As with many things in life, you either get it or you don’t. Understanding my dog’s need for a long walk… I get it. Comprehending Einstein’s theory of special relativity… don’t really get it. Case in point: the following picture either makes sense to you or it doesn’t.
What we have here is our cat Cleo, tossed into the air (forced photo op). She’s gracefully demonstrating her agility and pre-landing skills.
But more to the point, what we have here is a “cat macro”, which is an odd example of one of the many internet subcultures. The fad involves:
- a funny kitty picture
- a cute caption idea, usually with some sort of anthropomorphic spin
- said caption written in Arial font, outlined in black
- said caption buried in a hybrid of hacker-speak and broken grammar
Collectively, these pics are known as “lolcats” 1, the prefix being a chat room abbreviation of “Laughing Out Loud.”
Again, this is funny to you or it isn’t. But don’t be discouraged at first. Some of these take time to decipher. Half of the fun is figuring out the punchline. I dare you not to smile while browsing some of these.
Some examples from the internet:
Footnotes
- see Wikipedia for more info
Odd, this is the second time I’ve come across cat macros in the last month. Someone recently asked permission to use my cat-in-the-box picture for a “quantum physics cat marco”, adding the caption “I iz collapsin ur waveform… and therez a 50% probability of killin ur kitteh”. Obviously you don’t have to be proficient in English to understand quantum physics 😉
Interesting how things like this can take on a life of their own and become a phenomenon…and one that involves the invention of a new word or words to identify it. I get it…don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. 😉