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Loss is a four-panel webcomic strip from Tim Buckley's gaming series Ctrl+Alt+Del, published on June 2, 2008, depicting a miscarriage scene that was so tonally jarring it became one of the internet's most enduring and widely parodied memes. The strip's simple visual layout, a single figure, two figures, two figures, and one standing with one lying down, was distilled into the minimalist notation "| || || |_" and hidden in countless images, objects, and artworks across the web. Recognizing the pattern became a game unto itself, spawning the catchphrase "Is this Loss?"

"Karen" is a slang term and meme archetype describing an entitled, middle-class white woman known for demanding to speak to the manager, harassing service workers, and weaponizing privilege against people of color[1]. The meme coalesced from multiple internet trends between 2014 and 2018, drawing on Black American internet culture's tradition of satirizing racial hostility through commonplace names[1]. By 2020, "Karen" had become one of the most recognizable character archetypes on the internet, fueled by viral videos of real-world confrontations and the COVID-19 pandemic's mask wars[7].

Surprised Pikachu is a reaction image pulled from a 1997 episode of the Pokémon anime, showing Pikachu with wide eyes and an open mouth in a look of shock. First used as a meme on Tumblr in September 2018 by user popokko (Angela), it became the most-used meme of that year by pairing the image with scenarios where someone is "surprised" by a completely predictable outcome. A WIRED investigation into its viral trajectory raised questions about whether its November 2018 popularity spike was connected to the Detective Pikachu film marketing, though no definitive link was established.

Blinking White Guy is a reaction GIF of Drew Scanlon, a video producer at gaming website Giant Bomb, doing a subtle double-take during a 2013 livestream. The clip sat dormant for years before exploding on Twitter in February 2017, becoming one of the most-used GIFs on the internet for expressing disbelief, confusion, or a polite "what the hell?"[3]. Scanlon later used his accidental fame to raise tens of thousands of dollars for multiple sclerosis research[4].

Doge is an internet meme built around photos of a Shiba Inu named Kabosu, overlaid with colorful Comic Sans captions in deliberately broken English. The format took off in 2013 after years of quiet spread across Tumblr and Reddit, earning Know Your Meme's "top meme" of the year[3]. Kabosu's sideways glance launched a cryptocurrency worth billions, inspired an NFT sale of over $4 million, and gave its name to a U.S. government department, making it one of the most consequential memes in internet history.

Caturday is the internet tradition of posting cat images and LOLcat memes every Saturday. The practice started on 4chan's /b/ board around 2005, spread through communities like LiveJournal and I Can Has Cheezburger, and turned into a weekly internet ritual still observed across social media. The hashtag #Caturday trends on Twitter most weekends, with users sharing photos and memes of their cats[1].

Rickrolling is a bait-and-switch internet prank where someone tricks another person into clicking a disguised link that leads to Rick Astley's 1987 music video for "Never Gonna Give You Up." Born on 4chan's /v/ board in May 2007 as an evolution of an earlier prank called "duckrolling," the Rickroll became one of the longest-running jokes in internet history. The official YouTube video passed 1.5 billion views[2], driven by nearly two decades of people gleefully tricking each other.

Confused Nick Young is a reaction image of NBA player Nick Young (aka Swaggy P) looking bewildered with question marks floating around his head. The image comes from a 2014 YouTube web series and went viral in 2015 on Black Twitter, becoming one of the internet's most-used visual shorthand for confusion and disbelief.