• Droggelbecher@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    I really thought meme originated from the French meme, meaning self. I thought ppl used it like me_irl, moi meme. I’m realizing this is based on nothing and I might have totally made it up.

    • lime!@feddit.nu
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      10 hours ago

      imo the actual etymology is weirder

      it was invented by richard dawkins in the selfish gene in the 1970s

      it’s used to describe an “idea-gene”; something that spreads and mutates not through biological means but through communication

      like a mind-virus

      hence why it sounds like a portmanteau of “memory” and “gene”

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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      10 hours ago

      “Même” by itself means “same”, “c’est la même chose” “it’s the same thing”, with moi (moi-même) it’s “myself”. “Self” by itself (feels weird to say that) would be translated as “soi”.