what’s a "meme"?

According to Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: meme

Pronunciation: \ˈmēm\
Function: noun

Etymology: lteration of mimeme, from mim- (as in mimesis) + -eme

Date:1976

: an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture

Dictionary.com defines it a bit differently:

meme [meem] – noun

a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes.

[Origin: 1976; < Gk mīmeǐsthai to imitate, copy; coined by R. Dawkins, Brit. biologist]

Urbandictionary adds a vital aspect:

4 : in blogspeak, an idea that is spread from blog to blog

Here’s a story about memes and actress Debra Winger:

DW back in Sheltering Sky

I went to see Debra Winger give a book talk (she wrote one) at the Los Angeles public library last June. I’ve always liked Debra Winger’s performances, especially in three films: Shadowlands, The Sheltering Sky, and Terms of Endearment.

Image above is from Bernardo Bertolucci’s sumptuously cinematographic The Sheltering Sky. debra winger

In the book talk, Debra Winger described how much she didn’t enjoy her career as a movie star. But she said this in a haughty, immodest, and entitled manner … kind of like … a movie star! I was rapidly losing admiration for her, when Debra Winger looked the interviewer dead in the eye (and, I thought, right at me too, as I was in the audience first row) and totally out of the blue demanded, “Do you know what a meme is?”

She then answered her own question: “A meme is a cultural transference,” she said, followed by: “It’s a very interesting idea!”

Weird. I didn’t know what a meme was until my brother Mark told me I should call my blog one.

I did experience a direct Debra-to-Debra cultural transference.