MEMES OF YORE

What I'm counting as titular Memes of Yore are memes in the original sense: widespread cultural beliefs that propagate within the social consciousness. I have no idea where a lot of them came from and will be posting examples as I encounter them - this page is a way to keep from having to repetitively explain them every time:

Beards: Sometimes beards are weird and sometimes they aren't in the past. People say that other people have "chin-lettuce" and so forth.

COWARD!: Maybe more prevalent today than some other memes here, there was a weird obsession with not being seen as a coward by groups of people in the 40s through the 60s, at least as far as comic book writers are concerned. The scene where a hero makes a tactical retreat, leaves to get a needed item or basically does anything other than rush headlong into danger and is treated with scorn, derision and an instant loss of status in the eyes of nearby onlookers is a real staple of the comics genre for those decades.

Dunking: There was a weird obsession with the etiquette of dunking donuts in coffee in the 40s (and maybe 30s). This one seems like there was a specific touchpoint that it started from, like a movie or newspaper article, but I've never figured out what it was.

Fried Onions: Like the meme of correct dunking etiquette, there are multiple recurring bits about things like making sure to get plenty of fried onions when you order a hamburger that feel like they're referencing something that I have no context for. Fried onions on steak, mustard on hot dogs... they feel like the same kind of cultural reference as when everyone had an opinion about ketchup on hot dogs recently.

Hats: Women be shopping for hats. The hats look weird and men don't get it. Echoed in the way women are talked about today but the specific hat obsession is a thing of the past.

Keep 'em Flying: A manufactured meme! I don't know how prevalent it was outside of comics but within them it was pushed hard as a patriotic slogan of WWII.

Kicking: Up until the advent of the martial arts movement, kicking someone during a fight was something done only by cowards and Frenchmen. Take a look at old Batman comics: Robin will occasionally kick a much larger opponent as a last resort but Batman himself only kicks guns from hands.

Pretzel Benders: For about five minutes in the 50s, "Pretzel Bender" was the funniest job a person could have and "Olive Stuffer" was runner-up. I have no idea why.