation was fine, I just added a side note for completeness’ sake. :)

Fyrius (14560

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Would pancakes be considered a meme? :-D

krose1223 (3269

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Not the pancakes themselves, but the recipe would be, I think.
Memes are information that spreads from mind to mind.

Fyrius (14560

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. . .do you like pancakes? qualifies as a meme, I think. Or I guess it’s waffles. Whatever. The mass copying disturbs me in a way I don’t fully understand. I think people should work to make everything they do a recreation. It’s like listening to a microphone feedback through a speaker, these internet memes.

edit: a “recreation” like my incorrect use of the word. . . don’t me, I. . . me.

zophu (5711

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No, no no… PANCAKES!!

krose1223 (3269

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most.annoying.meme.ever.
Did anyone ever trace the origin of I…?

Blueroses (18256

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Here’s one thread on fluther memes. I know there’ve been others, but I didn’t find them. Cake is on here, and the frizzer, and pancakes.

Jeruba (55836

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Pancakes, I…............. please excuse for a moment.

everephebe (11611

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@Jeruba Thank you! That fluther meme link is going to clear up quite a few lingering mysteries for me.

lillycoyote (24865

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