What Do You Mean "What Do I Mean 'What's a Meme?'?'?

In Block 2 (I think it was Block 2) the other day, I brought up the word "meme". It's a fairly recent concept, but one that makes a lot of sense. Let me give you a couple of links to it.

First, a general definition from Wikipedia.

The term "meme" (IPA: /miːm/, rhyming with "theme"; commonly pronounced in the US as /mɛm/, rhyming with "gem"), coined/popularized in 1976[1] by the biologist Richard Dawkins, refers to a "unit of cultural information" which can propagate from one mind to another in a manner analogous to genes (i.e., the units of genetic information).
Dawkins gave as examples of memes: tunes, catch-phrases, beliefs, clothes fashions, ways of making pots, or of building arches. A meme, he said, propagates itself as a unit of cultural
evolution and diffusion — analogous in many ways to the behavior of the gene.

Some examples, also from Wikipedia.

Proverbs and aphorisms: for example: "You can't keep a good man down".
Nursery rhymes: propagated from parent to child over many generations (thus keeping otherwise obsolete words such as "tuffet" "pail" and "chamber" in use), sometimes with associated actions and movements.
Children's culture: games, activities and chants (such as taunts) typical for different age-groups.
Conspiracy theories.
Fashions.
Medical and safety advice: "Don't swim for an hour after eating" or "Steer in the direction of a skid".
The material of video technology: very memetic given its mass replication — people tend to imitate scenes or repeat popular catch phrases such as "You can't handle the truth!" from A Few Good Men or "Alllllllrighty then!" from Ace Ventura, even if they have not seen a film or a television broadcast themselves.
Popular concepts: these include Freedom, Justice, Ownership, Open Source, Egoism, or Altruism.
Group-based biases: everything from anti-semitism and racism to cargo cults.

For more information (again, thanks Wikipedia).