Memes from our childhoods

Posted by jk_pens@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 85 comments

So we just had a post about “milk milk lemonade” and it seemed like a lot of us knew it and a lot of us didn’t. This got me to thinking about how before the Internet memes had to spread by word-of-mouth unless they somehow made it onto TV or radio, so I guess it’s not too surprising that awareness would not be as universal as say the 67 meme of today.

Anyhow, add a comment with a meme you remember and let’s see who else remembers it. Try to look for a comment with your meme before you add it. I’ll add a couple right now.

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Wonderful_Adagio9346@reddit

The best examples were the photocopied/faxed cartoons, usually naughty, found in offices, slowly fading as people made copies of copies...

Catchphrases are another example, popularized mostly by television. (That's what she said, know what I mean, Vern? You bet your sweet bippy, Jane, you ignorant slut.)

And then there's the urban legends, stuff that happened to a friend of a friend. Or it's a cautionary tale, told by your mother, about the kid who swallowed a cherry pit.

And, of course, there are folktales, told around a fire, while drinking alcoholic beverages...

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lawstandaloan@reddit

I remember a flow chart for problem solving that just kept directing everything back to "Did you fuck with it?" and "You poor bastard"

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XerTrekker@reddit

Oh yeah, I first started working in office jobs at peak photocopy meme, even inherited a few of those from my grandfather after he retired.

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BerryLanky@reddit

I had no idea what a slut was but I knew it got a lot of laughs. So at Thanksgiving my 9 year old self said ‘pass the potatoes grandma you ignorant slut’. I thought the whole table world erupt in laughter. Instead I got a nice visit from my dad’s belt.

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r2killawat@reddit

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I think I'll eat worms

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Quadfather44@reddit

I got the herpes on my pecker, sometimes it itches and burns I'm gonna eat me some worms

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r2killawat@reddit

Ahh the gift that keeps on giving.

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jk_pens@reddit (OP)

Big fat juicy ones

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JeannieBugg@reddit

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Fluffy_Respond_7405@reddit

Is that a smile or are u happy to see me?

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AryuOcay@reddit

Domo Arigato Mister Roboto

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IRadiateYou1999@reddit

Kilroy!

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murdermeMickey@reddit

Was here@

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flawedgear420@reddit

There was a man from Nantucket

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Persificus@reddit

Tv commercial jingles and…

“A one. A two. A three. CRUNCH…. A three.

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bugman199652@reddit

I still say "two-hoo" if I'm counting anything.

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Catskillschick@reddit

The world may never know🦉🍭

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ZedArkadia@reddit

Two-hoooo

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jk_pens@reddit (OP)

“Up your butt with a coconut, twice as far as a Marathon Bar” (RIP) - who remembers it?

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Grafakos@reddit

Put a tree in your butt
Put a bumblebee in your butt
Put a clock in your butt
Put a big rock in your butt
Put some fleas in your butt
Start to sneeze in your butt
Put a tin can in your butt
Put a little tiny man in your butt

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realTurdFergusun@reddit

Put a tele-PHONE in your butt

Put a dinosaur BONE in your butt

Put some money in your butt

Sure feels real funny in your butt

Put an alligator in your butt

I said I'll see you later in your butt

Feels real good

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ConstantConfusion123@reddit

What? Chicken butt!

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Round_Ad8947@reddit

Know why?

Chicken thigh

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ErringGlarer@reddit

We ended with “Ee-slapadilly and a ker-PLOP!”

Down by the Banks had a game to it where you stood in a circle, patted the hand of the person next to you, and tried not to be the one the verse ended on.

Girl Scouts still sing and play it. In my area they’ve added a whole new chant at the end that makes it twice as long.

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clementynemurphy@reddit

Most of these listed were just blacktop talk, and they still live there. I hear them from 3rd and 4th graders still. We also had "if it was up your; ass you'd know". I still use that one a lot...

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Global_Friend5300@reddit

My dear old Auntie Anne, the family spinster, was fond of saying, “If it was up your ass you’d know, and if it was in your mouth, you wouldn’t talk about it.”

Then again, my grandmother used to say, “It takes all kinds to make a world. But why the hell do I have to meet them all?”

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realTurdFergusun@reddit

Reminds me of what my grandfather would say-"time to go upstairs and fuck your grandma"

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BillyBainesInc@reddit

Great green gobs of grimy greasy gopher guts

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r2killawat@reddit

Mutilated monkey meat

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dreadful_cookies@reddit

Itty bitty birdy feet

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silian_rail_gun@reddit

it was "Little birdy turdy feet" at my summer camp :)

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r2killawat@reddit

18 eyeballs swimming in a pool of blood

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Medium-Mission5072@reddit

And me without a spoon

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r2killawat@reddit

We rounded it out - and I forgot my fork and spoon, but not my straw sluurrrp

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Little-Jelly-8789@reddit

Little tiny birdy butts

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Little-Jelly-8789@reddit

Mutilated monkey nuts

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jk_pens@reddit (OP)

mutilated monkey meat

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Round_Ad8947@reddit

There was a camp song about Three Jolly Fishermen that was a grooming tool for future potty mouths.

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silian_rail_gun@reddit

They ended up in amster...DAM!

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Pandy_45@reddit

Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack..

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jk_pens@reddit (OP)

Oh I don’t know that one. Tell us more!

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the_other_50_percent@reddit

She was all dressed in black, black, black.

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Extreme-Flan3935@reddit

I remember

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jk_pens@reddit (OP)

Huh, guess this one never made it to my schools!

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the_other_50_percent@reddit

She also had silver buttons all down her back, back, back.

I suspect most girls would remember that, boys not so much. It’s a hand-clap song.

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SamHandwich0@reddit

Jump rope song too

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SamHandwich0@reddit

Suprised i didn't see- grabs nipple Tune in Tokyo!

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jk_pens@reddit (OP)

We didn’t have that one!

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catnapspirit@reddit

X-Y-Z P-D-Q..

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Own_Celebration5462@reddit

We always added B S S to it. Before something shows.

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Roland-Of-Eld-19@reddit

Lulu had a Tugboat, the Tugboat had a bell
When Lulu went to heaven, the Tugboat went to
Hello Operator Give me number 9
And if you disconnect me I'll kick your darn
Behind the yellow curtain there is a piece of glass
And if you sit upon it you'll hurt your little
Ask me no more questions I'll tell you no more lies
The boys are in the bathroom doing up their
Flies are in the meadow the bees are in the park
The boys & girls are having fun necking in
The dark is like a movie & the movie's like a show
The show is like a tv set I'll tell ya what I know
I know my ma I know I know my pa
I know I know my sister with the 80 -metre
BRAvo Operator you gave me number 9
You didn't disconnect me & kept me on the line!

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Kindly-Might-1879@reddit

Dang, you’ve got way more verses than the version I remember. I sang this as “Miss Suzy” instead of Lulu, and we ended with

Ask me no more questions, tell me no more lies

The cows are in the pasture, making chocolate pies—-and lemonade (jazz hands)

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Roland-Of-Eld-19@reddit

Nice my version is what it had evolved into by 91 in southern British Columbia

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Funke-munke@reddit

Same song but we sang Ms Lucy

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ZuBrain@reddit

1134

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clementynemurphy@reddit

Idk this one?

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DiceyPisces@reddit

Boobies

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clementynemurphy@reddit

I rmbr 8008135 but not 1134 as hell? I never saw that one..

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thecrowsallhateyou@reddit

Calculator

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jk_pens@reddit (OP)

Yes, but 1134 is HELL

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muffsnake@reddit

5318008

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Full_Mission7183@reddit

420

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NerdfestZyx@reddit

Dead baby jokes

How do you get 100 dead babies into a dumpster? With a blender.

How do you get them out? With a straw.

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jk_pens@reddit (OP)

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.

Why did the dead baby cross the road? It was stapled to the chicken.

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lubbockin@reddit

"Made you look. Made you stare. Made you lose your underwear."

I remember this one early to mid 70s

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thecrowsallhateyou@reddit

I see London, I see France!

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cross-i@reddit

There’s place in France where the ladies p

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nietheo@reddit

There's a hole in the wall, so the men can see it all.

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cross-i@reddit

For us it was “and the men don’t care cause they chew their underwear “

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cross-i@reddit

There’s place in France where the ladies p

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XerTrekker@reddit

Where’s the beef

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Fluffy_Respond_7405@reddit

Whatchu talkin' bout, willis?!

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cross-i@reddit

There’s place in France where the ladies p

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captainfishhooks@reddit

Eeny meanie miny more catch a insert any derogatory name by the toe is he hollers let him go. I never heard tiger the first times ever.....white derogatory, black derogatory, and another ethnicity you wanted. IM talking like 10 an under in age. And we were all those groups. Bunch of different kids just out here blasting slurs for marbles.

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thecrowsallhateyou@reddit

Imagine my delight when gifs became a thing, and I could finally post the movie quotes that run through my head constantly.

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i_need_another_scarf@reddit

I remember kids just parroting lines from TV ads and popular shows like The Comedy Company or The Simpsons. Some kids in my primary class had seen Police Academy and would sing the Blue Oyster Bar song a lot. At the time it felt very important to be able to join in.

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jk_pens@reddit (OP)

The steamboat had a bell

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r2killawat@reddit

What about- Chinese Japanese dirty knees

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PhilDGrowler@reddit

Look at these.

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jk_pens@reddit (OP)

Look at these

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jk_pens@reddit (OP)

“Edna Mae, the whore of the town…” it goes on and gets extremely crude