Let us step together, you and I, into the world of the internet. It’s a magical place where Channel45News.com passes as a legitimate news site simply because people refuse to fact check (fun fact: this site is meant to be taken as seriously as The Onion or Hard Times.)
Why is this important, you ask? Because an article circulated from this particular website saying our beloved Snapchat would be shutting down.
The first time I saw this article, it was the peak of popularity for one meme that I have the utmost respect for: the dancing hot dog filter on Snapchat. Like the Minions, Baby Groot or, most recently, the Porgs from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, this little guy had the entire world under his lack of thumbs.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t a handful of memes that simply blew the world away for longer than their usual month, but the dancing hotdog makes the grandest returns, just when we have given up hope, and packed his golden bun away.
Needless to say, my vote may be a bit biased, considering my girlfriend was talked into buying me a sticker of the hot dog, which graces the presence of whomever decides to look in the general direction of my laptop. Regardless, we can’t deny the presence of this little weiner, being one of the first characters Snapchat would bring into our lives.
Of course, when we’re talking about the meme of the year, I couldn’t only acknowledge one meme. I have a handful of honorable mentions as well. Below is a quick rundown of how they earned their spots:
- "Man’s Not Hot," because this song is a straight banger, and no one can convince me otherwise. Rodman Shaq may never be heard of again, but the ting will always go "skrrrahh, pap, pap, ka-ka-ka / Skibiki-pap-pap, and a pu-pu-pudrrrr-boom / Skya, du-du-ku-ku-dun-dun / Poom, poom."
- Spongemock, because it may make close to no sense, but reading any text in the voice I envision for Spongemock will always be stupidly hilarious.
- Donald Trump drawing, because with all the memes made about Trump this year, I needed at least one.
- Crash Bandicoot’s “whoa,” because revamping a video game trilogy for the pure nostalgia wasn’t enough. We had to take it a step further and exploit one of the weirdest things from the original series to make ourselves feel a little better.
- Rick & Morty fans, because, no matter what they think, they are a meme at this point.
