Sub-meme YKTTW Discussion
A meme within a meme or meta-meme structure.
(Formerly titled "fad") A sub-meme is a meme within a given meme structure. While a typical meme would exist independently in relation to other memes--for example, Rickrolling is just about unexpectedly foisting a Rick Astley song onto someone--a "sub-meme" is a meme that exist within the context of another meme, or a meta-meme. (The term "fad" was coined by the people of YTMND, whose wiki contains information on many of their fads, some of which are their takes on popular memes (such as the Rickroll) but some of which are unique to YTMND (such as the famous NEDM and the more obscure Fuckfish). The term has since spread to YouTube Poop. Fads in YTP are sub-memes that have developed within the YTP structure.) Such sub-memes or "fad"s are not just trends or common features. They are intentional forms often specified their creators. Fads most commonly exist in comedic media, and especially in media items that can be quickly produced, such as webpages, videos, and fanart (as opposed to entire TV series or novels); this is in part because the creation and propagation of fads relies greatly on Memetic Mutation to keep the fad current. Fads usually exist because they give creators an outlet to small doses of creativity that would otherwise stay on the drawing board; the internet is very enabling in this regard. A partial list of YTMND fads:
- Blue Ball Machine
- Safety Not Guaranteed
- fuck math
- O RLY
- One Weakness
- Epic Maneuver
- X does Y for Z minutes (or seconds): repetition of a usually short video clip for a specified amount of time. Built mostly around being unfunny.
- X does Y while I play unfitting music: same as above, but Soundtrack Dissonance.
- X does Y while I play fitting music: a logical extension of the above fad. May lead to Crowning Music of Awesome.
- THIS VIDEO CONTAINS X: a music-based meme, in which (usually) Dr. Robotnik's voice from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, usually specifically saying "pingas", is made to "sing" tunes from various sources. This is accompanied by a picture of a partially-drawn Dr. Robotnik against a blue background, usually with a relevant character's head shopped onto Robotnik's head.
- "Squidward": an image is transformed in various ways, in time with a short clip of music from Trauma Center.
- Tennis: an exchange of YTP videos between two users, replying to each other through the videos. (Such exchange need not actually contain anything meaningful, but typically involves further "pooping" of each other's videos.)
- YTPMV: stands for "Youtube Poop Music Video", and generally involves Stupid Statement Dance Mixes of silly dialogue/scenes.
- X Leaves the Stove On: a multi-part fad involving (1) footage from a source relevant to X, possibly edited, set to a certain Pikachu character song from Pokémon, then (2) a character (usually from said relevant source but the original video didn't do this) has its lines syllable-mixed against a beat to make said character sing part of Samwell's "What What in the Butt", and then (3) some sort of ending, possibly declaring that said Samwell song is evil.