The Internets chaotic and sometimes mob-like mentality in 2015 came to an end with a viral picture of a dog with ham on its face.
The photo went viral for a number of reasons and showed the power of the Internet and virality in the modern age.
The controversy started when Facebook user Stephen Roseman claimed his dog was badly burned and disfigured while rescuing a family from a house fire, and asked people to like or share his post.
But once the photo earned more than 100,000 views, people began to notice that the photo wasnt what it seemed.
If you look very closely, youll realize that this picture is actually not of a brave dog thats been burned in a house fire, BuzzFeeds Ryan Broderick wrote. Its actually a photo of a dog with ham on its face.
Following that reveal, social media users started sharing the post mostly as a joke, some even referencing the picture as hamdog, BuzzFeed reported.
The dog with ham on its face or hamdog, whatever you want to call it caps off whats been a year of interesting Internet memes and experiences.
It was the year the dress became the meme by which all others are judged, the year of an endearingly clueless backup dancer in a shark costume and the year of critters both adorable (quokkas!) and wacky (those runaway llamas), CNN reported.
Yes, there were a number of popular Internet jokes and memes from throughout the year. The Daily Dot listed a bunch of them, as did BBC. Theres also Relevants list of Internet moments that defined 2015.
Using these, weve compiled a list of some of the most popular memes from the year. Let us know if there were any we missed.
The dress
Who could forget the dress that sparked a debate for weeks?
First reported by Cates Holderness of BuzzFeed, this dress looked totally different for people. Some saw it as blue and black, while others suggested it was white and gold.
The original article earned more than 38 million page views and inspired a number of hot takes and think pieces on why it looked different for everyone and what it meant for American society and journalism as a whole.
The dress originally came from a Tumblr post, which has since disappeared, The Independent reported.
Those llamas
Many forget that a pair of llamas captured Americas attention on the same day as the dress. Back on Feb. 27, two llamas ditched their owner and fled out onto major roads in Arizona, AZ Central reported. Live video feeds of the llamas sprang up on the Internet, capturing the nations interest and even their own Twitter account.
Someone on the Internet also cleverly created a meme that combined both the dress and the llamas together.
Anyone watching 2015s Super Bowl halftime show would have noticed Katy Perry dancing the night away with a pair of sharks. The Internet, though, made one of the sharks famous.
Left Shark won over the hearts of Internet users because his moves seemed less on-point and more confused than those of the right sharks, US Magazine reported. Like the aforementioned pair of llamas, Left Shark even got its own Twitter account.
The Left Shark also had its fair share of legal issues, too. Perry wanted to trademark the sharks design, but the U.S. Trademark Office ultimately rejected her request, The Hollywood Reporter explained.
Pizza rat
Back in September, on a relatively slow news day, the nation found itself obsessed by a subway rat that attempted to carry a piece of pizza down a set of stairs, CNN reported. Many Internet users claimed the rat symbolized the ultimate New Yorker for its love of pizza and willingness to find stardom through adversity.
"He appears poised to complete the descent and return to his squalid rat hole with his unnecessarily large prize an inspiring demonstration of the grit and determination one needs to make it in New York City," Caroline Bankoff wrote for the Daily Intelligencer.
Doughnut raccoon
Just under the 2015 wire, a raccoon showed its love for doughnuts in what many called shades of pizza rat. As Time reported, the raccoon dropped from a doughnut shops ceiling and stole one of the pastries from the shelves.
Youll notice this creature makes pretty much no effort to be stealthy and just totally goes for it. Youll also notice that the people filming this event most likely employees are utterly delighted by this, Time reported.
Double hoverboard fun
Also during the last week of 2015 a week that The Washington Post said creates a sort of dead zone in the office hoverboard fails earned a lot of attention.
As I wrote earlier this week, not only did Mike Tysons fall off a hot pink hoverboard create a reaction among Internet users, but so too did a Catholic priest in the Philippines, who rode a hoverboard during Christmas Eve mass.
You can watch both hoverboard moments in the videos below.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153333639606239
https://twitter.com/Chafitz/status/681966864885493760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Hotline Bling meme
Whether you listen to Drake or not, the artists music video for his hot summer song Hotline Bling captured the hearts and minds of Internet users everywhere with GIFs and memes from the video. These memes, often just snippets from Drakes music video, referenced pop culture moments, USA Today reported.
#PopeBars
News broke earlier this year that Pope Francis would release a pop-rock album called Wake Up! As Rolling Stone reported, the album would spread his message of hope, faith and unity using pop-rock genre style music.
But Pope Francis wasnt done lyrically after the album dropped, as the hashtag #PopeBars went viral after a photo of the pope speaking into a microphone gained popularity on the Internet, The Washington Post reported.
Using modern rap lyrics and giving them their own faithful spin, the Internet had a field day bringing some musical levity to the world.
It led to a hilarious, if irreverent, meme: Twitter users imagined the pontiff as a rapper and gave him appropriate lyrics using the hashtag #popebars, the Post reported.
The photo went viral for a number of reasons and showed the power of the Internet and virality in the modern age.
The controversy started when Facebook user Stephen Roseman claimed his dog was badly burned and disfigured while rescuing a family from a house fire, and asked people to like or share his post.
But once the photo earned more than 100,000 views, people began to notice that the photo wasnt what it seemed.
If you look very closely, youll realize that this picture is actually not of a brave dog thats been burned in a house fire, BuzzFeeds Ryan Broderick wrote. Its actually a photo of a dog with ham on its face.
Following that reveal, social media users started sharing the post mostly as a joke, some even referencing the picture as hamdog, BuzzFeed reported.
The dog with ham on its face or hamdog, whatever you want to call it caps off whats been a year of interesting Internet memes and experiences.
It was the year the dress became the meme by which all others are judged, the year of an endearingly clueless backup dancer in a shark costume and the year of critters both adorable (quokkas!) and wacky (those runaway llamas), CNN reported.
Yes, there were a number of popular Internet jokes and memes from throughout the year. The Daily Dot listed a bunch of them, as did BBC. Theres also Relevants list of Internet moments that defined 2015.
Using these, weve compiled a list of some of the most popular memes from the year. Let us know if there were any we missed.
The dress
Who could forget the dress that sparked a debate for weeks?
First reported by Cates Holderness of BuzzFeed, this dress looked totally different for people. Some saw it as blue and black, while others suggested it was white and gold.
The original article earned more than 38 million page views and inspired a number of hot takes and think pieces on why it looked different for everyone and what it meant for American society and journalism as a whole.
The dress originally came from a Tumblr post, which has since disappeared, The Independent reported.
Those llamas
Many forget that a pair of llamas captured Americas attention on the same day as the dress. Back on Feb. 27, two llamas ditched their owner and fled out onto major roads in Arizona, AZ Central reported. Live video feeds of the llamas sprang up on the Internet, capturing the nations interest and even their own Twitter account.
Someone on the Internet also cleverly created a meme that combined both the dress and the llamas together.
Anyone watching 2015s Super Bowl halftime show would have noticed Katy Perry dancing the night away with a pair of sharks. The Internet, though, made one of the sharks famous.
Left Shark won over the hearts of Internet users because his moves seemed less on-point and more confused than those of the right sharks, US Magazine reported. Like the aforementioned pair of llamas, Left Shark even got its own Twitter account.
The Left Shark also had its fair share of legal issues, too. Perry wanted to trademark the sharks design, but the U.S. Trademark Office ultimately rejected her request, The Hollywood Reporter explained.
Pizza rat
Back in September, on a relatively slow news day, the nation found itself obsessed by a subway rat that attempted to carry a piece of pizza down a set of stairs, CNN reported. Many Internet users claimed the rat symbolized the ultimate New Yorker for its love of pizza and willingness to find stardom through adversity.
"He appears poised to complete the descent and return to his squalid rat hole with his unnecessarily large prize an inspiring demonstration of the grit and determination one needs to make it in New York City," Caroline Bankoff wrote for the Daily Intelligencer.
Doughnut raccoon
Just under the 2015 wire, a raccoon showed its love for doughnuts in what many called shades of pizza rat. As Time reported, the raccoon dropped from a doughnut shops ceiling and stole one of the pastries from the shelves.
Youll notice this creature makes pretty much no effort to be stealthy and just totally goes for it. Youll also notice that the people filming this event most likely employees are utterly delighted by this, Time reported.
Double hoverboard fun
Also during the last week of 2015 a week that The Washington Post said creates a sort of dead zone in the office hoverboard fails earned a lot of attention.
As I wrote earlier this week, not only did Mike Tysons fall off a hot pink hoverboard create a reaction among Internet users, but so too did a Catholic priest in the Philippines, who rode a hoverboard during Christmas Eve mass.
You can watch both hoverboard moments in the videos below.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153333639606239
https://twitter.com/Chafitz/status/681966864885493760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Hotline Bling meme
Whether you listen to Drake or not, the artists music video for his hot summer song Hotline Bling captured the hearts and minds of Internet users everywhere with GIFs and memes from the video. These memes, often just snippets from Drakes music video, referenced pop culture moments, USA Today reported.
#PopeBars
News broke earlier this year that Pope Francis would release a pop-rock album called Wake Up! As Rolling Stone reported, the album would spread his message of hope, faith and unity using pop-rock genre style music.
But Pope Francis wasnt done lyrically after the album dropped, as the hashtag #PopeBars went viral after a photo of the pope speaking into a microphone gained popularity on the Internet, The Washington Post reported.
Using modern rap lyrics and giving them their own faithful spin, the Internet had a field day bringing some musical levity to the world.
It led to a hilarious, if irreverent, meme: Twitter users imagined the pontiff as a rapper and gave him appropriate lyrics using the hashtag #popebars, the Post reported.