By all accounts, 2017 was a year. Sometimes, when a year ends, people commemorate them for some reason. Often, people act as if their past actions no longer affect them, because it’s “a new year, a new me.”

Well, I’m here to remind you that is not the case — your decisions will haunt you to your grave. That said, great memes come from each awful year. Because memes often reflect the common life situations of so many young people throughout the world, they are wonderful things. Here are four of the best memes that 2017 had to offer.

“Salt Bae” was arguably the most popular meme of early 2017. Nusret Gökçe, or Salt Bae, is a Turkish chef and chain restaurant owner who can cut and salt meat like a god among humans. Gökçe has a total count of 10.5 million views on his January twitter video “Ottoman steak.” Salt Bae’s signature salting technique is to sprinkle the salt so it falls onto his forearm, thus absorbing his skin grease before it lands on the meat. Tasty.

“Yall Living in 3017” was another great meme of 2017. This meme generally has a caption that says something close to “We’re all living in 2017, while person-in-question is living in 3017.” For example, someone who has surgically attached fidget spinners to their nipples could be so ahead of the trends that they are living in 3017 — and they will inevitably ascend into the memosphere.

Or, they could be so efficient that they clean their dishes in the bath. No matter what, to be in 3017, you need to do great and crazy things — like brushing your teeth in the shower or pooping and then stamping it down the drain.

Another memorable meme from 2017 is the “How Italians Meme,” or “Italian Hands,” meme. This meme is centred on the stereotype that Italian people hold their hands with all their finger tips touching when they talk. This meme allows for extreme remixability, frequently bridging over into the surreal. For instance, one might caption a photo “How Italians Sleep” if it depicts the “Italian Hand” resting gently against a pillow.

My final pick for the best memes of 2017 — and a personal favourite of mine — is the “Expanding Brain” meme. This meme is optimized for ultimate remixability, as the creator can replace the text alongside the images with increasingly idiotic — or crazier — captions in each use.

The vertically descending panels represent the expanding consciousness or “wokeness” of the idea in question, starting with the least woke brain at the top, and the wokest brain on the bottom. For instance, one could put the word “milk” at the top, followed by “lactose,” “cow juice” and “udder soup.” The potential is endless.

No matter what you thought of 2017, you have to say it was a great year for memes. Rising out of the ashes of “Harambe” and “Daniel’s White Vans,” there has been a birth of many more normie memes. Other honorable 2017 memes include “Wot In Tarnation,” “Distracted Boyfriend,” “Donald Trump,” “The Snapchat Hotdog” and “You’ve Heard of Elf on the Shelf…” Perched on my porcelain throne, I give 2017’s memes a look of mild satisfaction.

—

Ahren Klaassen-Wright