Catymology

I am dreaming about my auntie, the Great Cat Meme.

A prolific queen, Meme births one litter of Memelets after another, ad infinitum. Who the fathers are, no one knows; it may be that Meme is capable of parthenogenesis.

Among the Great Cats, Meme is a queen not only because of her fecundity, but also because of her ability to inspire humans. Although ancient, my Auntie Meme is remarkably postmodern in her views.

• When William S. Burroughs wrote: "language is a virus," he was inspired by Meme.
• And Lautréamont: "Poetry must be made by all and not by one."
• [Roland Barthes wrote a book entitled 'Michelet par lui-même'; but of course, that has nothing to do with Meme.]
• And Haruki Murakami has said: “Without tales people can’t live their lives.” (Did he mean "without tails?”)

Always up to date, Meme has morphed into a Goddess of the World Wide Web. Nowadays, it seems as though you can’t swing Schrodinger’s cat without hitting a meme or a blogmeme. Many bloggers use “meme” as a synonym for “game.” Clancy at Culture Cat writes about “A Literary Speed Dating Meme.”

Auntie Meme inspires those who’ve commented on Catymology:

• Litotes the Clown
• The beauteous Gigolo Kitty
• Laurence Simon of the Carnival of the Cats and all of those who post there.

I too, have fallen under the spell of Auntie Meme. How else would I have conceived of Catymology, or of the idea that all humans must be catted? My own Memelets are starting to proliferate. Humans and their felines often find my blog after hunting around on the World Wide Web for certain items I have previously dug up. Some recent examples:

• Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
• Kliban cats
• Millions of Cats text
• Pangur Ban
• Missipeshu
• the ever-popular How do you pronounce Aloysius?
• and even The Thing Under The Bed

Anyone for a game of catch the meme?

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*meme (Pronounced 'meem') An idea, thought or piece of information that is passed from generation to generation through imitation and behavioral replication.