To ask how you pronounce "meme" as in the annoying facebook things

[tankerdale]

I not heard the word "meme" spoken much only read it. In my head it's pronounced "memay" - a bit French, like. (referring to the meaningful, insightful and inspirational phrases people post on facebook)

How do you say it? Not sure but I may have heard someone say "meem" once possibly referring to that word. I guess it could be that?
Then I thought, is that the right way and have I been a dick saying it the "French" way and have I ever embarrassed myself by saying it out loud?

Meem. like "theme".

meem to rhyme with team.

I don't know why, but it is lol

I've always thought it's pronounced 'meem', interested to hear if I'm wrong!!

Yep, it's meem.

It's pronounced to rhyme with team - it's from meme threory which looks at how ideas are spread through society

In my head it's memay but for everyone else it's meem.

It's pronounced 'meem' afaik.

I think it's meem. DH thinks it's memmy.

Theory*

I thought it was me-me but am apparently wrong and it's meem like team. There is an explaination but I forget what it is...

Yep, it's pronounced 'meem'.

I'm a "meem". My friend once said Meme and I couldn't stop laughing but I've noticed that's quite a common way to say it now.

It's meem. It's based on the idea from somebody (Dawkins?) that culture can be passed on in basic units like genes. Memes.
But the Facebook "meme" isn't quite the same as the original meaning.

Ok thanks. Anyone know what it's short for or where it comes from?. How embarrassing as I think I might have said it out loud once or twice as 'memay'.

"The word meme was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, as an attempt to explain the way cultural information spreads; Internet memes are a subset of this general meme concept specific to the culture and environment of the Internet."

Here it is

Sorry cross post. Thank you for the explanations!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme

I thought it was memay until my 7yo told me different lol.

Yep. Dawkins. And therefore pronounce it similarly to "gene".

Sadly the meaning has evolved and now it almost entirely means "picture with white block writing on it", but never mind.

It's pronounced 'meem' because the vowel-consonant-vowel combination (Split Vowel Digraph, or, in old money, Magic E) changes the pronunciation of the first vowel from its sound to its name.

I'm a mine of useless information, me.

It maybe comes from the same root word as the French word meme.

Meme (the Dawkins one) is from the root word for to mime.

But yes, Dawkins' meme is said like theme, French word meme is like may-may.

I've been pronouncing it meme rhymes with phlegm

(The French word même, meaning same, is pronounced mem - to rhyme with phlegm)

I know it is pronounced meeeeeem, but in my head it is always associated with

"look at ME, ME - I got something clever I copied from the internet, like lots of others"

some comedian did a skit, can't remember who... so I silently shout me me each time I see it.