Lolcat

File:BTNPointercat01.jpg

British portrait photographer Harry Pointer created a carte de visite series featuring cats posed in various situations in the early 1870s. To these he usually added amusing text intended to further enhance their appeal.{{cite web |url=http://www.photohistory-sussex.co.uk/BTNPointerCats.htm |title=Harry Pointer's Brighton Cats |publisher=Photohistory-sussex.co.uk |access-date=March 22, 2012 |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716022815/http://www.photohistory-sussex.co.uk/BTNPointerCats.htm |url-status=live }} These souvenir cards were known as Brighton Cats. Other early figures include Harry Whittier Frees and (using taxidermied animals) Walter Potter.{{cite web |title=Even in the 1870s, humans were obsessed with ridiculous photos of cats |url=http://io9.com/5900334/even-in-the-1870s-humans-were-obsessed-with-ridiculous-photos-of-cats |author=Cyriaque Lamar |work=io9 |date=April 9, 2012 |access-date=July 7, 2012 |archive-date=July 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710171033/http://io9.com/5900334/even-in-the-1870s-humans-were-obsessed-with-ridiculous-photos-of-cats |url-status=live }}

The first recorded use of the term "lolcat" was used on 4chan, an anonymous imageboard.{{cite web |url=https://www.thestar.com/living/article/257955 |work=The Star |title=Funny how 'stupid' site is addictive |last=Langton |first=Jerry |date=September 22, 2007 |access-date=October 4, 2008 |archive-date=June 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622184259/http://www.thestar.com/living/article/257955 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2007/11/14/News/Iz.Not.Cats.Everywhere.Online.Trend.Spreads.Across.Campus-3099929.shtml |title=Iz not cats everywhere? Online trend spreads across campus |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117142809/http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2007/11/14/News/Iz.Not.Cats.Everywhere.Online.Trend.Spreads.Across.Campus-3099929.shtml |archive-date=November 17, 2007}}{{cite news |first=david |last=smith |title=the unseen face behind today's counterculture |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/07/23/2003418192 |access-date=August 25, 2008 |archive-date=August 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080819190907/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/07/23/2003418192 |url-status=live }} The word "Lolcat" was in use as early as June 2006; the domain name lolcats.com was registered on June 14, 2006.{{cite web |url=http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=lolcats.com |title=WHOIS domain registration information results for lolcats.com from |publisher=Network Solutions |access-date=March 22, 2012 |archive-date=March 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313204653/http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=lolcats.com |url-status=live }} Their popularity was spread through usage on forums such as Something Awful.{{cite news |url=http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1772506.ece |title=Microtrends: LOLcats |newspaper=The Times |author=Tom Whitwell |date=May 12, 2007 |access-date=October 21, 2008 |archive-date=August 30, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830032119/http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1772506.ece |url-status=dead }} The News Journal states that "some trace the lolcats back to the site 4chan, which features bizarre cat pictures on Saturdays, or 'Caturdays'." Ikenburg adds that the images have been "slinking around the Internet for years under various labels, but they did not become a sensation until early 2007 with the advent of I Can Has Cheezburger? ""Lolcats' demented captions create a new Web language," Tamara Ikenberg, The News Journal, July 9, 2007 The first image on "I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?" was posted on January 11, 2007, and was allegedly from the Something Awful website."{{cite web |url=http://icanhascheezburger.com/about |title=About « Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures – I Can Has Cheezburger? |publisher=Icanhascheezburger.com |date=December 13, 2007 |access-date=March 22, 2012 |archive-date=November 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127200651/http://icanhascheezburger.com/about/ |url-status=live }}"Original Picture, cheezburger, ICANHASCHEEZBURGER, September 26, 2007 [http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/01/11/i-can-has-cheezburger/ icanhascheezburger.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810192710/http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/01/11/i-can-has-cheezburger/ |date=August 10, 2007 }} Lev Grossman of Time wrote that the oldest known example "probably dates to 2006",{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1642897,00.html |title=Creating a Cute Cat Frenzy |author=Lev Grossman |magazine=Time |date=July 12, 2007 |access-date=July 16, 2007 |quote=this has also spawned the digg dog which is part of the popular site titled digg.com |archive-date=July 16, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070716080708/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1642897,00.html |url-status=dead }} but later corrected himself in a blog post{{cite magazine |url=http://techland.com/2007/07/16/lolcats_addendum_where_i_got_t/ |title=Lolcats Addendum: Where I Got the Story Wrong |author=Lev Grossman |magazine=TIME |date=July 16, 2007 |access-date=February 15, 2010}} where he recanted his statement based on the anecdotal evidence readers had sent him, placing the origin of "Caturday" and many of the images now known by a few as "lolcats" in early 2005. The domain name "caturday.com" was registered on April 30, 2005.{{cite web |url=http://whois.domaintools.com/caturday.com |title=Whois Domain Information For Caturday.com |access-date=June 18, 2015 |archive-date=January 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119150249/http://whois.domaintools.com/caturday.com |url-status=live }}

The term lolcat gained national media attention in the United States when it was covered by Time, which wrote that non-commercialized phenomena of the sort are increasingly rare, stating that lolcats have "a distinctly old-school, early 1990s, Usenet feel to [them]".{{cite magazine |first=Lev |last=Grossman |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1642897,00.html |title=Cashing in on Cute Cats |author-link=Lev Grossman |date=July 12, 2007 |access-date=July 12, 2007 |magazine=Time |archive-date=July 14, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714083604/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1642897,00.html |url-status=dead }} Partial scan of the print edition: [http://fcrunk.wellimean.com/memes/catstime.jpg fcrunk.wellimean.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080809212902/http://fcrunk.wellimean.com/memes/catstime.jpg |date=August 9, 2008 }} Entertainment Weekly put them on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Da cutest distractshun of da decaid? Y, lolcats of corse! We can neber haz enuf of deez capshioned pics of cuddlie kittehs."Geier, Thom, et al. (December 11, 2009). "[https://ew.com/article/2009/12/04/100-greatest-movies-tv-shows-and-more/ The 100 Greatest Movies, TV shows, Albums, Books, Characters, Scenes, Episodes, Songs, Dresses, Music Videos, and Trends that entertained us over the past 10 Years] ". Entertainment Weekly. (1079/1080):74-84 "Lolcat" was also a runner-up under the "Most Creative" category under the American Dialect Society Word of the Year Awards, losing out to

"Googlegänger".{{cite web |url=http://www.americandialect.org/Word-of-the-Year_2007.pdf |title=Americandialect.org |access-date=March 22, 2012 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126023409/http://www.americandialect.org/Word-of-the-Year_2007.pdf |url-status=live }}

File:CatLolCatExample.jpg

Lolcat is a compound word made from the acronym "LOL" and "cat". Lolcat images comprise a photo of a cat with a large caption characteristically superimposed onto the image in a heavy, sans-serif font such as Impact or Arial Black.{{cite web |url=http://www.dashes.com/anil/2007/04/cats-can-has-gr.html |title=Anil Dash: Cats Can Has Grammar |author=Anil Dash |author-link=Anil Dash |date=April 23, 2007 |access-date=May 3, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826113454/http://dashes.com/anil/2007/04/cats-can-has-gr.html |archive-date=August 26, 2013 |url-status=dead }} Such images and memes following the format are often digitally edited for comedic effect.

Captions act as a speech balloon encompassing a comment from the cat, or as a description of the depicted scene. The caption is intentionally written with deviations from standard English spelling and grammar, featuring "{{Sic|hide=y|strangely|-}}conjugated verbs, but a tendency to converge to a new set of rules in spelling and grammar".{{cite web |url=http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2007/04/im_in_yr_x_ying.html |title=I'M IN YR X Y-ING YOUR Z – A Grammar of Lolcats |author=Annalee Newitz |author-link=Annalee Newitz |publisher=Table of Malcontents, a Wired blog |date=April 27, 2007 |access-date=April 29, 2007 |quote=These images ... usually include a cute cat saying something related to buckets, cheeseburgers, or whatever else with {{Sic |hide=y|strangely|-}}conjugated verbs. |archive-date=April 30, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070430021504/http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2007/04/im_in_yr_x_ying.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004442.html |title=Language Log: Kitty Pidgin and asymmetrical tail-wags |author=Mark Liberman |author-link=Mark Liberman |date=April 25, 2007 |access-date=April 28, 2007 |archive-date=April 28, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428035037/http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004442.html |url-status=live }}{{Failed verification|date=April 2011}}

The text parodies the grammar-poor patois stereotypically attributed to Internet slang. Frequently, lolcat captions take the form of phrasal templates. Some phrases have a known source, usually a well-known Internet meme, such as All your base are belong to us or Do not want,{{cite web |url=http://www.virginmedia.com/movies/movieextras/top10s/top-ten-star-wars-myths-and-legends.php?ssid=10 |title=Top ten Star Wars myths and legends: Do not want |work=VirginMedia.com |access-date=December 30, 2008 |archive-date=December 16, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216135049/http://www.virginmedia.com/movies/movieextras/top10s/top-ten-star-wars-myths-and-legends.php?ssid=10 |url-status=live }} while others don't. The language of lolcats has also been likened to baby talk,{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2008-04-24-lolcats-job-search_N.htm |title=Lolcat site needz ur skillz |agency=Associated Press |first=Peter |last=Svensson |date=April 24, 2008 |access-date=October 15, 2008 |archive-date=December 12, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081212135431/http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2008-04-24-lolcats-job-search_N.htm |url-status=live }} however it draws on a variety of linguistic resources, not just the imitation of baby talk.{{Cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/2579344 |title=I can haz language play: The construction of language and identity in LOLspeak |last1=Gawne |first1=Lauren |last2=Vaughan |first2=Jill M. |date=January 2012 |access-date=June 30, 2016}}

Common themes include jokes of the form "Im in ur [noun], [verb]-ing ur [related noun]."{{cite news |title=This be funny storyz |work=Tampa Bay Times |author=Jay Cridlin |date=June 1, 2007 |url=http://www.tbt.com/entertainment/news/article41041.ece?lol |access-date=April 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101104070709/http://www.tbt.com/entertainment/news/article41041.ece?lol |archive-date=November 4, 2010 |url-status=dead }} Many lolcat images capture cats performing characteristically human actions or appearing to use modern technology, such as computers.{{citation needed|date = April 2012}}

There are several well-known Lolcat images and single-word captions that have spawned many variations and imitations, including "Ceiling Cat" (see below). Others include Fail (a cat with a slice of processed cheese on its face){{cite web |author=Charles Bremner Toulouse |url=http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article3304328.ece |title=Microtrends: Failure – Times Online |work=The Times |access-date=March 22, 2012 |archive-date=May 15, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515211114/http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article3304328.ece |url-status=dead }} and "I Can Has Cheezburger" (a portrait of a blue British Shorthair).{{cite magazine |url=http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2007/sb20070713_202390.htm |title=Bloggers Bring in the Big Bucks |magazine=Business Week |author=Tozzi, John |date=July 13, 2007 |access-date=January 10, 2008 |archive-date=February 15, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080215230339/http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2007/sb20070713_202390.htm |url-status=dead }} Another popular format is "[Adjective] cat is [adjective/noun]."

"Ceiling Cat" is a character spawned by the meme. The original image was an image macro with a picture of a cat looking out of a hole in a ceiling, captioned "Ceiling Cat is watching you masturbate."{{cite web |url=http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/01/24/ceiling-cat-is-watching-you-masturbate/ |title=I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER? » Blog Archive » ceiling cat is watching you masturbate. |publisher=icanhascheezburger.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204143319/http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/01/24/ceiling-cat-is-watching-you-masturbate/ |date=January 24, 2007 |archive-date=February 4, 2007 |access-date=September 13, 2017}} There followed numerous examples with the format "Ceiling Cat is watching you [verb ending in / rhyming with -ate]" with Ceiling Cat superimposed in the upper left hand corner of an image macro depicting the appropriate action. The underlying theme is that the cat is looking down on one, almost in a form of judgment.

"Ceiling Cat" and the corresponding "Basement Cat" (a black cat who lives in the basement) are said to represent good and evil in the lolcat universe, and in some cases God and Satan, as in the LOLCat Bible Translation Project.{{cite news |first=Charlie |last=Amter |title=Lolcat Bible Translation Project presents the Gospel according to Fluffy |date=December 16, 2007 |url=http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-ca-lolcat16dec16,1,6069575.story?ctrack=1&cset=true |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=December 23, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224021046/http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-ca-lolcat16dec16%2C1%2C6069575.story?ctrack=1&cset=true |archive-date=December 24, 2007 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/today/s_568828.html |title=How one hungry 'kitteh' can has the Internet lol |last=Horan |first=Brianna |access-date=June 18, 2008|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215050105/http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/today/s_568828.html |archive-date=February 15, 2009}}{{cite web |url=http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/thebigblog/archives/124063.asp?from=blog_last3 |title=Time killer: The "lolcat" Bible |last=Guzman |first=Monica |date=October 19, 2007 |access-date=June 18, 2008 |archive-date=April 15, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415165033/http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/thebigblog/archives/124063.asp?from=blog_last3 |url-status=live }}

File:Eva and Franco Mattes, Ceiling Cat.jpg

Ceiling Cat by Eva & Franco Mattes, a 2016 taxidermy cat installation mimicking the meme, is in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/museums-wants-2-show-u-memez-now-they-shud-be-careful/2019/04/05/6a44b5a4-559d-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html |title=Museums wants 2 show u memez now. They shud be careful |last=Kennicott |first=Philip |date=April 8, 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en |access-date=January 17, 2020 |archive-date=September 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200906191512/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/museums-wants-2-show-u-memez-now-they-shud-be-careful/2019/04/05/6a44b5a4-559d-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html |url-status=live }}

Variations on the lolcat concept include captioning photos of other animals in a similar style (e.g. loldogs for dogs, lolsharks for sharks, lolbirds for birds, lolhorses for horses, lolgators for alligators, etc.).

The syntax of lolcat captions was used as the basis for LOLCODE, an esoteric programming language with interpreters and compilers available in .NET Framework, Perl, etc.

In the Java edition of the video game Minecraft, there is an option to change language settings to LOLCAT.

Another example is Polandball, which uses broken English, reminiscent of the lolcat meme.

lolcat, a variant of the Unix utility cat, outputs text in rainbow colours.{{cite web |url=https://www.tecmint.com/lolcat-command-to-output-rainbow-of-colors-in-linux-terminal/ |title=Lolcat – A Command Line Tool to Output Rainbow Of Colors in Linux Terminal |work=Tecmint |date=June 13, 2015 |access-date=March 6, 2019 |archive-date=March 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306111527/https://www.tecmint.com/lolcat-command-to-output-rainbow-of-colors-in-linux-terminal/ |url-status=live }}

• List of Internet phenomena
• Cats That Look Like Hitler – a type of LOLcat specifically made to look like Adolf Hitler
• Cute cat theory of digital activism – using lowbrow but popular online subjects for activism
• Catvertising – cats in advertising, especially the parody of commercialization of cat viral videos by st. john
• Grumpy Cat – an Internet celebrity cat who was known for her grumpy facial expression
• I Can Has Cheezburger? – a weblog featuring lolcats
• Laugh-Out-Loud Cats – a comic inspired by lolspeak and other Internet humor
• LOLCat Bible Translation Project – bible translation project to lolspeak
• LOLCODE – an esoteric programming language inspired by lolspeak

{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118798557326508182 With 'LOLcats' Internet Fad, Anyone Can Get In on the Joke], The Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2007
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928004547/http://www.gazette.com/articles/cat_25284___article.html/sites_web.html If you give a cat a keyboard], Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 26, 2007
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070717023131/http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2007/sb20070713_202390.htm Bloggers Bring in the Big Bucks], BusinessWeek, July 13, 2007
• {{cite journal |url=http://www.receiver.vodafone.com/19-oh-hai |title=Oh Hai! Cats, the internet, and tactical communities |first=Joshua |last=Green |journal=Receiver Magazine |issue=Autumn |year=2007|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709043936/http://www.receiver.vodafone.com/19-oh-hai |archive-date=July 9, 2008}}
• {{cite news |last=Agger |first=Michael |title=Cat power: You cannot resist lolcats |work=Slate |date=May 21, 2007 |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2166338/ |access-date=May 21, 2007}}

{{Spoken Wikipedia|Lolcat.ogg|date=2008-04-04}}

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• {{Wiktionary-inline|lolspeak}}
• {{Wiktionary-inline|caturday}}

{{Internet Dialects}}

{{Internet slang}}

{{4chan}}

Category:Internet memes about cats

Category:Internet slang

Category:Internet humor

Category:Photography by genre

Category:4chan phenomena

Category:Fictional cats

Category:Internet memes introduced in 2006

Category:2006 neologisms

he:תופעת אינטרנט#Lolcat