This Facebook Page Shares Random Pics That Are Hard To Explain, Here Are 50 Of The Funniest Ones

Bored Panda got in touch with content creator, comedian, and broadcaster Trev Lewis for his opinion on 'no context' memes and why they're so popular on social media. According to him, you could argue that they're the "purest distillation of what a meme actually is."

"The standard definition of a meme is, 'an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.' So, if a meme is nothing more than an image, and it's entirely up to the audience to interpret the symbolic meaning rather than offering any sort of caption or explanation, this is the very nature that memes are founded on," he said.

"It makes sense, then, that they are widely popular. If we think back to the earliest popular memes, stuff like the 'I Can Has Cheezburger?' cat, they were basically inside jokes for the terminally online. As the internet became more mainstream, so did memes, but it wasn't that long ago most people weren't familiar with the word and were often pronouncing it 'maymay.' There's something about an inside joke that makes people feel more passionate about it. I suppose it's the nature of exclusivity, or perhaps just the bond we feel when other people share in our niche interests."

Meanwhile, we were also curious about meme longevity, and how to achieve it. Broadcaster Trev was kind enough to share his take on this.

"The truth is there is no perfect formula to give a meme longevity. There are a couple of things that can help, though. If a meme relies too heavily on current events, its relevance will likely fade along with those events. A standup comedy routine about food can be enjoyed for generations, but a talk show monologue about this week's news is going to expire quickly. It's the same principle. Someone may be able to resurface a screenshot that contains the original context, but already you're losing people if the joke has to be explained too much," he explained to Bored Panda.

"The other thing that helps is, as this genre showcases, not relying on a written language to convey the humor. Slang is a lot like memes in that it's constantly changing and being discarded. A funny phrase today may be seen as corny tomorrow. There's also the language barrier. If an image is funny without words, that's a more universal meme than one that relies on English, Spanish, and so on. The more people enjoy and understand a meme, the more it gets shared, and the more likely it is to live on."