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New SHU memes Facebook page popular with students

Seton Hall students do not always create memes, but when they do, the whole school can see.

Freshman Prachi Shah created the Facebook page, "Seton Hall University Memes," late on Feb. 8. By 8:30 p.m. the next day, the page had earned 1,000 "likes" and dozens of memes had been posted to the page. But why are college students so interested by memes? And what are memes?

Memes, pronounced "meems," are, put simply, photos from popular culture that are given comical captions. The point of a meme is that each photo, whether it is a screenshot of a popular cartoon or a funny photograph, tells the same joke. For instance, the meme "Success Kid," (seen at right) expresses a kind of person success. Makers of a meme can choose any humorous phrase to complete the joke. Templates for memes can be found all around the web, such as popular sites MemeGenerator.com and KnowYourMeme.com.

Over the past week, many universities and colleges such as Rutgers, Rowan, Penn State and TCNJ have created their own personalized meme Facebook pages, where students can create memes with the original templates and add captions relevant to happenings at their respective schools. It was only natural for Seton Hall to join the memes frenzy.

"The meme page is amazing!" junior Lenny Nuciforo said. "It's great to be able to play out all these jokes about SHU on Facebook."

Some of the most popular memes on the Seton Hall Memes Facebook page are also very common on meme sharing websites.

"The Most Interesting Man in the World," which originated from a Dos Equis beer ad campaign from 2009, is currently ranked at "legendary tier" on MemeGenerator, according to KnowYourMeme. com. The "Y U NO" meme, with captions phrased in the form of a question, is defined by KnowYourMeme.com as "an image macro series using (text message) shorthand and carefree grammar as a way to bring someone's attention on a particular subject or issue."

Some students, however, expressed concern that other students are creating memes incorrectly; that is, the memes they are creating do not follow the preordained concept that is supposed to come across when viewing a meme. For example, the meme titled "Lazy College Senior" is a photo of a student drinking beer with a tired facial expression. According to KnowYourMeme.com, this image "is typically captioned with statements or behaviors that are associated with burnt out college students during their final year of school sometimes referred to as senioritis." Some students feel that some "Lazy College Senior" memes, as well as others, have been made incorrectly and do not convey the proper message.

"It lessens the impact they have," sophomore Rob Keller said. "Each meme has a purpose and must be used accordingly in order to achieve the desired goal. Misused memes are not funny."

Used correctly or not, memes are a way for Seton Hall students to express their creativity. Shah urged students to post their own memes when she created the page. Some students have even created meme templates relevant only to Seton Hall, such as the photo of a chef from the Gourmet Dining Services website and the Pirate mascot.

"It's hilarious," sophomore Shaheda Choudbury said. "They all hit the dot when it comes to describing Seton Hall."

Though posts on the SHU memes page have slowed down since its first 24 hours, the page remains popular with students. As of press time, the page had over 1500 likes and over 150 memes posted.

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Erin Bell can be reached at erin.bell@student.shu. edu.

Charlotte Lewis can be reached at charlotte.lewis@student.shu.edu.

Staff writer Melissa Murray contributed to this report. She can be reached at melissa.murray@student.shu.edu.


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