Image Macros
Added 12 years ago by gi97ol • Updated 2 days ago by shevyrolet
| Navigation |
| About • Origin • Spread • Notable Examples • Search Interest • External References • |
Type: Image Macro
Tags: lolcat is image macro what cat what's delaying my dinner what is a meme memes explained image macro vs meme what is an image macro are image macro memes when does an image macro become a meme memes vs image macros captioned images captione
Additional References: Encyclopedia Dramatica Urban Dictionary Wikipedia
About
An Image Macro is a broad term used to describe captioned images that typically consist of a picture and a witty message or a catchphrase. On discussion forums and imageboards, image macros can be also used to convey feelings or reactions towards another member of the community, similar to it predecessor emoticons. It is one of the most prevalent forms of internet memes.
Origin
The earliest captioned images were made by American photographer Harry Whitter Frees[1] in 1905. The picture consisted of a photograph of a cat dressed in a robe sitting on a chair and a caption that says: "What's Delaying My Dinner?" It is also considered the prototype of LOLcats that became immensely popular a century later.
The term "image macro" was first coined in Something Awful[2] in 2004. In the forums, users could summon a number of default image macros using simple commands like [img – macro], for example, timelines, "Aces!" and "Captain Obvious to the Rescue!" images. The name is derived from the computer scientific definition of a macro: a rule or pattern that specifies how a certain input sequence should be mapped to an output sequence according to a defined procedure. The earliest definition of an image macro was submitted by SomethingAwful forum user Eclipse[3] on February 12th, 2004.
Spread
In 2005, the term "image macro" spread across a number of other forums and imageboards, most notably on 4chan [4] where the medium of image macros took on a life of its own. The popularity of image macros in the anonymous community culminated with the birth of LOLcats circa June 2006. While the scope of the term was initially limited to describing images captioned in bold Impact font with white letters and a black outline, its working definition eventually expanded to describe images with superimposed text.
Beginning in 2007, numerous websites such as I Can Has Cheezburger [5]and MemeGenerator[6] were launched to allow users to easily create image macros. The text is usually in a bold Impact font with white letters and a black outline. With the mainstream exposure of 4chan and development of image macro subgenres in the late 2000s, the term has been increasingly referenced in the news media outside of Internet communities as well.
Notable Examples
Demotivational Posters
Demotivational Posters, also referred to as Demotivator, are image macros that consist of a picture, centered and bordered in black, with all-cap description written in white, and in some cases, a tagline written in smaller font. The style of template was pioneered in 1998 by Despair Inc., one of the first websites to create parodies of motivational posters that were commonly found in corporate offices. The images usually contain messages that would discourage one’s moral strength and diminish one’s self-esteem.
LOL Cats
Lolcats are image macros of photographs of cats with captions depicting monologue of the cats, speech bubbles or captions of the situation. The text is often written with poor spelling and grammar intentionally, as well as L33Tspeak and Lolspeak.
Reaction Images
Reaction Images also use superimposed text to further emphasize or complement the subjects or situations depicted in the images, mostly well-known catchphrases like FAIL, And Not a Single Fuck Was Given That Day and Your Argument is Invalid.
Advice Animals
Advice Animals is an exploitable image macro series that feature various animals (humans included) with their own archetype. Advice animals image macros vary from the heads of animals on a color wheel background to unedited photos but almost always contain one or two lines of text.
Search Interest
Search queries for "image macros" began to rise in volume circa January 2005, nearly a year after the term was registered into Something Awful's dictionary section.
External References
[1] Wikipedia – Harry Whitter Frees
[2] Something Awful Forum – Main Page
[3] Something Awful Forum – SAclopedia
[5] I Can Has Cheezburger – Lolcats and Funny Pictures of Cats
Entry Editors ( 9 )
.png "Cyber6x"){kind=icon}
Sub-entries ( 115 )
-
Cash Me Ousside / Howbow Dah
-
SOON
-
Advice Animals
-
Demotivational Posters
-
.jpg)
Change Da World... My Final Message
-
![Descriptive Noises | Breaking Bad screengrab of Walter White about to take a shot and descriptive noise of [Walt JR vomiting]](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/011/606/walt.jpg)
Descriptive Noise
-
This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
-
Interior Monologue Captioning
-
Medieval Tapestry Edits
-
Do Not Cite the Deep Magic to Me, Witch
-
Call An Ambulance But Not For Me
-
Skidaddle Skidoodle Your Dick Is Now a Noodle
Recent Images ( 257 )
-
eye roll long willy penis
-
The Fury of A Thousand Suns
-
Basic Human Needs
-
For the Love of God Stop Raining Meme
-
Jeffrey Dahmer 5 Guys Meme
-
Privacy Policy
-
Dude I'm not even mad ok
-
We are finally getting married!
-
Star Trek rape beam dark humor
-
Owen Burnt Our BArn
-
Cat telling it like it is
-
Day ruination
Comments ( 35 )
I think these entries Advice Animals, LOL Jesus, And Not A Single Fuck Was Given That Day, Jack My Swag, Cocaine Is A Hell Of A Drug, Is It Can Be Hugs Tiem Now Plees and LOLCats should be sub-entries for this subculture! Who agrees?
Those seem like appropriate sub-entries (and there are probably many more).
Makes sense to me…kind of surprised it hasn't been done already….
Good hub article, keep working at it.
There are so many of these its not even funny…
It is can be "interested 2 dis entry" tiem now plees?
Hey, sorry about the demotivational posters – I thought that was a "sub-category" of image macros. I can delete the ones I posted here. o<I:O)
Hey – question…I just looked at the entry page for “Demotivational Posters,” and it describes them as a type of image macro. So does an image macro require the bold text, or can it include any of the various sub-categories?
Ummmm, +1 Padlock/super confirm?
+1 Confirm
+2 Subculture
LOL DEADPOOL HUUR DUUR
jokin' of course
+1
+1 confirm. This is one of the most common supermemes and links together many others. I think we only missed it because it had become so pervasive we couldn't see it.
My only regret is that I have but one +1 to give to this entry.
well, you COULD give ’image macros" its own entry and then put over 9,000 different separate memes or meme tropes under it….
or you COULD just put the expression “image macro” under “internet slang”
seems like less work…
as it stands, this entry seems like it would create a lot of work… +1 work
Dozens of image macros are confirmed
Image macro article isn't
wut.
My favorite one
+confirm
'nuff said
@gi97ol
agreed
i find it both hilarious and fitting, that the very first image macro ever created, which was made an entire century ago, involved cats.
what is humanity's strange obsession with these creatures?! XD
Why not just label this page 'almost every bucking meme on the entire internet'?
Thanks for censoring our virgin eyes.
How the FUCK is this not confirmed?
I've noticed that there are times when there are people who mistake image macros as memes.
People who know nothing about memes sadly think putting the helvetica font over an image makes it a meme. It pisses me off more than it probably should.
I noticed that the mistake is often made by larger corporations or sometimes even government institutions.
Yeah, that makes it double cringy. Especially when people don't see the problem with it. But then again, not everyone knows a lot about internet culture.
Yeah, that makes it double cringy. Especially when people don't see the problem with it. But then again, not everyone knows a lot about internet culture.
I noticed that the mistake is often made by larger corporations or sometimes even government institutions.
Yeah, that makes it double cringy. Especially when people don't see the problem with it. But then again, not everyone knows a lot about internet culture.
Yeah, that makes it double cringy. Especially when people don't see the problem with it. But then again, not everyone knows a lot about internet culture.
Let's make this trend so it can be confirmed.
Yes! Trend for the trend god!
People who know nothing about memes sadly think putting the helvetica font over an image makes it a meme. It pisses me off more than it probably should.
I noticed that the mistake is often made by larger corporations or sometimes even government institutions.
Yeah, that makes it double cringy. Especially when people don't see the problem with it. But then again, not everyone knows a lot about internet culture.
Yeah, that makes it double cringy. Especially when people don't see the problem with it. But then again, not everyone knows a lot about internet culture.
I noticed that the mistake is often made by larger corporations or sometimes even government institutions.
Yeah, that makes it double cringy. Especially when people don't see the problem with it. But then again, not everyone knows a lot about internet culture.
Thanks for censoring our virgin eyes.
Yeah, that makes it double cringy. Especially when people don't see the problem with it. But then again, not everyone knows a lot about internet culture.
Yes! Trend for the trend god!
This gallery needs more images.
that cat meme walking mad me lmao
And guess what?
There's a scientific paper that describes automatic image captioning algorithm for this very purpose.
Pdf file
How did this wind up in the top image galleries?
Does anyone know when the caption style image macros started being made? As in, the ones that have an arial font caption at the top of the image instead of impact font or demotivational posters? I think I started seeing them in 2013 but I don't know how it started or why. My theory is that it started with people captioning images on twitter, then people screenshoted those tweets and reposted them on reddit.
The article is wildy wrong.
The practice of sharing images edited with the only editing software a normal home or SOHO client users would have had access to (MS Paint) was common place at least as far back as the year 2000.
I can attest to this, as I was a member of the Overgrow.org website and remember a great many examples of people creating funny or derisive edits of other posters images (Overgrow, notoriously, had 10s of thousands of pictures of people's sophisticated, and back then wildly lillegal, cannabis grow operations, harvest/processing, and consumption)
Cat pictures were a mainstay of "office culture", oftren associated with software industry workplaces, and were a "standard" for sharing via POP3/SMTP email in the era before webmail (ie downloaded loacally to Outlook or Eudora)
Sorry, but you must activate your account to post a comment.