this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2026
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A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment

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[–] SethTaylor@lemmy.world 44 points 2 days ago

POV: you're boobs

[–] Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works 28 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It was the last decade of magic before the Chaos Lord drained all of it from the land.

Also, every video used a fisheye lense, it was the law of the land.

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

We were powerless to stop him. :(

[–] Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

Had I a First Born, I would trade them for those pants.

[–] xia@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

They were all proudly holding their new ϹƵɭǟɥվʭӀкɲNjǀлѕ, before it was erased from the timeline.

[–] Hux@lemmy.ml 240 points 3 days ago (2 children)

We didn’t have selfie-cameras, so the only way to do a selfie was to throw your camera with a little spin on a short timer and hope it all looked great when one of your 24 photos were developed on bits of paper some time later…

[–] TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 44 points 2 days ago

I broke so many cameras this way...

[–] AmyAye@nord.pub 30 points 2 days ago

You joke but you can actually get some neat photos doing this, assuming you are competent enough to catch your camera. Especially with a fast auto shutter.

[–] gastroglizzy@piefed.social 155 points 3 days ago (12 children)

Skate videos popularized the use of the fish eye lens. Music videos had people waving their hands around in the face of the camera because it looks cool through that lens. The idea was applied to still images, and this is the result.

[–] jim_v@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Hype Williams directed the music videos in the 90s-2000s with lots of contrast, bright colors, bright lights, and the fisheye lens.

If you look up some Busta Rhymes music videos you will see plenty of examples.

[–] Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 7 points 2 days ago (4 children)

It's weird but, without the sound track these gifs just look like a bunch of posers trying to look cool.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but with the music it also looks that way to someone over twenty years old or so.

It was a remarkably stupid time, however even back then there were better music videos. E.g. stuff by Michel Gondry, Run Wrake, or Spike Jonze.

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[–] rmuk@feddit.uk 27 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

I jumped in slow motion / off the curb.

Without a skateboard / that should look absurd!

But with my fisheye lens / hey, haven't ya heard?

I got the moves so smooth / to make ya mom say:

...those are some exceptionally smooth moves!

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 7 points 2 days ago

waumph
waumph

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[–] kwomp2@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It was pioneered way before 2000

[–] kwomp2@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 days ago (5 children)

even though probably plagiarized

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[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's when fingers began to fing

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[–] rmuk@feddit.uk 66 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Look, it's the same every time a new gadget comes out and takes the world by storm only for it to become boring after a few years. If you weren't around in the late nineties it's hard to explain just how exciting fingers were.

[–] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago (8 children)

We had to do our finging manually before that. It was hell.

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)
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[–] Tiral@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 days ago

Same reason everyone started doing the stupid duck face shit in the 2010s then everyone started doing peace signs again.

The newest generation isn't immune to stupid shit just like every other decade isn't.

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 31 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Well that big ass asteroid was coming in 2012 so we had to make sure and be ready to catch it. But since it's really big everybody had to work together to do so. Then we just yeeted that thing up like a volleyball and it went away. And that's why we're still alive today.

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[–] Denjin@feddit.uk 74 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The photographer had a huge pair of beasts and they just couldn't help themselves but give em a little squeeze during thebphotoshoot

[–] jade52@lemmy.ca 85 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Those beasts must have been friendly if they were willing to be squeezed.

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[–] Mwa@thelemmy.club 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

is the guy at the 3rd image Limp Bizkit?

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 35 points 2 days ago (1 children)

No, that's Fred Durst. Limp Bizkt is the name of the doctor that created him.

[–] Mwa@thelemmy.club 3 points 2 days ago
[–] AVincentInSpace@pawb.social 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

One might even say it was virtually insane of them to do this.

[–] Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago

The future is made of Virtual Insanity, so this checks out.

[–] WolvenSpectre@lemmy.ca 54 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

In the 90's and 00's there was a photographic movement to take photographs with more depth using more hand and arm movement to make more dynamic images. Some say it came from comic book artists and others say it started as everyone doing the double thumb and index finger as a ergatz frame gide of what you were about to film, but this time you were the subject.

Anyways it got popular so people with cheap cameras and phone cameras started propping them up and trying to do some of it and most of the time they didn't have enough time to get their hands right. So they started to take all these pictures of themselves with weird hands and people started doing it on purpose, and then photographers picked up on the trend.

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[–] Tja@programming.dev 7 points 2 days ago

It was before the invention of the duckface.

[–] OctopusNemeses@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This is being done today. Ever notice how Youtubers/streamers are always waving their hands across the screen like they're doing ninja chops or something.

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[–] seerdomin1983@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 days ago

You ain’t goin nowhere!

[–] strop@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Because that year researchers discovered hands

[–] DerEnder@lemmus.org 6 points 2 days ago

I am still thankful for that 🤗

[–] orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts 38 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Even Limp Bizkit’s “Significant Other” album art did it. the album cover for Limp Bizkit’s album titled Significant Other. It features a picture of an exaggerated demonesque rapper with one hand out towards the audience, while the other hand holds a mic to its mouth—seemingly rapping at the audience, or its rap battle competition

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[–] JimFox@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 days ago
[–] Arigion@feddit.org 30 points 2 days ago

To show they were not AI generated. At that time AI usually got the number of fingers wrong. 😉

[–] Karmanopoly@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago (2 children)

They had to prove they weren't ai

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[–] Consensusallthewaydown@lemmy.world 35 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Nu-Metal Pose, meant to be a way of "connecting with the audience"

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[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 33 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (4 children)

So there is precisely one photograph of me on the internet and you just helped me prove to my wife that it's actually me because I'm doing that pose. WHO ELSE WOULD BE THAT RIDICULOUS.

Yesssss I've been trying to win this argument since like May now I get to pick brunch today

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[–] rizzothesmall@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

I was doing that in the 90s, too, because I was pretending to be a wizard and going "Pyaaaah! Zapppp!"

[–] sirico@feddit.uk 30 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Fisheye's became super popular because of skating is my uneducated guess

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[–] Malica@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Nepo photographer?

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They were confused. They thought the catch-phrase was "catch cheese" not "say cheese".

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[–] Surp@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

I don't know what to do with my hands

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