meme

It’s a familiar word to me, but what does it mean?

Definition of meme:
“n. (mēme) a unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.

[Shortening (modeled on GENE) of mimeme, from Greek mimēma, something imitated, from mimeisthai, to imitate. See mimesis.]” (answers.com).

Where I ran across it:
9/4/08 Vanity Fair’s Politics and Power Blog, “Cindy McCain’s $300,000 Outfit”.

“…One of the persistent memes in the Republican line of attack against Barack Obama is the notion that he is an elitist, whereas the G.O.P. represent real working Americans like Levi “F-in’ Redneck” Johnston.…”

My two cents:
Certain Republicans have come a long way since the days of Pat Nixon’s sensible cloth coat, haven’t they? Vanity Fair has dished the dirt on Cindy McCain’s and Laura Bush’s Republican convention attire the other night, and frankly, I’m aghast. Six figures! Each! Or maybe I’m just jealous. I guess if I had Cindy’s money (and Cindy’s houses) I’d wear Oscar de la Renta, too. Just not on the night I was supposed to get the American public to relate to me and elect my husband.

Only two more months until the post-election dawn of November 5^th delivers some sweet relief from all this election frenzy. Unless, of course, we get into a dicey situation like Al Gore and W. did in '00 on account of the Floridians and their hanging chads. What a mess that was. Nobody got any relief for weeks, and the victor was ultimately chosen not by the popular vote but by the Electoral College and the Supreme Court. Talk about an eye opener. I got a little jaded about the election process after that. Maybe I have control issues.

Anyway, the question I have about the word, meme, is this: why is there no synonym for it in Microsoft Word? Try it yourself. Type “meme” in Word and right click and select Synonyms. See? It says, “No Suggestions.” Weird, huh?

Maybe Word's great and powerful Synonyms Oz is simply clueless, and just needs somebody to make a suggestion.

Maybe that goes for certain Republicans, too.