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Tag: history

This meme features an artistic depiction of ancient Egyptian workers building the Great Pyramid of Giza, with overlaid text reading 'How tf did they build this without any' that is cut off by an image of an open pack of Marlboro cigarettes. The punchline is delivered in the top Reddit comment under the post: 'They had camels idiot'. This is a double pun: 'camels' refers both to the livestock animals historically used for labor in ancient Egypt, and to Camel, another popular cigarette brand, implying the ancient workers used Camel brand cigarettes instead of Marlboro to get through the labor of building the pyramid.

What cigarette brand did ancient Egyptians use to build pyramids

This meme features an artisti…

This is a 2-panel satirical Wojak meme mocking people who promote the conspiracy theory that aliens built the Egyptian pyramids instead of native ancient Egyptians. In the first panel, a smug light-skinned Wojak with glasses and a fade haircut claims to a neutral grey alien: 'You guys built the pyramids', and the alien replies 'We didn't'. In the second panel, the same Wojak is now angry, crying, and gritting his teeth as he says to a smiling ancient Egyptian Wojak wearing a pharaonic crown: 'You guys didn't build the pyramids', and the Egyptian responds 'We did'. The joke highlights the bad faith and biased logic of conspiracy theorists who reject both the fact that aliens did not build the pyramids and that ancient Egyptians were the actual builders.

Egyptians definitely built the pyramids

This is a 2-panel satirical W…

This is a 3-panel vertical comparison meme that illustrates the changing definition of knighthood across three historical time periods. The first panel, labeled 1100s, shows a Wojak character edited onto the body of a Templar knight holding an ornate battle axe, with text explaining knighthood in this era meant being an elite battlefield warrior. The second panel, labeled 1500s, features another Wojak edited onto a late medieval knight, with text stating knighthood was a prestigious honorific title in this period. The third and final panel, labeled 2000s, uses a photograph of Ringo Starr, the drummer of The Beatles who received a knighthood in 2018, with the punchline text reading knighthood now means being a member of The Beatles. The joke highlights the shifting, increasingly ceremonial and celebrity-focused nature of modern knighthood compared to its original military purpose.

Knighthood through the ages

This is a 3-panel vertical co…

This is a two-panel comparison meme highlighting the gap between popular media portrayals of Vikings and historical fact. The top panel is labeled "Vikings in movies", featuring a gruff, frowning illustrated Viking wearing a stereotypical horned helmet, paired with bullet points listing common Hollywood tropes: horned helmets, nonstop screaming, filthy barbarians, lives only for war. The bottom panel is labeled "Vikings in reality", showing a calm, well-groomed illustrated Viking, paired with bullet points listing historically accurate attributes of Vikings: carried combs everywhere, cared about hygiene, mostly farmers and traders, wrote poetry and laws. The meme humorously calls out how media misrepresents Vikings as hyper-violent savages, ignoring their actual complex, peaceful daily lives and cultural achievements.

Hollywood vs History: Movie Viking Stereotypes vs Real Historical Vikings

This is a two-panel compariso…

This is a two-panel meme that makes an ironic point about human relationships with working animals versus companion animals. In the top panel, a drawn blonde bearded 'Nordic Chad' meme character affectionately says 'You're my bestfriend' to the Cheems Shiba Inu meme dog, which responds with 'Bark'. In the bottom panel, the same Chad character awkwardly says 'Sorry bro' to a crying, upset cartoon horse, which lists its massive historical contributions to human society: 'Carried men through wars, farming, exploration, migration, trade, and civilization'. The joke highlights the irony that horses provided thousands of years of critical, uncompensated labor to support human progress, but are now far less popular or valued as companion animals compared to dogs.

6,000 years of unpaid labor

This is a two-panel meme that…

This is a three-panel comedic meme. The first panel shows an ancient Mesopotamian stone statue holding up the number 0, proudly announcing he invented the concept of zero. The second panel features an ancient Mesoamerican stone statue retorting that the invention now lets them calculate how many girlfriends the first inventor has. The third panel shows the first statue looking dejected, still holding up the 0, while popular internet reaction faces join the Mesoamerican statue in mocking him, yelling 'LMAO, Nerd!'. The joke uses historical fact about the invention of the number zero to deliver a relatable roast of single, academically inclined people, playing on the double meaning of zero as both a mathematical concept and the count of romantic partners the inventor has.

Ancient Inventor of Zero Gets Roasted For Having Zero Girlfriends

This is a three-panel comedic…

This is a screenshot of two consecutive posts from X (formerly known as Twitter) by user @CaucasianJames. The first post, published July 31 2020, poses the question of whether people living in 1920 ever felt nostalgic and said they missed 1916. The second post is a self-reply from the same user joking that history majors are about to respond to the first question. The humor comes from the context that 1916 fell in the middle of World War I, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history, so longing for 1916 is an absurd premise that history enthusiasts would immediately recognize and correct. The original tweet accumulated over 25,100 likes and 1,745 retweets and comments.

Joke about 1920s nostalgia for 1916 teasing history majors

This is a screenshot of two c…

This meme jokes about Benjamin Franklin's famous 1752 kite experiment that proved lightning is electrical. The top text sets up that contemporary scientists warned Franklin the experiment could kill him. The punchline is an edited screenshot from a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater style skateboarding game, showing Franklin as a playable character performing a grind trick while holding his kite, with a game achievement pop-up that reads "Electricity Unlocked" as a reward for the trick. The joke frames Franklin as a reckless, overconfident video game character who treats the life-threatening experiment as a trivial challenge to complete for a reward.

How Ben Franklin's Experiment Really Went

This meme jokes about Benjami…

This meme uses a historic black and white photograph of Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin both wearing formal tuxedos standing side by side. The top text introduces the context as the occasion when the two famous figures met. Below the photo, a popular alleged conversation between them is presented: Einstein praises Chaplin's silent film art for its universality, noting that he does not need to speak for the whole world to understand his work. Chaplin responds with a lighthearted quip that Einstein's fame is even more impressive, as the entire world admires him even though almost no one understands his theoretical physics work. It is a wholesome, gentle joke playing on the public perception of both men's careers.

Funny Exchange Between Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin About Fame

This meme uses a historic bla…

The meme consists of explanatory text at the top sharing a historical fact about 18th century Caribbean pirate queen Anne Bonny: she regularly dressed as a man to fight in battles, and would expose her breasts to her dying victims to inform them they had been defeated by a woman. Below the text is a vintage hand-colored historical illustration depicting this scene: Anne Bonny stands on a tropical sandy beach holding a dagger, her shirt partially open to expose her chest as she looks down at a bloodied, injured male victim lying on the sand. Discarded pirate weapons including a cutlass and pistol, plus hats, lie on the sand around the pair, palm trees are visible near the shoreline in the background, and two additional men in a small boat can be seen in the distant background near the water.

Pirate Queen Anne Bonny's Famous Victim Reveal Tactic

The meme consists of explanat…

This is a two-panel reaction meme using the popular 'Mr. Incredible Becoming Uncanny' template. The left panel features a cheerful, normal render of Mr. Incredible paired with text expressing a common misconception: 'aww, Nintendo had such a wholesome beginning in the early 80's with children's games and characters in video games'. The right panel features a dark, unsettling half-shadowed black and white edit of Mr. Incredible paired with correcting text that reads 'Nintendo DID NOT start in the 1980's'. The joke plays on the lesser-known fact that Nintendo was founded much earlier, in 1889, originally as a playing card manufacturer, contrasting the common public perception of Nintendo as a modern 1980s video game company focused on family-friendly content.

Humble Beginnings Nintendo Fact Check Meme

This is a two-panel reaction …

This meme features a red carpet photo of actor Hugh Jackman holding up a two-finger V/peace sign, paired with text above that reads 'People in Ancient Rome ordering 5 beers'. The joke relies on a historical pun: the Roman numeral for the number 5 is 'V', which is exactly the shape of the hand gesture Jackman makes, humorously implying ancient Romans would use this gesture to order 5 drinks in an anachronistic casual scenario.

Stay Classy, Romans

This meme features a red carp…