Memes are becoming a growing part of our everyday life and popular culture, especially online. Many of us know memes as the pictures and photographs that go viral on social media sites. People use them to make jokes or social and political observations. However, biologist and author Richard Dawkins, the originator of the word ‘meme’, is unhappy with how the Internet has defined a meme as a “picture with words”. Mr Dawkins coined the term ‘meme’ in his 1976 book ‘The Selfish Gene’. He said memes are ideas that spread from brain to brain and are replicated many times, much like genes. He told the BBC: “I’m not going to use the term Internet meme to refer to a picture with writing on it.”

See complete article and lesson plan @BreakingNewsEnglish Author unhappy with use of the word ‘meme’   (24th May, 2017)

Levels Upper-Intermediate | intermediate | Pre-intermediate

4-speed reading |  2-page MINI lesson

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Meme Samples

Image sources
The Best Political Memes to Get Us Through This 2016 Election
http://www.brostrick.com/viral/funny-political-memes-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-sanders-cruz/
The 25 Best Internet Memes of All Time
http://www.business2community.com/social-media/the-25-best-internet-memes-of-all-time-0375554

http://www.supergrove.com/the-best-memes-ever/

http://gtaforums.com/topic/550970-the-funny-picture-topic/page-139

https://www.lifewire.com/top-memes-of-all-time-3485903

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