By: Nicole Chedraoui

2019 was a chaotic year to say the very least, but that does not mean it was any less meme-tastic! Ah yes, memes: the one thing that can bring together an entire generation of people through one post. Memes are what unites us all, and in 2019, people really came together to create and repost some of the most iconic memes of the decade. As 2019 comes towards an end, it is only appropriate to recap the most iconic viral memes. The Herald posted a poll on their official Twitter page–@heritageherald go follow us– asking all of our Huskies what the best meme of 2019 was.  Here’s what the public had to say. 

 

1. Ok Boomer

 

Coming in at number one in our poll with 37% of your votes, not surprisingly, was the viral phenomenon that is, OK Boomer.  The phrase was born out of the continual feud between Baby Boomers and the Millennials/ Generation Z.  They feud over the elders saying that Millenials and Gen Z expect “participation trophies,” for doing the bare minimum, and the Millennials and Gen Z say the boomers are out of touch, and killing various industries, the economy, and even the planet. Millennials and Gen Z were so fed up with constantly hearing these remarks from the Baby Boomers they coined the now-viral phrase “Ok Boomer.” Why argue with someone who won’t listen to you, when you can simply end the conversation and win any argument by the greatest phrase ever invented. Saying “Ok Boomer” is a sure-fire way to annoy any person over the age of 50. 

 

• I’m Gonna Tell My Kids 

 

Following shortly behind ‘Ok Boomer,” receiving 35% of your votes was the hilarious meme–” I’m Gonna Tell My Kids.”  If you had any form of social media in the last three months, you’ve most likely come across an “I’m gonna tell my kids” thread, but if you haven’t, here’s how it started. It all began in November 2019, when a twitter user posted a picture of Lil Wayne and captioned it: “I’m gonna tell my kids this is Bill Gates.”  The very next day a different twitter user posted a picture of Giancarlo Esposito from Breaking Bad with the caption “gonna tell my kids this was Obama.” It didn’t take long for the entire internet to explode into an uproar; by November 20th it was inadvertently brought into the public eye on all mainstream social media platforms. This meme thrives on the pure ridiculousness of comparing characters like Remi from Ratatouille to Gordon Ramsey, and honestly, this meme describes our generation perfectly.  I know I’m going to tell my kids that Ellen Degeneres was Justin Bieber. 

 

• Baby Yoda (an actual angel)

 

Coming in at number three on the poll with 18% of the votes is the ever so adorable, 50- year-old fun-size green guy the internet can’t stop talking about–baby Yoda.  When Disney Plus released their new hit “The Mandalorian” they could not have begun to predict the fame they would receive from their adorable animation of baby Yoda. The science behind understanding the baby Yoda meme is honestly very simple. If you look at a picture of the lil guy, those eyes, those ears, and that adorable pod, how can you not instantly fall in love with him? The only way he could get any better is if he became a meme, and alas he has. Baby Yoda’s adorableness is so infectious that Disney and Mattel teamed up to create a Baby Yoda plush toy after popular demand, raking in $30 per toy. Honestly, it’s worth it; have you SEEN him? 

 

• Area 51 (check out my entire article on Area 51 on the Herald!)

 

Coming in last place on our poll with a total of 10% of all votes was no other than the Area 51 meme. In September 2019, social media was flooded with tweets about people wanting to sign a petition to raid Area 51 figure out what it is that the government is hiding, and rescue the extraterrestrial. While this meme was a big deal a few months ago it remains altogether underwhelming as nobody actually followed through on pursuing their big talk on raiding Area 51 and retrieving their adorable pet alien.  Although a few did show up at the government-owned land on the scheduled day of the raid, it was described more as a social event where people of similar interests could come together. While the raid started as a meme, it actually began to pose a genuine concern to the government, who threatened to shoot anybody and everybody who came to the raid, but Gen Z being Gen Z still managed to make a hilarious meme out of it. 

This was the end of our twitter poll results, but we had so many incredible memes from this year I thought It was necessary to list some other notable contestants for best memes of 2019.  

 

• The World Record Egg 

 

January 2019 kicked off the year with one of the most iconic and random memes of this year, the world record egg. This meme single-handedly broke the internet. Seemingly out of nowhere, this account called “world_record_egg,” posted a picture of a brown chicken egg against a plain white screen, the opposite of exciting, but it was the caption that began to spread the strange hype. The account caption said, “Let’s set a world record together and get the most likes on Instagram. Beating the current world record held by Kylie Jenner (18 million)! We got this! #LikeTheEgg #EggSoldiers #EggGang.” Boy oh boy, did they accomplish their goal! Within hours on the internet, it literally broke with people reposting pictures of the egg begging all of their followers to like. Why our generation was so motivated to like a picture of an egg continues to baffle nonetheless, the egg still holds the record for the most likes, currently at 54 million! This meme was iconic because of how little context there was and how little sense it made. This is why the egg became one of the most viral memes of this year, so much so that people were literally commenting eggs under all of Kylie Jenner’s post for months after the incident. Good job egg soldiers! 

 

 

• Yee Yee Juice (Old Town Road) 

 

In April 2019, the collaboration between Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus, “Old Town Road,” was released. It quickly landed a spot at the top of all the billboards, being played on the radio religiously. The song was one of the first of its kind, being both country and rap, and the internet went wild for it. So wild, that TikToker’s at the time made their own viral trend over the song, taking the For You Page by storm. The video trend typically starts with the user drinking out of a cup/bottle that is labeled “Yee Yee Juice,” which magically transforms them from their everyday look to a full-on Hillbilly cowboy, while the angelic voice of Lil Nas X is singing, “I’ve got the horses in the back.” 

 

• Moth Memes- They’ll LIGHT up your life 

 

Like a moth to a lamp, people in January of 2019 were flocking to these memes. Moth memes were the ultimate escape of your everyday stressors, completely distracting you in the most ridiculous way possible. The memes play off of a moth’s relentless desire to get to the forbidden lights. Often the memes feature moths searching for lamps, fantasizing about lamps, and embracing lamps, even if it could kill them. 

 

• The Fish Tube 

 

 This Fish Tube meme GETS me. This meme revolutionized memes. The ground-shaking meme was uploaded in August 2019, when a Twitter account called @Cheddar tweeted their recent invention of a new way to transport native fish such as salmon over bodies of water in just a matter of seconds instead of days. While this was actually an incredible invention because man-made dams continue to pose a threat to fish migration, the scientists approach on how to transport the fish had the internet roaring in laughter. They attached a minute-long video of the fish riding the fish tube and people were instantly fascinated with it. Some making memes out of wanting to be the one riding the fish tube, while others just identified with the fish and their journey.  This meme was chaotic to understand, but, if you really think about it, wasn’t it just like a water slide for fish? I wanna go?!

As 2019 comes to a close, I hope this article made you remember all of the chaotic internet trends that we’ve had the honor of witnessing this year, I know they sure made my year much better. From the Heritage Herald to you, Happy New Year!! Here’s to a new decade with even better memes!