The Memeology Glossary

As you may know, my vision of memeology includes a confusing terminology, so this blog has always needed a glossary. All definitions are taken from the appropriate articles and divided on sections. It is best to use the glossary with the memeology guide.

Theories
  • Memetics — a theory which studies memes as a whole.
  • Memeology — a theory which studies specifically Internet memes.
  • Memeogenetics/Memenetics — the branch of memeology studying the history of the Internet memes.
  • Memeosophy — view on the Internet memes from the point of philosophy.
Memes
  • Meme — an idea embodied in a certain form and spread in a society.
  • Antimeme — an idea embodied in a certain form but is not spread in a society.
  • Alleged antimeme — a meme spread in a society without the knowledge of its creator.
  • Internet meme — any meme spread in the Internet.
  • Postmeme — a consciously-made Internet meme, the product of weblore.
  • Monomeme — a meme which contains only one, dominant idea.
  • Polymeme — a meme uniting several ideas within its form.
  • Memeplex — a complex of memes.
  • Anthropomeme — a reflection of a person in culture, a kind of memeplex.
  • Memeogenesis/Memenesis — the full history of a meme, its process of changes, or "mutations".
    Postmemes
    • Mememe (formerly Submeme) — a single representative of a postmeme.
    • Protomeme — a mememe which lays in the basis for the birth of a new postmeme.
    • Protomemization — the process of acquiring the exploitable form, which leads to the birth of a protomeme.
    Idea and Form
    • Idea/Meaning — the content of a meme, its essence.
    • Form/Shape — the "outer shell" of a meme.
    • Personal form — the form of a specific meme.
    • External form — the "template" form.
    • Internal form — the imprint of an idea which gives a meme a unique look.
    • Protoform — the form of a protomeme.
    • Subform — the form of a mememe.
    The Meme Life Theory
    • Memer — a person involved into the meme culture.
    • No-knower — a person unaware of memes and the meme culture.
    • Normie — a person superficially aware of memes who undervalues the meme culture.
    • Stranded — a normie who shows interest towards the meme culture, or a specific meme subculture.
    • Tanker — a company or any business which exploits memes for commercial purposes, like advertising.

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