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Revert to revision 160719506 dated 2007-09-27 16:18:47 by Cobaltbluetony using popups
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* [http://icanhascheezburger.com/ ICanHasCheezburger.com]<ref name="beacon" /><ref name="statesman" />
* [http://icanhascheezburger.com/ ICanHasCheezburger.com]<ref name="beacon" /><ref name="statesman" />
* [http://lolcats.com/ lolcat image gallery]<ref name="beacon" /><ref name="statesman" />
* [http://lolcats.com/ lolcat image gallery]<ref name="beacon" /><ref name="statesman" />
* [http://lolcatz.net/ Searchable lolcat image gallery]<ref name="beacon" /><ref name="statesman" />
* [http://./ image gallery]<ref name="beacon" /><ref name="statesman" />


[[Category:Internet memes]]
[[Category:Internet memes]]

Revision as of 16:57, 27 September 2007

A typical cat macro image.

Lolcats are images combining photographs of a cat with a humorous and idiosyncratic caption. The name "lolcat" is a compound word formed from lol and cat.[1][2] The phenomenon is also referred to as cat macros.[3] Lolcats are created for photo sharing imageboards and other internet forums.[citation needed] Lolcats are similar to other anthropomorphic animal-based image macros such as the O RLY? owl,[4] but the cuteness of cats "enhances"[5] the appeal and increasing prominence[6] of the Internet meme.

The term lolcat gained national attention in the United States when it was covered by Time magazine, [7] which wrote that non-commercialized phenomena of the sort are increasingly rare, stating that lolcats have "a distinctly old-school, early 1990s, Usenet feel to [them]." The superimposed text is assumed to be uttered by the cat in the photograph. The poor grammar makes this seem more authentic, since the reader makes the assumption that "if cats could speak, then it would be in this kind of broken English". There are parallels with the language used in Lolcats and baby talk, which owners of cats often use when talking to them.

Format

These images usually consist of a photo of a cat with a large caption characteristically formatted in an uppercase sans serif font such as Impact or Arial Black.[8] The image is, on occasion, digitally edited for effect. The caption generally acts as a speech balloon encompassing a 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,[8] featuring "strangely-conjugated verbs, but [a tendency] to converge to a new set of rules in spelling and grammar."[9] These altered rules of English have been referred to as a type of pidgin[8] or baby talk.[10] The text parodies the grammar-poor patois stereotypically attributed to internet slang. Frequently, lolcat captions take the form of snowclones in which nouns and verbs are replaced in a phrase.[10] Some phrases have a known source[11] while others seem to be specific to the lolcat form. Common themes include jokes of the form "Im in ur noun, verb-ing ur related noun."[5]. "I haz a noun" pictures show a cat in possession of an object while "Invisible noun" show pictures of cats interacting with said invisible object.[5] "My noun, let me show you it/them" pictures are accompanied by cats apparently presenting or offering an object. Another common lolcat displays a cat with a specific look, which is described by X, and the text, "Xcat is not amused"[citation needed] or "Your offering pleases Xcat.

History

Tamara Ikenberg of The News Journal states that "some trace the lolcats back to the site 4chan, which features bizarre cat pictures on Saturdays, or 'Caturdays'." Ikenburg adds that the images have been "slinking around the Internet for years under various labels, but they didn't become a sensation until early 2007 with the advent of icanhascheezburger.com"[12] The first image on "I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?" was posted on January 11, 2007."[13] The use of "lolcat" to describe the phenomenon was introduced no later than June 14, 2006, when lolcats.com was registered.[14] Lev Grossman of Time wrote that the oldest known example "probably dates to 2006",[15] but later corrected himself in a blog post[16] where he recapitulated the anecdotal evidence readers had sent him, placing the origin of "Caturday" and many of the images now known as "lolcats" in early 2005.

More recently, the syntax of lolcat captions was used as the basis for LOLCODE, an esoteric programming language with interpreters and compilers available in .NET framework, perl, etc.[2]

Linguistic predecessors include George Herriman's comic strip Krazy Kat, whose main character spoke in pidgin english.

Visual predecessors include a 1988 Arrow a book edited by Peter Fincham, called "Cat Chat". It featured monochrome pictures of cats in various poses with humourous captions added by celebrities such as Clive Anderson or Rory McGrath. ISBN-10: 0099640406 ISBN-13: 978-0099640400

See also

References

  1. ^ Robin Amer (2007-04-14). "I Can Has Talking Animals?". Open Source. Retrieved 2007-04-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b Dwight Silverman (2007-06-06). "I'M IN UR NEWSPAPER WRITIN MAH COLUM". Chron.com. Retrieved 2007-06-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Randy A. Salas (2007-06-09). "Laugh at cat humor". Akron Beacon Journal, Star Tribune. Retrieved 2007-06-17. At first, they were called cat macros, but now go mostly by the name lolcats... {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Agger, Michael (2007-05-21). "Cat power: You cannot resist lolcats". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2007-05-21. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ a b c Jay Cridlin (2007-06-01). "This be funny storyz". Tampa Bay Times.
  6. ^ Randy A. Salas (2007-05-28). "Lolcats have the Internet laughing". Austin American-Statesman, Star Tribune. Retrieved 2007-06-17. It's no secret that cats are popular online. And one of the most popular kitty subcultures... {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Grossman, Lev (2007-07-12). "Cashing in on Cute Cats". Time Magazine. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Text "accessdate 2007-07-12" ignored (help) Partial scan of the print edition: http://fcrunk.wellimean.com/memes/catstime.jpg
  8. ^ a b c Anil Dash (2007-04-23). "Anil Dash: Cats Can Has Grammar". Retrieved 2007-05-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Annalee Newitz (2007-04-27). "I'M IN YR X Y-ING YOUR Z -- A Grammar of Lolcats". Table of Malcontents, a Wired blog. Retrieved 2007-04-29. These images... usually include a cute cat saying something related to buckets, cheeseburgers, or whatever else with strangely-conjugated verbs. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ a b Mark Liberman (2007-04-25). "Language Log: Kitty Pidgin and asymmetrical tail-wags". Retrieved 2007-04-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ Scott Gilbertson (2007-06-04). "Jokes For Nerds: Schrödinger's LOLcat". Compiler, a Wired blog. Retrieved 2007-06-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "Lolcats' demented captions create a new Web language", Tamara Ikenberg, The News Journal, 9 July 2007
  13. ^ "Original Picture, cheezburger, ICANHASCHEEZBURGER, 26 September 2007 http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/01/11/i-can-has-cheezburger/
  14. ^ http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=lolcats.com
  15. ^ Lev Grossman (2007-07-12). "Creating a Cute Cat Frenzy". Time (magazine). Retrieved 2007-07-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Lev Grossman (2007-07-16). "Lolcats Addendum: Where I Got the Story Wrong". Time (magazine). Retrieved 2007-07-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference beacon was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference statesman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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