Lolcat: Difference between revisions
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Still full of OR and crap. Still unencyclopaedic. |
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#redirect [[image macro]] |
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{{pp-semi-vandalism|expiry=June 20, 2007}} |
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'''Lolcats''', a [[compound (linguistics)|compound]] of [[LOL (Internet slang)|lol]] and [[cat]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.radioopensource.org/i-can-has-talking-animals/ |title=I Can Has Talking Animals? |author=Robin Amer |date=[[2007-04-14]] |accessdate=2007-04-29 |work=[[Open Source (radio show)|Open Source]]}}</ref><ref name="Silverman">{{cite web |
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| author = Dwight Silverman |
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| title = I'M IN UR NEWSPAPER WRITIN MAH COLUM |
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| publisher = Chron.com |
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| date = [[2007-06-06]] |
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| url = http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/4862013.html |
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| accessdate = 2007-06-06 }} |
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</ref> are [[Photograph|photos]] of cats with [[humorous]] captions. They are a type of [[image macro]], and are thus also referred to as '''cat macros'''.<ref name="beacon">{{cite news |
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| url = http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/living/17346291.htm |
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| title = Laugh at cat humor |
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| author = Randy A. Salas |
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| work = [[Akron Beacon Journal]], [[Star Tribune]] |
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| date = [[2007-06-09]] |
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| accessdate = 2007-06-17 |
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| quote = At first, they were called cat macros, but now go mostly by the name lolcats... |
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}}</ref> Lolcats are created for the purpose of [[Photo sharing|sharing]] with others on [[imageboard]]s and other [[internet forum]]s, especially on Saturdays ("Caturdays").<ref name="lm">{{cite web |
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| url = http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/02/07/im-in-mai-blog-postin-bout-cats-the-cuteness-of-grammatical-errors/ |
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| title = im in mai blog, postin’ bout cats: The Cuteness of Grammatical errors |
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| publisher = Linguistic Mystic |
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| date = [[2007-02-07]] |
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| accessdate = 2007-04-29 |
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| quote = A tradition called Caturday arose. On Saturdays, people would find pictures of cats with interesting expressions, then caption them in humorous ways. These have been posted in various places on the internet, and it’s not uncommon for them to show up in random discussions on all sorts of sites... I’ve noted pretty significant deviations from conventional English Grammar. |
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}}</ref> Lolcats are similar to other animal-based image macros such as the [[O RLY?]] [[owl]],<ref name="slate">{{cite news |
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| last = Agger |
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| first = Michael |
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| title = Cat power: You cannot resist lolcats |
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| work = [[Slate (magazine)|Slate Magazine]] |
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| date = [[2007-05-21]] |
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| url = http://www.slate.com/id/2166338/ |
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| accessdate = 2007-05-21 |
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}}</ref> but the cuteness of cats "enhances"<ref name="tampa" /> the appeal and increasing prominence<ref>{{cite news |
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| url = http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2007/05/25/lolcats-are-breeding-like-rabbits/ |
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| title = Lolcats are breeding like rabbits! |
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| author = Curt Holman |
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| work = [[Creative Loafing Atlanta]] |
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| date = [[2007-05-25]] |
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| accessdate = 2007-06-17 |
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}}</ref><ref name="statesman">{{cite news |
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| url = http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/other/05/28/0528lolcats.html |
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| title = Lolcats have the Internet laughing |
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| author = Randy A. Salas |
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| work = [[Austin American-Statesman]], [[Star Tribune]] |
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| date = [[2007-05-28]] |
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| accessdate = 2007-06-17 |
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| quote = It's no secret that cats are popular online. And one of the most popular kitty subcultures... |
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}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |
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| url = http://www.appscout.com/2007/06/hillary_clinton_turns_to_youtu.php |
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| title = Hillary Clinton Turns to YouTube Trolls for Campaign Song |
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| work = AppScout, [[New York Times]] |
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| date = [[2007-06-04]] |
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| accessdate = 2007-06-17 |
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}}</ref> of the [[List of Internet phenomena|Internet meme]]. |
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Lolcat images usually consist of a photo of a cat with a large caption characteristically formatted in a [[sans serif]] font such as [[Impact (typeface)|Impact]] or [[Arial Black]].<ref name="cats has grammar">{{cite web|url=http://www.dashes.com/anil/2007/04/23/cats_can_has_gr|title=Anil Dash: Cats Can Has Grammar|author=[[Anil Dash]]|date=[[2007-04-23]]|accessdate=2007-05-03}}</ref> The image is, on occasion, [[Photo editing|photoshopped]] for effect. The caption generally acts as a [[speech balloon]] encompassing a [[cat communication|comment from the cat]], or as a description of the depicted scene. The caption is intentionally written with deviations from standard English spelling and syntax,<ref name= "cats has grammar" /> featuring "strangely-conjugated verbs, but [a tendency] to converge to a new set of rules in spelling and grammar."<ref>{{cite web |
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| url = http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2007/04/im_in_yr_x_ying.html |
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| title = I'M IN YR X Y-ING YOUR Z -- A Grammar of Lolcats |
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| author = [[Annalee Newitz]] |
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| publisher = [[Table of Malcontents]], a ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'' blog |
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| date = [[2007-04-27]] |
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| accessdate = 2007-04-29 |
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| quote = These images... usually include a cute cat saying something related to buckets, cheeseburgers, or whatever else with strangely-conjugated verbs. |
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}}</ref> These altered rules of English have been referred to as a type of [[Pidgin English|pidgin]]<ref name= "cats has grammar" /> or [[Baby talk#Baby talk with pets|baby talk]].<ref name="kitty pidgin">{{cite web |
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| url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004442.html |
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| title=Language Log: Kitty Pidgin and asymmetrical tail-wags |
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| author=[[Mark Liberman]]|date=[[2007-04-25]]|accessdate=2007-04-28 |
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}}</ref> The text is frequently in the form of a [[snowclone]] parodying the grammar-poor [[patois]] stereotypically attributed to [[internet slang]]. |
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Frequently, lolcat captions take the form of [[snowclone]]s in which nouns and verbs are replaced in a phrase.<ref name="kitty pidgin" /> Some phrases have a known source<ref>{{cite web |
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| url = http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/06/jokes_for_nerds.html |
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| title = Jokes For Nerds: Schrödinger's LOLcat |
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| author = Scott Gilbertson |
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| publisher = Compiler, a ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'' blog |
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| date = [[2007-06-04]] |
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| accessdate = 2007-06-17 |
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}}</ref> while others seem to be specific to the lolcat form. These conventions are being built into a [[esoteric programming language|toy programming language]] called "LOLcode".<ref name="Silverman"/> |
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Other common themes include holding invisible objects or jokes of the form "Im in ur ''noun'', ''verb''-ing ur ''noun''."<ref name="tampa">{{cite news |
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|title= This be funny storyz |
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|work=[[Tampa Bay Times]] |
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|author=Jay Cridlin |
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|date=2007-06-01 |
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|url=http://www.tbt.com/entertainment/news/article41041.ece?lol |
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}}</ref> |
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==See also== |
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* [[Cuteness]] |
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* [[Image macro]] |
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* [[List of snowclones]] |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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==External links== |
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* [http://icanhascheezburger.com/ ICanHasCheezburger.com]<ref name="beacon" /><ref name="statesman" /> |
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* [http://lolcats2.com/ Lolcat image gallery]<ref name="beacon" /><ref name="statesman" /> |
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* [http://macrocats.com/ Macrocats image gallery]<ref name="beacon" /><ref name="statesman" /> |
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* [http://lolcode.com/ Lolcode programming language] |
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[[Category:Internet memes]] |
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[[Category:Internet slang]] |
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[[Category:Web humor]] |
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[[Category:Photography by genre]] |
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[[Category:Cats in popular culture]] |
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Revision as of 21:20, 17 June 2007
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