Popular Culture Thinks Cats Are Funny

Many people in the world have pet cats and seem to think that cats are funny. A lot of materials regarding cat humor can be found in the television and the internet and this ranges from videos of cats to joke books. The popularity of cats is further evidenced by the advent of an internet culture based off cat humor.

The amusement often stems from seeing a cat carry out everyday human activities with comical results. An example is the mundane act of looking into a mirror. When a cat looks into a mirror, a common reaction is to approach the mirror cautiously, and then back away suddenly in fear as their own reflection in the mirror moves. Watching on the sidelines, pet owners not only laugh at the situation but also record these scenes on video to share with others.

In addition to funny videoes, edited photos of cats mimicking human activities or operating modern technology have surfaced on the internet. The photos are often candid shots of the furry feline in an unusual pose. Funny captions are then added onto the photo. These kind of images have come to be known as “lolcat”. “lol” is an internet slang for “laugh out loud” and is commonly used to represent laughter in typed form.

A sample lolcat could be one where a cat is caught standing in its hind legs and its right front leg stretched up to the right. With a caption, the image editor could give the impression that the cat is a rock and roll star. Sometimes, a picture with a cat in a regular sitting pose would be used, but the key to the humor is coming up with the appropriate caption that suits the image.

The caption is not written in ordinary English language. A slang known as “lolspeak” or “kitty pidgin” is used instead. Lolspeak is a parody of internet slang that often misspell English words and contain many grammatical errors. The use of this slang enhances the hilarity of the images. Several language rules regarding kitty lolspeak could be found on the internet.

There are a few common rules to observe in order to be a good writer of kitty pidgin. One is the heavy misuse of the verb “to be”. Users must also be careful to apply the wrong tenses to verbs and rearrange words in a sentence in a random order.

Misspelling is a major part of kitty pidgin. Some ways this has been done is replacing S with Z and importantly, “the” must be spelled as “teh”. In addition, lots of exclamation marks could be used in a single sentence, as well as using different internet abbreviations together in one word.

While funny cat video has always been a staple in game shows featuring home videos, lolcat has gone so far as to catch attention from the news and entertainment media. This cultural phenomena has even caught on with other popular domestic animals such as dogs and rabbits, forming “loldogs”, “lolrabbits” and so on. The bible has been translated into kitty pidgin as a parody and a comic book based off lolcat was published in 2008. With so much focus on cat humor, cats must be really funny!