A Confused Nick Young
The word meme originated from Richard Dawkin’s 1976 book, The Selfish Gene. According to Wired Science, he defined meme as an idea, behaviour, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. Later on, Internet memes formed as a subset from general memes and takes place in the environment of the Internet.
Nowadays, the majority of memes are intended to be funny, often ridiculing human behaviour. What makes memes so remarkable is that they are worldwide social phenomenons, and are so infectious as they travel quickly from person to person via social media.
A meme that’s been used on multiple social media platforms since 2015 is the confused Nick Young meme. Nick Young is a NBA athlete that plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. The meme features Young in a reaction image expressing confusion with question marks surrounding his head.
The meme originated from YouTuber Cassy Athena’s web series Thru The Lens in episode 4 — Day in the life of Nick Young. The video was uploaded on July 22, 2014, and has since racked up over one million views thanks to the famous meme at 5:42. In the video, Young makes a confused facial expression in reaction to his mother’s comments about him being a clown in his younger years. A screen capture of this scene has widely circulated the web.
The meme is still commonly used today even though it erupted from 2014. There were constant searches of Nick Young on Google. However, his search interest peaked in late March 2016.
Remixes of the meme has circulated various social media platforms, most commonly Instagram and Twitter. On November 25th 2015, Twitter user ChadJordan23 posted a photoshopped version of the meme with Young dressed as an agent from the movie Men in Black holding a mind eraser tool as a reaction to a conversation of a recent break up.
The meme was most popularized on Black Twitter. The hashtag #GrowingUpBlack was trending on Twitter and was used to express funny and relatable moments from their childhood, some using the confused Nick Young meme. The posts were too funny to keep on Twitter, so Instagram user Daquan also shared screen captures of the meme on Instagram.
Here is another remix of the meme, joking about how old people lie or exaggerate about their lives back in the day.
This one I can personally relate to.
This meme has certainly left an impression on the world of memes in social media, with people still using it after two years. It became famous because many people can relate to the funny facial expression shown on Young’s face.
Just last year, this meme came in contact with its human counterpart. On January 14th, 2016, actor Lamorne Morris got court side tickets to a Los Angeles Lakers vs Clippers game. He used this as an opportunity to troll Young and presented him with an image of the meme prior to the game. Being the good spirited jokester that he is, Young laughed it off. The video has since gained over 300 thousand views.
Do not try this with Michael Jordan and the crying meme or you might not receive as kind of a reaction as Nick Young!
-Alex Zhang
