this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2026
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Memes

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Post memes here.

A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.

An Internet meme or meme, is a cultural item that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. The name is by the concept of memes proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1972. Internet memes can take various forms, such as images, videos, GIFs, and various other viral sensations.


Laittakaa meemejä tänne.

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[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 hours ago

After I left one school to go to a vo-tech, I looked up the phone number for a girl I liked in the previous school who turned me down for a date. It was the only time I had ever asked a girl out. I had to go through 6 numbers before I found her, we ended up dating for three years.

[–] Candice_the_elephant@lemmy.world 16 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

The yellow pages only had businesses. It was the big white book that had all the people's numbers in it. It also had addresses O.o

[–] kalpol@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 hours ago

But you had to really watch out for the red and blue pages.... Bring me rrrred PAGES!

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 1 points 13 hours ago

But not full names, only initial and surname

[–] RedC@sh.itjust.works 34 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Ok but your phone number wasnt in the yellow pages, that was for businesses. Your number woulda been listed in the white pages

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 5 points 21 hours ago

And blue for government.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Uhhhhhh, no we weren't. It cost extra to be unlisted, so most of us just lived with it. But there was a loophole. You could tell them what name you wanted listed, and they wouldn't do any verification. I still get mail for "Rusty Shacklesord." They misheard me when I got listed, and hell, I wasn't going to correct them. Whenever I get a call or mail for Mr. Shacklesord, I know it's bullshit and I can do whatever I want to the asshole.

[–] Hupf@feddit.org 4 points 17 hours ago

That name sounds like a Power Rangers villain.

[–] rageagainstmachines@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago

Would they though? I think "kids today" are probably a lot less privacy conscious having grown up in an internet with social media and other privacy invasive technologies natively.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 7 points 21 hours ago

Back then people weren't so fixated on each other's business. After 2001, that changed pretty dramatically

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

You could opt-out of those. And it was pretty reliable to do so.

[–] DacoTaco@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

This. Ive known people that were just out of abusive relationships and kept their information hidden for that reason, including the white pages

[–] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 55 points 1 day ago (3 children)

White Pages was home # listings. Yellow Pages was business listings.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 7 points 1 day ago (3 children)

For many cities they were the same book.

[–] Candice_the_elephant@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago

For small cities, large cities had multiple white pages books. A-F G-N O-Z for example.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Same book, but still color separated with business in yellow and residential in white.

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[–] kirkoman@sh.itjust.works 175 points 1 day ago (11 children)

The yellow one was for businesses. Residential phone numbers and often addresses where in the white book.

[–] kirkoman@sh.itjust.works 106 points 1 day ago (3 children)
[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 2 points 21 hours ago

Bess Motta was pretty hot.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

All of this could've been avoided had Sarah asked her roommate to get phone line in her name.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes the terminator would have reached the end of the list and gone "Whelp, guess the humans outsmarted us again!" And just give up on the spot. Terminator are known for giving up at the slightest setback.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago
[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 29 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Samsonite! I was close.

(I know I know wrong movie, but it is another phone book scene at least)

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[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 1 day ago (2 children)

In smaller areas they'd make the yellow book and white book the same book to save on binding and distribution. I remember back in the very early 2000's my rural county still got the 400+ page yellow pages delivered every year.

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[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I was very excited when my name, Johnson, Navin R appeared in the phone book. "Things are going to start happening to me now."

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 10 points 1 day ago (3 children)

My mom saves up all her junk mail, and takes it to a neighborhood shredding event 2 or 3 times a year. She gets distressed if she misses it. She doesn't understand why I just toss it all away.

I've asked her why she thinks her junk mail address is so valuable, and she's afraid they will fall into the wrong hands. I've explained to her that if it's on junk mail, it's already out there being sold. It's just her name and address, it's a public record.

I get why she'd want to shred stuff with her SS# on it, but another AARP solicitation?

[–] JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Be a good child now and buy your mom a shredder

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

She's got one, but she thinks the trucks will shred better, and the shreds wont be in her trash where people will know where they came from.

I should note that my mother lives in a gated, active adult community, and there is literally ZERO crime in her neighborhood. If someone started going through someone else's trash, you'd have a half a dozen busybodies demanding to know what you're up to.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 points 13 hours ago

wait lol, if she thinks her address is so valuable for strangers to steal, wouldn't that make tossing it somewhere other than home more risky? Not that there's much thought going into this routine.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago (4 children)

You have shredder trucks going through your neighbourhoods like mendicant tinkers??

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[–] CrackedLinuxISO@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm in the habit of shredding everything.

a) It's so fun to watch a stack of mailers turn into confetti

b) Deniability. If I only shred important documents, then all my shredded trash is now important. If I shred everything, nobody knows how much of it is important.

Mostly A though. I'm not yet worried about someone trying to reconstruct my shredded trash.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 1 points 21 hours ago

Very paranoid. I like it.

[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 1 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

I just gather it throughout the year and burn it in winter. Atleast i get some value from all the junk mail.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I had a close friend with a super long ranch home, with a big open basement under the entire thing. He collected old phone books from all of his friends and anywhere he could get them, and stacked up at the end, and we would target shoot pellet guns and .22s into them. They made a perfect backstop for light gauges like that.

He was also a jeweler, and had his jewelery bench down there, so I would hang out and keep him company while he worked, and I put in a LOT of shooting hours. Became a pretty good shot.

[–] swampdownloader@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 21 hours ago

It doesn’t get much more American than a phone book hoarder’s indoor shooting range!

[–] Son_of_Macha@lemmy.cafe 43 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You were asked if you wanted to be listed or not.

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Depends on the country.
In Australia you had to pay an extra fee to not be placed on there. Fuck you Telstra.

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

I've never heard an Aussie say anything positive about Telstra.

[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 5 points 1 day ago

Ditto in US. It was at least an opt out thing and referred to as getting an "unlisted number", I can't recall if there was a charge to do it.

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[–] notsosure@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

The reach of a printed phone book is obviously very limited, if compared to the globally accessibility of online data.

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[–] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 20 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Yes, but even then it was generally only true for the remaining fixed landline phones. Felt just like a public knowledge part of your address, like putting your name on the doorbell button.

To be generally valid for mobile phones you probably would have to go back another 10 years.
Those truely were different times still, also online.
I even remember posting my mail address to a public register at the end of the 90s to distribute the public part of my pgp key...

[–] nickiwest@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

It was fine to have my landline listed, because I didn't have it with me in my pocket all day.

I would not want my cell number to be published. Mostly because I already get enough spam messages.

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