Our avid readers will know how much we love memes here at Bored Panda, from science memes, viral 2020 memes, and very literal memes to more specific memes like jokes and memes for women to relate to and car memes to laugh at while you’re stuck in traffic. Because memes are the unofficial language of the internet and if you haven’t been off to the moon lately, you’ll surely know how to speak a word or two.
So this time, we have a special treat for your inner nerd or anyone who missed that once-in-a-lifetime chance to make their history teacher proud. Yep, we’re talking dates, events, and contexts that happened either far back or quite recently in the past.
Welcome to the history memes fueled by the r/HistoryMemes subreddit, where a whopping 2.7M members and self-confessed history experts crack jokes about the old days. Scroll down and upvote your favorites!
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I See What U Did There
Daaaaayumm! He ain’t wrong though. I live 2.5 miles from 800 year old rock paintings. Lord knows what my property use to be.
Selective Breeding
A Joke Book From 1940
Internet memes have been a widely used visual form of online rhetoric since the early 2000s. Today they have become a prominent method of communication across the internet, but as a research subject, they're still not very well-examined.
With 20 years of communicating in memes, we still don’t know their exact implications, says Rebecca Ortiz, an assistant professor of advertising at the Newhouse School. “Research on internet meme effects is still in its infancy. But we can look to past media effects research to hypothesize how people may be influenced by them.”
But At Least They Have The Cool Building With All The Flags In It
Professionals Have Standards
Not The Tea
We should never underestimate the power that social media and the content that’s surfing there has on our beliefs, identities, and culture. “The most shareable content on social media will reach the most people and potentially have the greatest effect,” she said.
Think of memes as bits of humor that capture shared cultural meanings and speak to some of the largest audience on our planet. “[They] are some of the most shareable pieces of content on social media and therefore they deserve scrutiny and better understanding as to how they may influence us,” Ortiz explained.
In that sense, understanding a meme is a way to bond with people and feel a strong sense of community. We as humans are wired to do so, so memes are the perfect gateway to that.
History Repeats Itself
So Much Spice!
"I receive spice. You receive... Asturias. Burgundy. Tuscana. And seven tons of gold. Add some cinnamon and I add the real crown of thorns."
Scientifically Proven
They Here Cause You Dragged Them Her
We also see this in the Netherlands now with Turkish and Morrocan people who were actually brought here in the 60s because the Dutch workforce was too small
If You Don't Believe Me Look At China Right Now
Black Panther Flashbacks
To be honest they can keep ours. We can't keep them safe and no one even comes to visit us.
I Dont Think You Want
My grandma, was born in 1892 and died at 104 in 1996, put me straight when near the end of her life I said it must have been nice living at the turn of the 20th century and wearing the pretty white clothes of that era. Telling it like it is, she said "give me polyester clothes and automatic washing machines any day"!
My grandmother would have been wearing a domestic uniform and washing the pretty white clothes
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They had one advantage back then though: they thought they had a future.
That is true. I feel that younger generations are very cynical about their future (as we are probably right) so we are more unhappy than previous ones
Load More Replies... The expression "Hindsight is always 20/20" has always baffled me. No, it's not. Somehow, culturally, we seem to collectively catch amnesia and block out the bulk of history.
I assume they mean the time in which women and people of color were oppressed more and white men could do everything they wanted without repercussions
They always forget that the “good old days” were only good for the same tiny rich male WASP minority they continue to be good for today.
Yesterday I was watching the mummy returns (because somebody here was throwing s**t around about bad sequels and the mummy being one of them) Now I love me some Brendan, so of course I had to rewatch this so called "shitty" sequel immediately. Anyway. The movie is set in 1933 and is for a small part set in London. And I was just thinking, look at Londen, looking all classy and dashing. I would have loved to live there in 1933. But then I remember 1945 an such. The blizz and had flashbacks to the call the midwife show which start just after the war. And hmm, you know. Maybe not.
Middle East, Chechenya, the Persian Gulf, Britain and most of Latin American would disagree...
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The good old days were when they we able to hide what bad old days they really were. Keep making noise and rattling the cages, you beautiful, modern, connected people!
I had a coworker who fantasized about living in medieval times, even though I listed several of the horrors.
(6o=months later) we're literally on a brink of WW3 because... someone has a small peepee? Yeah, humanity is doomed
I think that when a person says that they want to go back to simpler times or the good old days they mean their childhood. When they didn't have to deal with grown up problems.
Good ol' days: Plague probably even worse than the pandemic, because people didn't know about viruses back then. (This is probably inaccurate. Also, this is a joke.)
The good old days of the Cold War, when every day almost all adults were afraid of nuclear holocaust? The good old days of the Great Depression? The good old days of WW II or WW I or Vietnam War? Etc.
We sort of got the plague thing under control. The wars and mindless killing? If anything they are becoming more frequent. Somebody should invent a vaccine to eradicate those two human traits.
Obviously people don't consider that the "good ol' days" aren't back when all that was occurring.
"The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself" (ABBA, Waterloo)
In the words of Simon Whistler "The past was the worst" (COVID notwithstanding).
"Good ol' days of plagues, war and mindless killing" says TmKhr. You mean current times?...
Enslaving People Because Of Color Skin? Absolutely Barbaric!
Ah, Good Times
I am from the region actually. Very true, unfortunately. Nevertheless, apart from mildly to largely racist jerks in power on all sides, we are beautiful countries with great people. Worth visiting.
What A Nice Little White Girl
Just Make Up Your Mind!
And yet the USA isn't defined as a terrorist nation.That title is reserved for the rest of us.
*laughs In Nazi Gold*
Swiss is like "Si vis pacem prepara bellum" (if you want peace be ready for the war)
Life's A Witch
Also Forgot To Mention Hera Was His Sister...still A Classic Though
Well rape and incest are not really on "on brand" for Disney, though dead parents certainly are. Which makes one wonder why they chose Greek mythology as source material at all.
Oh Well Its Not Like We Can Do Anything About That
History happened, you can't change that, learn from it and move forward. "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it"
"George, I've Just Noticed Something..."
A Rare Glimpse Of A History Meme In The Wild
She is so bad she has been re-elected every time since... well... Almost forever.
A Toast To The Irish
This Country Is Gonna Be Lit!
Funny thing: when they wrote that they pictured muskets. Never would they have imagined an AK47
Literally Grave Robbers
At least when the British museum got hold of things, they were preserved, not destroyed or sold on the black market?
The Madlad
I am italian - if one of our president would have done such a thing we claimed it as a miracle... (Our president of republics are always old people)
Ratatouille’s Revenge
Where's one of those group shots of trump, Cruz and McConnell standing in front of a flag?
This Is In The Book I’m Reading
God Is An Englishman
The weather is terrible is all you need to know! So all hands on board and let's conquer a few sunny countries. 😂😂😂
I’m So Lucky
The Grand Tour Has A Lot Of Meme Potential
Guten Tag, Polen
It’s Not Even Close Really
One Of Our Fellow Scholars
This is so sad on so many levels. Women's rights are non existent in Turkey. Except for Melek Ipek who was acquitted for murdering her abusive husband, probably only because of the power of social media.
Belgian History 101
Oh No
"Do I look stupid with a mask on?" "Is the Spanish Flu real or a hoax made up by Henry Ford?"
Coincidence? I Think Not
Are you really certain the doves were so innocent? They certainly have a lot to do with a coo 😁
So True
Sparta, This Is
Manifest Destiny Be Like
Quick Fake China Is Asleep! Up-Vote Flag Of Real China
Faked Their Deaths
Before they were hired by the USA to work in the space and tech industries.
Not Sure If This Has Been Done Before
Yeah, Someone Definitely Used A Ruler To Draw Some Of These Borders
Not Cool Andrew Jackson
We See Through Your Disguise, Himmler
Are We The Baddies?
Note: this post originally had 129 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
Very funny, but lots of them rely on inaccurate or very generalizing history "knowledge"
BP titled it "To Prove That The Best Way To Learn History Is Through Memes" --- hint: no, it's not.
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I can relate to the last one(Jewish so everyone looks at you). My friends ask me questions that I don’t know the answer to because my grandmother grew up Jewish.
Hint: people can up- and downvote, so the last place probably changes continuously.
Load More Replies... I enjoyed all the commentaries and answers of BP readers from different nations. That is why I'm here. Love it!
I think they overplayed the whole imperialism/slavery/genocide trope. Yes, it happened, but it's not any of our faults (now in the 21st century) and there's a lot more to history then just that.
These are not funny but horrible. Actually made me sick reading them. So many inaccuracies, and misspellings. Please remove this feed.
but does it have any history memes on it? how am i supposed to learn when my shirt is only luxurious and colorful???
Load More Replies... Very funny, but lots of them rely on inaccurate or very generalizing history "knowledge"
BP titled it "To Prove That The Best Way To Learn History Is Through Memes" --- hint: no, it's not.
Load More Replies... I can relate to the last one(Jewish so everyone looks at you). My friends ask me questions that I don’t know the answer to because my grandmother grew up Jewish.
Hint: people can up- and downvote, so the last place probably changes continuously.
Load More Replies... I enjoyed all the commentaries and answers of BP readers from different nations. That is why I'm here. Love it!
I think they overplayed the whole imperialism/slavery/genocide trope. Yes, it happened, but it's not any of our faults (now in the 21st century) and there's a lot more to history then just that.
These are not funny but horrible. Actually made me sick reading them. So many inaccuracies, and misspellings. Please remove this feed.
but does it have any history memes on it? how am i supposed to learn when my shirt is only luxurious and colorful???
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