When it comes to the internet, pretty much anything is fair game. Social media speaks the language of social faux pas, often turning a poorly thought out tweet into parodies and memes that are worthy of awards.
The beauty of memes is that as ridiculous (and hilarious) as some of the formats are, they are often insightful in their commentary on social and cultural issues.
Their versatility is a strong selling point in offering balance and much-needed relief in times when we’re so bombarded with bad news.
On the flip side, memes have a much darker side – such is the case with Millie Bobby Brown, who was recently bullied off Twitter because of memes that portrayed and resulted in her being accused of being homophobic and racist.
But thankfully, most of the time memes come from a place of comedy and pure joy. And so far, this year has provided us with plenty of entertaining internet shenanigans:
By the time you’re 35 meme
This meme originally spawned from a tweet by financial website Marketwatch which stated that by the time millennials are 35 years old, they’d have at least needed to save double the amount of the annual salary.
The responses to that initially dragged tweet remained on topic at first, but soon took on a whole new form when people started weighing in on other things everyone should have achieved by the age of 35.
by age 35 you should have figured out that your period skips a day and then comes back but every single time you think it's over and get annoyingly surprised the next day
— vaccine haver (@kerrence) May 17, 2018
By the time you’re 35, you should have had at least one conversation with a person you haven’t seen in ages, where one of you suggests that you should do drinks soon, part, both knowing full well that neither of you has the other’s info, and not mind a bit.
— Vanessa L King (@VuhVuhDanessa) June 3, 2018
By age 35 you should have an entire wardrobe of clothes one size too small that you keep in eternal optimism that you'll fit in them again one day.
— Marco Biagi (@MarcoGBiagi) May 21, 2018
By the time you're 35 you should think about mistakes from 20 years ago at least twice a day to cripple your own productivity and happiness.
— Martin Totland (@mtotland) May 27, 2018
Apesh*t memes
Our list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning music’s biggest star Beyoncé and rapper husband, Jay Z, whose fantastic art music video sent the internet into new levels of excited hysteria when they dropped a surprise album along with the Apesh*t music video.
Naturally the Beyhive went into overdrive and started posting reaction memes as soon as they pressed the stop button (probably).
Me tryna fold a fitted sheet pic.twitter.com/3ujoIZYG7Z
— la'derrick (@khaleezy) June 17, 2018
Beyoncé and Jay Z appreciating REAL art at The Louvre in France. pic.twitter.com/esKvikTgJI
— ? (@jjsremedy) June 17, 2018
Me on my way to start my 90th Tidal free trial just to listen to #EverythingIsLove pic.twitter.com/xuqdxHAhlq
— Kevin Figz (@kevinfigman) June 16, 2018
Nothing to see here, just Beyoncé and Jay renting out The Louvre for a music video, no big deal#EverythingIsLove pic.twitter.com/AMTO4VBzm6
— Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) June 16, 2018
Bonnie and Clyde smiling at Becky for making them richer ICONIC #EverythingIsLove pic.twitter.com/yF0D8J8URT
— Malcolm (@xomalcolm) June 16, 2018
Royal wedding memes
2018 brought us the gloriousness that was the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding.
Not only did Prince Harry and Meghan Markle completely blow us away with their iconic and historic ceremony, but their big day also saw an explosion of delightful memes that are a combination of hilarious and heart-warming.
These are just some of our faves:
This is exactly the reason why you don't invite an EX to your wedding.
— Stewart WK (@MrDetailed) May 19, 2018
???? #RoyalWedding #ChelsyDavy pic.twitter.com/zcJFf3i8MY
There were Disney references (pretty accurate if you ask us)
This is everything ???????? #RoyalWedding pic.twitter.com/de8gOhUzbM
— Danielle (@danimansuttii) May 19, 2018
Left Exit 12 Off Ramp
This meme actually came from a video clip which showed a highway board that shows a path to head straight or to veer off ramp. It’s become a metaphor for choosing the straight path and deviating and doing either the thing that’s most familiar to you or something that’s not actually good for you.
And oh how painfully relatable it is.
— ?? DEAD 2 ME ?? (@LILBR4TX) February 27, 2018
If you can’t handle me at my worst meme
This glorious meme is actually delightfully self-deprecating, proving that not only is the internet funny, but we know how to poke fun at ourselves in a way that’s wholesome and healthy.
if you then you don't
— Foxy Grandma ????????? (@officialfoxygma) April 3, 2018
don't love deserve
me at my me at my pic.twitter.com/rRE2y0qHiL
if you then you don’t
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) April 4, 2018
don’t love deserve
me at my me at my pic.twitter.com/8V2os5QbjU
Even celebs joined in on the fun
If you then you don't
— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) April 8, 2018
don't love deserve
me at my me at my pic.twitter.com/pvDwOOvJsM
if you don’t then you don’t
— Tyra Banks (@tyrabanks) April 5, 2018
love me deserve me
at my at my pic.twitter.com/zG46NA6WRX
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