From &''Leave Britney Alone&'' to &''Chocolate Rain,&'' let&'s face it, we love these things. I know I&'m not the only one here who&'s had that Bed Intrudera4s‚ &''Hide your kids, hide your wife&'' verse stuck in my head for as long as I can remember (&''He&'s climbing in your windows &8230'&''). And I&'m not even going to get into a4s‚ &''Baby Monkey on a Pig.&''

Richard Dawkins&' definition of a meme in The Selfish Gene is ‚a4‚¬‚Aa unit of cultural transmission.&'' Like genes and diseases, the prevailing characteristic of memes is that they tend to replicate, just add humans.

Anything can be a meme, but there are certain characteristics that make information units more likely to go viral (namely funniness).

The Internet, where replication is as easy as hitting &''Like&'' or &''Retweet,&'' is one big meme pool. a4s‚ Internet hipsters (people who spend a lot of time online &8211' cough) now judge each other by whether they posted it before whatever it is it hit Buzzfeed.

Much like hardy genes confer biological advantage, being aware of memes now confers a feeling of superiority amongst those in the know.a4s‚ Hence the above video, which was basically engineered to propagate itself.

Side note: This is like almost every conversation I&'ve ever had with anyone. Ever.

Thanksa4s‚ Jeremy Toeman.