“Cats be outside, how about meow”: Multimodal humor and creativity in an internet meme

Abstract Adding to research on internet memes and humor, this study examines a set of image macros related specific viral media event (i.e., “cash me ousside”). This particular meme is linked popular catchphrase uttered by young teenage girl, who appeared 2016 episode the U.S. television talk show, Dr. Phil. We compiled dataset 220 from three online platforms. Our analysis focuses various forms linguistic which most often rely multimodal interactions between textual visual elements. findings reveal multiple instances wordplay involving paronymy as well register-based humor voicing recognizable figures. In addition, play involves semiotic blends with other memes. Overall, our illustrates unique combinations unexpected elements extensions non-standard images, thereby establishing incongruity generating humorous meanings.