Life & Style

Sound off: You’d better pronounce ‘meme’ properly, or else

Katie Laffan: Average person can mistakenly call them ‘may-mays’ or a ‘memme’. I was once a culprit

Katie Laffan: “It’s now a meme in itself to correct someone on how they pronounce the word meme. It’s also a fun debate to have.”

Katie Laffan
Sat Apr 21 2018 - 06:00

Everyone loves a good meme! A meme is an image, video or piece of text usually funny in nature that is spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations. I love how slapstick funny they can be – and that there’s even meme music now.

It's hilarious that you can see a video of Eminem's Lose Yourself on YouTube, but where he's saying "mom's spaghetti" for every line of the song.

The thing about memes that raging meme-lord lampoons cannot stand is the wrong pronunciation of the word “meme”. The average person can mistakenly call them “may-mays” or a “memme”. I was once a culprit to calling them the latter but now, however, I know better. It is MEME! It sounds like it rhymes with team or beam.

Very silly thing

I sometimes think it’s a very silly thing to be unnerved by, but I have so many of them saved on my phone as they’ve become part of every corner of the internet – and my life.

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I genuinely care about them. It’s now a meme in itself to correct someone on how they pronounce the word meme. It’s also a fun debate to have.

I think a lot of people don’t really care how to pronounce it, and that’s fair – but I seem to care. If you ever meet someone who is seriously into the meme world, make sure to pronounce it right or you’re in for a challenge.

Katie Laffan is a musician and producer. Her new EP Spacer is out now.

Do you have something you’d like to Sound Off about? Email 300 words to magazine@irishtimes.com with Sound Off in the subject line

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