1393: Memes are Changing English (LITW 7) Oct 4, 2018

Memes are changing the way that people speak. A formula for a common type of meme is to start with the phrase "me, when I [do such-and-such action]' followed by a picture or video illustrating the point hyperbolically. The meme in German below says just that, translating as "me, when I must go out all day acting like a [decent] person". However, in German, it begins with 'ich' which is used for subjects whereas English uses the object form 'me'. From a grammatical standpoint this makes no inherent sense, but consider that people also say "it was me" in English all the time, and do use the wrong case for the pronoun at times, but memes are certainly adding to that to the point that people have begun to speak in this way as a way to signal informality and camaraderie.

This is another instalment of Linguistics in the Wild.