YouTube/Memes

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.



YouTube, being a popular video site, is unsurprisingly rife with Memetic Mutation.

Many instances, though, are drawn from other meme sources. For example, the All Your Base Are Belong to Us video, while on the site, didn't originate there. But some did.

Video types

Comments

  • SUMBITCH, EXAMPLES!!
  • X, Imma let you finish but Y had one of the best Z of all time!
  • "Did [item] die?", where the video depicts some disastrous result, not necessarily affecting said item. Usually funnier if the item is not affected at all--such as a cable spool rolling down an escalator and people asking if the spool or the escalator died. Very common on Fail Blog videos.
  • Since it was possible to like/dislike videos, commenters have gotten to saying "[x] people missed the like button" or "[x] people [do the opposite to something in the video]", such as one from a video of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall" saying "[x] people can't have any pudding".
  • Everybody hates 009 Sound System!
  • There is also a trend where people say which part of the video they liked the best but these are:
    • The timespan of the whole or the majority of the video. For an example, "I like the part where he sings." when a character is singing throughout the whole video.
    • A single timespan of the video which is identical to other parts. For an example, commenting how they liked 0:50 the best on the video where a 3-second clip is repeated for 4 minutes.
    • The timepoint where the video ends is hated.
    • Or a particular enjoyment is mentioned of a part after the video ends.
  • The recent thumbs up/thumbs down feature has resulted in a lot of people looking for cheap ways to get the rated comment. This typically results in lots and lots of "Thumbs up if you agree" posts.
    • Alternatively, there are those who state something along the lines of "This comment will randomly/magically get thumbs up." Guess what? They do.
    • Or things barely related to the video at all, like thumbs up if you are watching this video or are sitting in a chair.
      • "Thumbs up if you're watching this in 201X" has been making its rounds.
      • And those comments are followed by joke ones which involve saying you're watching the video in the future or in the past.
    • In order to promote their careers, many people are now posting comments on popular videos (often music and viral videos) along the lines of "I am an aspiring (insert entertainment industry career here) and it's my dream to (get a record deal, go to filming school, etc). I have seen a lot of hate on YouTube in the past but I think that (insert the name of whoever is credited for the video being spammed) fans have a more caring heart. I have (integer from 1-5) thousand viewers but no one will notice me with such a small following. Please like this comment so everyone can see it and subscribe to make my dreams come true. Thank you." Top comment every time.
      • Bonus points if the person begins with something along the lines of "I don't really like thumbs up comments..." yet they have spammed 10 other videos as well.
  • Requests for lyrics in videos that either have no lyrics or just repeat the same ones over and over.
  • Among the Fighting Game community, "fuck wrong with that nigga hitbox?"
    • This one is thanks to the long-running "homo-genius: a history of gay inventors", a series of videos showing infamous examples of fighting game stupidity and disjointed hitboxes (you can see the first volume, featuring Alex literally curbstomping Urien to death, here). In particular, the line above comes from Vol. #54, featuring a match from The King of Fighters 2002, where Ryo Sakazaki magically reels in Billy Kane with his Zanretsuken from halfway across the screen by miraculously snagging the very end of his bo. The phrase pops up frequently on many more videos from the same series in some way or another.
    • There was also a habit of Tubers posting "That's me, I'm [x]", usually referring to themselves as a background character or (stranger still) backdrop scenery. It quickly became something of a Forced Meme though.
  • The "You say Artist X, I say Artist Y" meme, with Artist X being a band/group/artist that the commenter regards as "bad", and Artist Y being a band/group/artist that the commenter regards as "good". Can also come with an optional addendum of: "(something greater than 50%) of teens/people have turned to (hated genres here). If you're one of the (remaining percentage) who still listens to real music, copy to X number of music videos."
  • "I'm only (any age under 18), and I like this artist/movie/show/etc" to videos of such that are at least five years old. Bonus points for additional complaint that nobody else/very few kids at commenter's school like it.
  • For any age, comments on the gender/age of the people who watch the video, usually making a remark indicating surprise at some of the people watching the video. (Especially relates to subjects with incongruous Periphery Demographics, such as My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic.)
  • This comment has been making rounds in the comment section of modern songs: "When Ke$ha went to Take It Off, Bruno Mars threw a Grenade which made Katy Perry a Firework. That made Usher say OMG and then he exploded too. Fortunately Taylor Swift rode away on a White Horse. Unfortunately Rihanna killed her while she was running away! So Rihanna became the Only Girl In The World. The loneliness caused that Rihanna became a retard , so she don't no her name. Now she keeps saying Oh na na What's My Name? Nelly soon woke up saying it was Just a Dream!"
    • Similar comments have popped up. It's also become popular to use titles from a certain band in such ways.
  • Recently, people have been putting these "Press *insert number from 1 through 9* for some funny thing" on these YouTube videos. Basically, it involves the user clicking on the video while it's being played and the user's supposed to click on any number from 1 through 9 over and over again for what's basically considered a funny scene or noise.
  • The common "Thumbs up if you came here from (insert website here)" comment. TV Tropes is mentioned at times, particularly with the phrase "Featured on TV Tropes!" when a video receives linkage on here.
  • Recently, people have been posting "co za asy" (Polish for "What aces!") after the comment was sarcastically posted on a video later reviewed on Equals Three.
  • On videos with religious music, there will be a lot of comments that say "I'm an atheist, but this stuff is just beautiful" or some variant. These comments will often be in the highest rated section.
    • Similarly, this happens with ethnic music too, where someone from a rival country will put their Misplaced Nationalism aside and comment something like "I'm *insert nationality here* and I still love this music", or they'll leave their nationality for the end of the comment as The Stinger (Greetings from *insert country here*)
  • Scripts:

Mom: TURN THAT SHIT DOWN!
Me: But it's [Artist here]!
Mom: TURN THAT SHIT UP!

    • A variant of the following conversation (which has also faced Hype Backlash):

Kid: Mom, I'm going out.
Mother: What are you going to do?
Kid: I'm going to kill (X number of people who disliked this video).
Mother: You're going alone?
Kid: No, I have (X number of people who liked the video) helping me.
Mother: Have fun!

    • One m00:00re time! [1]
  • On sexually-charged music videos; "This porn has good music."
  • Someone stating they paused their porn videos to listen to the video.
    • There is one brilliant inversion on a Weird Al Yankovic video (not the top comment anymore, though) that goes something like

I switched to porn when my mom walked into the room; it was easier to explain.

  • People "raping" the replay button, and sometimes getting sued.
  • In a similar vein, commentators asking why they can't "like" a video more than once, or lamenting the lack of buttons like "This is fucking awesome".
  • Commentators are starting to say "I find this hard to masturbate to" a lot.
  • X faved/liked this! [2] [3]
    • This extends to notable web personalities on other sites who review corny, lesser-known or just plain bad works. Their fans will often flood every video they can find related to the work in question and spam it with "X brought me here" responses or parrot the most memorable moments and quotes of the personality's review of the work.
    • Now people claim "I liked/faved this before (famous person) did."
  • This one is exclusive to "Weird Al" Yankovic, but this meme is rising in popularity:

"I heard (artist) made a parody of this video with different lyrics."

  • SHUT UP AND ENJOY THE MUSIC! ╭∩╮(︶︿︶)╭∩╮
  • The really good ones will often draw a "it only shows my total views".
  • Here's a funny dislike reaction:

Youtuber: 911 we have a problem. Someone disliked a video.
911 Operator: Why should we care?
Youtuber: Because its (insert popular video here)!
911 Operator: Oh my god we are on our way!

  • A common way to get likes on a comment is to quote a funny or cool moment in the video. Adding your own reaction or twist on the event is optional.

[X]: (Memorable moment from video.)
Me: ROFL! LMAO!

  • On Videos of The Simpsons posted on Youtube you will come across at least one comment describing an action that happened in the video followed by the phrase That's a Paddlin
  • "If I get [x] likes I'll sing this song at my school's talent show!"/"If I get [x] likes I'll sing this song to my [boyfriend/girlfriend]!"
    • Both the top comments on "School's Out" by Alice Cooper state that if they get (very large number of likes) they'll blow up/burn down their schools.
    • Or "I will tell my secret crush I love them if I get (X) likes." on sappy videos
  • "Did anyone notice that n:(m-1) is missing?" or variations thereof, where n:m is the full duration of the video (minutes:seconds) - a recurring comment, usually on short videos where it's more noticeable, regarding a persistent glitch in the current video player, where the display never shows the second to last second (if the video is 5 minutes and 23 seconds long, the timer will jump from 21 to 23 at the end, even though the video plays normally).
  • "Transcribe the audio" [4]
  • Saying "I'm On The Weird Part Of Youtube" when you see an odd video has become popular.
  • Complaining when a video is 240P instead of a higher quality.
    • On the flip side, videos with annotations or uploader comments saying "WATCH IN HD!!!!" are getting very common, even for videos that aren't improved much by high-def. Most viewers will use the highest setting their connection can handle anyway, so posters probably only add these recommendations because everyone else is doing it.
  • Howcast videos are made fun of a lot in the comment section of their videos. Often the comment makes fun of the video by giving steps that are easier to do than what the video does and then ending it with the "Did You Know" section by giving a completely obvious fact.
  • Better love story/story than Twilight.
  • Youtubers commenting, upon seeing a bad quality video, "Was this recorded with a X?"
    • Most commonly: "Did you record this with a potato?"
  • "I have the strangest boner right now."
  • "I find this easy/difficult to masturbate to."
  • "Click 240P for HD" on videos of 8-bit music.
  • I was going to make a gay joke. Butt fuck it.
    • Cum on guys. Gay jokes aren't funny.

Back to YouTube
  1. When a commenter writes numbers in this format, YouTube changes it to a timecode that, when clicked, plays the video from the indicated time.
  2. When a famous Youtube user likes or favorites a certain video, their horde of fans will go to there and state that said user liked/favorited the video.
  3. User RubberFruit is the one who brings this on a lot. He likes to use music from popular/obscure Nintendo games, and whenever he uses one piece of music in his videos, a horde of fans will spam the music-video with references to the video he used it in. It got so bad at one point that the "Puzzle in the Caves" and "Demon Resident Mine Cart" music videos had to have its comments locked because they got out of hand with Paini's Cupcake (the character who uses these themes) references.
  4. One of YouTube's more infamous features is the "Transcribe Audio" option, which is meant to form a closed caption subtitling based upon the sound in the video. The results would often become gibberish, and some users even use this for amusement and post the results in the comments section.