About

"Maymay" is a phonetic spelling of a common mispronunciation of the word meme, which is typically used ironically in various online communities to mock mainstream Internet culture.

Origin

On January 5th, 2009, YouTuber ThatsErapProductions uploaded a video titled "Top 10 Internet Memes and Phenomena – listverse lists," in which he pronounces the word "meme" as "may-may" (shown below).

Spread

On March 11th, 2009, Newgrounds Forums^[2] user Andsoitbegins submitted a post titled "How do you pronounce 'meme?'," to which user thisisL replied that he pronounced the term as "may may" (shown below). On September 2nd, IGN Forums^[3] user legacyAccount submitted a thread titled "Am I the only one who pronounces 'meme' like 'may-may'?" Over the next several years, additional IGN Forums users submitted posts about the mispronunciation.^[7]

On May 30th, 2013, YouTuber BrendanielReads uploaded a video titled "Tips For Making A Great Meme (or "may-may")", featuring instructions on making image macros and rage comics (shown below, left). On July 30th, the /r/maymay^[4] subreddit was launched. On December 17th, YouTuber Matt Haywood uploaded a video titled "H0w to make le dank maymays kid," featuring a screencast of a "coaxed into a snafu" illustration (shown below, right).

On February 27th, 2014, Redditor xvvhiteboy submitted a post titled “Le New Meme: Nice MayMay Man” to the /r/circlejerk^[8] subreddit, featuring an illustration of man’s face in front of a yellow and blue color wheel background with the caption “Is maymay / and man” (shown below). In the first four days, the post gained over 3,500 up votes and 180 comments, inspiring an entire series of Nice MayMay Man image macros.

On March 1st, 2014, Redditor brilee213 submitted a post titled "What is 'MayMay'?" to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[1] subreddit, to which Redditor Patjay replied that it was an "intentional incorrect spelling of 'meme'." On September 26th, the /r/dankmaymays^[6] subreddit was launched for posts featuring dank memes. In February 2015, the humor site DankMayMays^[5] was launched, which highlights a variety of ironic memes from the /s4s/ (shit 4chan says) board on 4chan.

Search Interest

External References