"Is this a pigeon?" is one of a few special meme formats that have been around so long that they've become a part of the water we swim through online. For the past several years, we’ve all been exposed, over and over again, to this meme’s essential structure: a boy (a) pointing at a butterfly (b) wondering if it is something © that it is not. Like in any object-labeling meme, we can fill in those three meme variables (a, b, c) the way we can fill in the variables of the quadratic formula (remember that one from way back?) and plot whatever line of reasoning, humor or idiocy we choose.

The structure of this meme format has undergone many contortions and transformations over time, and meme creators have toyed with how to phrase that formula, whether to follow it at all, and what to put in or leave out. Let’s trace the evolution of this meme format from basic object-labeling to convoluted meta"surreal":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/surreal-memes balderdash.