Grumpy Cat 

A cat named Tardar Sauce instantly became known as Grumpy Cat in 2012 after a photo went viral on Reddit. Since then, Tardar Sauce has become a memorable and relatable personality, as the face for cynical captions. 

 

Salt Bae

In 2017, Nusret Gokce, a Turkish chef, became known as “Salt Bae” after a video of him sprinkling salt on steak quickly went viral. The Salt Bae meme is used to symbolize doing something with extra flare, or used as a metaphorical mic-drop.

 

Woman yelling at cat

This meme started as two separate images. The left side shows an argument from a 2011 episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills titled “Malibu Beach Party from Hell”. The right image shows a confused cat sitting at a table. When paired together, it appears that the woman is yelling at the cat and the cat yells back. This meme is commonly used in arguments about pronunciations and interpretations, or is combined with other memes or references.

 

Distracted Boyfriend

A 2015 stock photo titled “Disloyal man with his girlfriend looking at another girl” became a meme in 2017 after people started using that image to tell different stories. The girlfriend in the image generally came to represent something that one is supposed to do, and the woman wearing red came to represent something more desirable.

 

Doge

The Doge meme became popular in 2013, with a picture of Shiba Inu dog accompanied by multicolored Comic Sans text. Text of the dog’s internal monologue follows a unique format of short phrases and words.

 

Side Eye Chloe

In 2013, a video was posted of Chloe’s reaction to her older sister Lily crying over a surprise trip to Disneyland... and she was not impressed. This meme is often used as a disinterested, confused, or annoyed response.

 

Roll Safe

The character Roll Safe, from a British documentary titled #HoodDocumentary, became a meme when this reaction pose went viral. It’s commonly used to give bad advice or ways to outsmart common practices.

 

May your holidays be filled with joy, good cheer, and endless consumption of memes.

 

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumpy_Cat
https://www.bustle.com/p/why-is-salt-bae-called-salt-bae-nusret-gokces-twitter-nickname-is-spot-on-29960
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distracted_boyfriend_meme
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doge_(meme)
https://www.businessinsider.sg/woman-yelling-at-cat-meme-taylor-amstrong-real-housewives-smudge-2019-12/