Meme Mania! BU Memes Makes a Splash on the Web

BU Memes

Odds are that any college student has encountered a meme while Internet-surfing. Some of these images, such as Scumbag Steve, Forever Alone, Good Guy Greg, and Success Kid, have reached classic-level status on the Web and have spawned innumerable spin-off memes. Memes can be funny, cathartic, and–as many Terriers found out in the past two days–college-specific.

BU Memes
Everyone's looking at BU Memes! Photo courtesy of BU Memes

BU Memes, a phenomenon started by Nicole Black and David LeHouillier, has become a runaway success on Facebook and gained over 5,000 “likes” in a matter of hours. Many popular memes like Scumbag Steve and Philosraptor have been used on the page, in addition to BU Terrier Kid, a squinting Rhett against scarlet and white. A meme-ified Boromir asserts that “one does not simply find a seat in the GSU,” while Scumbag Steve gets off the elevator on the 6th floor at Warren, and the First World Problems girl laments, “I live at West, my boyfriend lives in Warren.” College-specific memes have also been spotted on other campuses, such as Duke and Boston College, and seem to be sweeping across campuses nationwide.

While BU Memes has certainly garnered attention, it has not all been positive. For BU students who browse Reddit (the birthplace and home of many of the popular memes used on the BU Memes page), the memes used have often been viewed as not clever and misused. One Redditor asserts through a “Hipster Cat” meme that he or she had been making memes “since my other freshman year.” Some of the memes on BU Memes do indeed seem to miss the point by simply expressing facts about BU without any clever or humorous slant or by making needlessly offensive statements.

Wise words, Boromir.
Truer words were never spoken. | Photo courtesy of BU Memes.

Whatever the benefits or drawbacks of BU Memes, they have certainly made a big impact on the campus in a very short amount of time. Only time will tell whether the trend will last.

About Sharon Weissburg

Sharon Weissburg (CAS 2015) hails from the lovely city of Providence, Rhode Island and loves fashion, literature, music, and art. She's a pretty big fan of pretzels dipped in marshmallow fluff, too.

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