Vote for "Youth Word of the Year": A frog says "Wednesday"

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"Strange Memes": "Frogs are cool, cute and funny. They shouldn't be used to spread hatred by right-wing extremists." 

Langenscheidt-Verlag has been choosing the "Youth Word of the Year" since 2008.

So far it has been chosen by a jury of the publisher, the criticism has always been the same: the winning words have little to do with true youth language.

The campaign was criticized as a purely commercial advertising campaign by the publisher,

last year

The top ten have now been determined.

A 23-year-old from Munich is responsible for a proposal.

For an interview in a café in the city center, he appears in a T-shirt depicting an angel with a machine gun.

He wants to remain anonymous, but SPIEGEL knows his true identity.

At the beginning of the meeting, he pushes an envelope over the table, inside are stickers with frogs, the trademark of his meme page on Instagram "

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"The frog" during an interview in a Munich café: "I don't want to be ridiculed by my colleagues, most of whom are as old as my parents"

Photo: 

Stefanie Witterauf

SPIEGEL:

The word "Wednesday" is an option for "Youth Word of the Year" - and you suggested it.

Why? 

Strict Memes:

So far I've only noticed this choice on the sidelines.

I believe that those responsible have always deliberately chosen something bad every year in order to polarize so that the supposedly adults can get upset about it.

Because no one uses words like "smombie" or "rotten meat party" - especially no young person.

I've seen "Son of a bitch" is in the running this year.

I thought that was funny and also voted for son of a bitch.

Unfortunately, it was then disqualified because the word is discriminatory, which in fairness would have been too blatant.

So I suggested "Wednesday" as an alternative.

It is my form of criticism because Langenscheidt has been choosing idiotic words from my point of view since 2008. 

SPIEGEL:

And isn't "Wednesday" as a youthful word stupid? 

Strict Memes:

After all, everyone says "Wednesday", it's a completely normal word.

So normal that in a meta way it would be very funny to let such a common word win.

But of course there is also a reference to my Instagram page "Stramme Memes".

For four years I have been posting a picture of a frog that I have put together every Wednesday and write: "It's Wednesday my guys".

I have a folder with over 300 frog pictures on my cell phone.

The origin is an English meme, which I - like many others - simply translated literally into German four years ago.

If you don't know that, you won't find it funny.

Most memes do. 

SPIEGEL:

How do you explain what a meme is to someone who doesn't know the word?

Tight Memes:

A meme is an internet phenomenon.

It is a photo or text that ideally conveys zeitgeist and political or cultural content.

Sometimes they don't mean anything, they're just funny.

Like an inside joke.

If you don't know the background, you won't understand many memes.

Because of the hype about the youth word, new people are coming to my site and looking at my memes with the frogs - 99 percent certainly don't understand the Wednesday gag. 

SPIEGEL:

Will you explain it to us? 

Tight memes:

I sometimes don't understand it myself.

SPIEGEL:

And you just stole the Wednesday frog? 

Tight Memes:

In principle, yes.

Very few people really think of anything themselves.

If a meme is funny, people remix it and make other versions of it.

And when things go pretty well or badly, it reaches the mainstream.

SPIEGEL:

Why should that be bad? 

Strict memes:

Then this gets into the hands of people who want to use it for themselves and their purposes.

Like the Sparkasse, for example, which advertised "i bims", according to the motto: Hello youth, we are on your level.

Unfortunately I don't find it funny anymore.

Maybe it's like music nerds: As soon as a song is on the radio, it's over. 

SPIEGEL:

So does your humor only work on the internet? 

Strict Memes:

In most cases, the gags are non-transferable.

There are many different types of humor.

Mine is rather flat. 

SPIEGEL:

Why do you want to remain anonymous? 

Tight memes:

I'm political with my memes - some of my frog memes also have a message.

I fire against the AfD and don't want rights bothering me any more.

Again and again my account gets into the bubble of right-wing groups and I get correspondingly unfriendly private messages.

I also work in a normal 40-hour job in mechanical engineering.

I don't want to be laughed at by my colleagues, most of whom are as old as my parents. 

SPIEGEL:

Then why do you have the frog Pepe of all people as your profile picture, which is mainly used by the right wing?

Tight memes: When

I started four years ago,

looked very different.

During the US election in 2016, rights abused Pepe for themselves.

Even the artist Matt Furie, who invented the frog, has distanced himself from it.

Anyone who comes to my side, sees Pepe holding a small German flag, is expecting memes from the right spectrum.

But the opposite is true.

Frogs are cool, cute, and funny.

They should not be used to spread hatred by right-wing extremists. 

SPIEGEL:

The right-wing say that leftists are bad at Internet humor - how do you see that?

Strict Memes:

In America, the right-wing meme pages are much more popular.

In German-speaking countries, in my opinion, the well-known pages tend to have a left-wing touch or openly left-wing.

For example EL Hotzo, Sodastreamfan or Berlin Club Memes.

Even if the memes aren't explicitly political, you can tell that someone with a leftist opinion is behind them. 

more on the subject

Youth study: Generation fun-free by Swantje Unterberg

SPIEGEL:

Do your parents think your memes are funny? 

Tight Memes:

You Know What I'm Doing.

But they don't understand.

It's a generation thing.

I don't know anyone my age who thinks Mario Barth is funny.

But my parents determine one or the other.

SPIEGEL:

You are 23 - it's not that young anymore. 

Tight memes:

I'm slowly noticing that I can no longer understand some youth trends.

For example, I belong to a generation that can't do anything with TikTok.

If I were three years younger, I would definitely have an account.

The internet culture is constantly changing, and I'm slowly growing out of some things. 

SPIEGEL:

How do you estimate the chances that "Wednesday" will be voted youth word 2020? 

Strict Memes:

This vote has now reached the mainstream.

And the mainstream doesn't understand the gag behind "Wednesday", so explanations for the success so far are now being sought.

I suspect that several thousands of my followers are voting for me because they follow the link I share in my story.

The "Süddeutsche Zeitung" has already called my frog "ugly toad". Let them do it. Saturday is sacred for football fans, Wednesday is just for my frog fans and me. I can imagine that "cringe" or "wyld" wins, because for most it sounds more like a youth word from the years before. But it can also be that protest voters support my proposal and the day of the guys becomes the youth word 2020.