Just realized the difference between explaining a meme to my dad versus my nephew.

Last week, my dad sent me a picture of a confused-looking cat with the word 'yeet' on it and asked what it meant. I tried to explain the whole history of the word as a verb, which just made him more confused. Then my 12-year-old nephew saw the same image and said, 'Oh, it's just a cat that looks like it's about to throw something, but it's confused.' He got the vibe instantly. The difference was he understood the feeling, not just the definition. Has anyone else found that explaining the mood works better than explaining the words?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_christopher14d agoTop Commenter

Mood is the new language.

nancygrant3d ago

Trying to explain a meme to my dad is like doing a full historical documentary on a single sneeze. He'll ask for the Latin root of "yeet" while my nephew just gets the whole picture of a cat having a minor existential crisis.

tara_jones9414d ago

I always tried to break down the exact meaning of slang for people. Explaining "based" as holding an opinion without caring what others think never really landed. Then I saw my friend's kid call a weird drawing "so sus" and the other kid just nodded. They weren't talking about the definition of suspicious, they were sharing a feeling about the drawing being off. That clicked for me. The vibe is the whole point.