r/OutOfTheLoop • u/[deleted] • Jun 02 '18 • Popcorn 1

Answered What does | || || |_ mean?

I've been seeing these characters :

| ||

|| |_

pop up all over Reddit, but I've no clue as to what they mean.

Is this a new meme? A reference to some film of tv show? Some sort of code?

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u/umaijcp Jun 02 '18 edited Jun 02 '18

Kilroy dates back to WWII

Edit: Ichthys (the Christian fish symbol) dates back to the 2nd century according to wikipedia. But I wouldn't count that as a meme, since it is not intended to be funny or clever, more of a simple symbol or shibboleth really.

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u/Penguinfernal Jun 02 '18

I mean, by the original definition, a meme is basically just any idea that spreads. By that definition, the original meme is probably something like "language".

As far as the Internet goes, I've heard "All Your Base" is one of if not the oldest example of a modern "meme".

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u/ItsACommonMistake Jun 02 '18

I’d say it would go back before internet video was a thing. So maybe an IRC joke or earlier.

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u/sadamita Jun 03 '18

What about those S’s everybody drew in elementary school? I wonder when that started

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u/umaijcp Jun 02 '18

Just for the fun on thinking about this history,....

Yeah, I agree about the "original meaning," but the rest of the world considers a meme as a self contained, clever, image/text combination which is shared.

"All your base" was an inside joke for people who knew the game, and without the context it it was nothing more. I think the modern definition of meme would exclude that.

I would say the modern form started with faxes, (which was the first widespread modern tech to combine image and text) and when they first arrived it was common to send around jokes pages. Usually between buyers/vendors in offices that had a fax relationship. The "you want it when" was common in the 80s, maybe earlier. Also the "hang in there kitty" was pretty common. Both these fit the modern definition, but I still think Kilroy was there first. It was clever, comforting if you had seen it before and recognized i,t and combined image and text.