In everyday parlance, the term ‘meme’ has been growing over the last couple decades. In the 70’s and 80’s I would see this term used in books about genetics, cybernetics, and consciousness. Now it is used as a buzz word in pop sociology and political discussions. I suppose that all words make these sorts of travels, form the dark firmament of their intellectual beginnings (in this case, the Richard Dawkins book, The Selfish Gene); to the banality of everyday small talk.
The idea of the meme is something which can almost take this role (that of being a current buzz-word) to some strange places (something Kurt Gödel would like!). You see the very term meme is now a meme.
There are so many viral aspects of now we communicate and how we pick up on ideas and tastes. A meme is the action of an idea proliferating throughout a society as if it were a virus. It is not about the idea per se, but the means by which it propagates which is interesting. Otherwise the ideas which many people seem to think of as memes are in actuality ‘tropes’, that is, general plays on words, bon mots, and some other figures of speech.
Examples of memes
http://memes.org/examples-memes
Memes: the new replicators
http://www.rubinghscience.org/memetics/dawkinsmemes.html
Growing a Meme Library
http://www.write-thing.com/2011/02/18/growing-a-meme-library
If you take the time to watch this whole video, you may have a newfound perspective on the similarities between memes, genes, and even viruses
