Ermahgerd, Internetz! The Internet, kids, it’s such a funny place. Full of funny people doing funny things and funny animals doing funny (and/or adorable) things. It’s also the place where serious things go to become funny and political things go to become mainstream. In a year filled with such pop culture heavy hitters as the Olympics and the Presidential election, the World Wide Web was rife with material.
Here are the top 15 Internet clickables that permeated our culture — and our vocabulary — in 2012. So, which meme will reign supreme?
One unfortunately timed scowl while receiving her silver medal on the Olympic medal podium was all it took to vault gymnast McKayla Maroney into the meme winners’s circle. Too bad she couldn’t care less.
Hillary herself got a kick out of her sassy texting alter-ego. Until, that is, she put a kibosh on the whole operation.
No thanks Oprah, I ride in a G6. bit.ly/HkZVwF
— Texts from Hillary (@textfromhillary) April 5, 2012Lucille and Mitt
Who said it, Lucille Bluth or Mitt Romney? It’s one of the most challenging questions you’ll ever have to answer.
Gangnam Style
Love him or hate him, Psy was this year’s indisputable king of the Internet. Who doesn’t know that stupid dance?
Shit Girls Say becomes Shit Everyone Says
While the “Shit Girls Say” videos went viral in late 2011, January of 2012 proved to be the month of the copycats. We learned about the shit frat guys, black girls, hipsters, rednecks, and any other faction you can think of says.
Drunk Nate Silver
Nate Silver, New York Times blogger and election predictor extraordinaire, was the undisputed hero of November 6, 2012 (sorry, Obama). Dude is so good at math, he knows the answers to everything. The hashtag #DrunkNateSilver had the probability pro predicting everything from people’s death dates to snowflake shapes to trees felled in the forest where no one can hear them.
Drunk Nate Silver is riding the subway, telling strangers the day they will die
— Dan Levitan (@levitandan) November 8, 2012Paul Ryan Gosling
Paul Ryan, prime piece of Republican vice presidential candidate beefcake, meet Ryan Gosling, sexiest man on Earth. I’m sure you two will get along swimmingly.
Hey girl, take a good, long look at my avatar. Now imagine me in charge of your uterus. LOLZ.
— Paul Ryan Gosling (@PaulRyanGosling) October 18, 2012Ryan Lochte Loves Swimming Because Racing
Ryan Lochte may be great at swimming, but he’s not so great at giving interviews… or speaking in complete sentences. Skip ahead to 1:40 in the video below for the best use of the present participle we’ve ever heard.
“Call Me Maybe” Sing-a-long Videos
Oh Carly Rae Jepsen, how you’ve stollen our hearts. You stole them so bad, you stole them so, so bad. This year, everyone and their mom made a lip sync video to your crack-like hit. Even Justin Bieber did one!
Clint Eastwood’s Invisible Obama Chair
Remember that time when Clint Eastwood pretended an empty chair was Barack Obama swearing at him? Yep.
Overly Attached Girlfriend
The wide-eyed, slack-jawed vacant expression of YouTube user wzr0713 in her Justin Bieber parody fan video became ubiquitous on Reddit with the caption “Overly Attached Girlfriend.”
The Thanksgiving Song
The people who brought us Rebecca Black’s seminal masterpiece “Friday” are back with pint-sized Nicole Westbrook singing (and rapping) “It’s Thanksgiving.” Can’t be hateful, gotta be grateful, gotta be grateful, can’t be hateful, mashed potatoes on my table.
Minutes after Mitt Romney put his foot in his mouth at the second presidential debate, Binders Full of Women had a tumblr. Behold, the power of the Interweb.
#sixseasonsandamovie
Community fans took to Twitter this year to campaign for the renewal of their favorite show.
Abed is a magical elf-like man that makes us all more magical by being near him. #sixseasonsandamovie
— Michelle (@Hello_YouHadMe) November 29, 2012Ermahgerd Girl
And that brings us back to the Ermahgerd girl. Her unabashed enthusiasm for Goosebumps books spread to pugs and then cats, at which time Internet perfection was achieved.
Follow Abbey Stone on Twitter @abbeystone
[Photo Credit: Pete Souza/White House; Twitter; WENN; Tumblr]
More:
Play it Again: The 12 Best Albums of 2012
Staff Picks: The 14 Best Songs of 2012 (And 5 We’d Like to Forget)
Forbidden Fashion: 13 Terrible Trends We Want to Banish Before 2013
