beme
n.— «A beme is a turbo-charged meme made possible entirely by the existence of the network affect. A beme can be impactful because it is lurid—a photo of a panty-less Britney Spears, or humorous—a whimisical video of the band OKGO on treadmills, or gut-wrenching—the sad tirade by comedian Michael Richards. A beme can cement an idea with the public in a way that cannot be legislated or regulated. No legal effort by Cisco to enforce a trademark, for example, will make the public unlearn that Apple produces the iPhone.» —“‘Bemes’ Are Defining the Life of the Blogosphere” by Tom Hayes TomBomb.com Feb. 19, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly...
Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in life? An 82-year-old seeks a more positive term to describe how she feels about her age. And: a linguist helps solve a famous kidnapping case, using the...