The Evolution of the "Floor Is Lava" Meme

Within the span of a month, The Floor Is… has become one of the most popular memes online. Easy to recreate, its viability within meme communities has grown exponentially. But as with all things, people grow tired of a market saturated by a child trying to avoid the ground.

"The Floor Is" is by no means a new. A common childhood game, The Floor Is Hot Lava has been around since at least 1948 with the publication of the Roald Dahl story The Wish. Since then, it has been played by children in playgrounds and hallways with checker-patterned linoleum floors. The idea, essentially, is that the floor or certain segments of the floor are hot lava to be avoided. Parodies and variations of the game have been around since as long as the game has been played.

Parodies of The Floor Is Lava have been prevalent throughout the game's existence. Generally, the meme would follow the very basic structure of "The Floor Is…," yet the image would show someone lying on the ground. One of the more popular variations include images of people lying motionless on the ground with the caption being some variation of "The floor is lava. Me:"

On June 20th, the subreddit /r/DankMemes became flooded with a new parody of "The Floor Is." In this variation, the boy jumps off a stack of garbage cans and puts a hole in the ground. Thus, the idea of touching the floor isn't avoided, but rather firmly embraced.