NS, 'uncles' and chicken rice: A peek into Singapore millennial meme humour

CNA Lifestyle

NS, 'uncles' and chicken rice: A peek into Singapore millennial meme humour

Always scratched your caput over a meme (and wondered how to pronounce it) on your social media feed? CNA Lifestyle takes a look at popular local meme pages.

25 Mar 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 03 Jul 2022 ten:02PM)

Offset of all, meme is pronounced "meem", not "me-me". Memes have go a rallying point for millennial humour around the world, having evolved from stock reaction photos coupled with assuming text. They are fickle flickers of pop civilization, dying out every bit speedily as they go viral. It is not unusual for an prototype or meme format to last no more than a calendar week.

You've seen them on your social media feed over the years. There's been the stick effigy Bill, whom y'all are supposed to be more similar; a spate of Grumpy Cat/LOLcats/Cheezburgerz representations of your current mood; life lessons from Lady Gaga and the 99 people in the room who don't believe in her; an evil Kermit the Frog representing the worst of your nature; and even a especially dramatic hamster.

Y'all know y'all want to. (Photograph: Pinterest)

This was Nib. He'due south retired. (Photograph: Pinterest)

You'd look this manner too if people called you a meme veteran. (Photograph: Pinterest)

The humour is sometimes nighttime, nigh ever a little weird – the effects of millennials having grown up with mean world syndrome, perhaps. Absurdity is prized among meme connoisseurs, with the most head-scratching content viewed to exist the most "chilly", or most valued.

But how do Singaporean millennials take their memes? With a generous helping of National Service (NS) jokes, a side of "uncle fashion", and a lot of chicken rice, plain.

FALLING IN

Striking meme group Memedef (a play on the Ministry of Defence acronym "Mindef") launched terminal Feb while founders Raphael Yee, 21, and Jonathan Lee, 22, were still in Bones Armed services Training. In slightly over a year, the page has grown to achieve more than than 28,000 followers on Facebook and slightly more than followers on Instagram.

Yee started by creating Telegram stickers about his BMT company and things "just took off from there". He recounted: "I rang Jonathan up i solar day and was similar, 'Hey dude, yous wanna start a folio?' And hither we are".

The folio was launched before Chinese New year's day with the name, MDES Scheme For Pes F Light-green Boi Memes – and a deliberate focus on not-gainsay personnel who are graded C or E in the Physical Employment Standards (Pes). "Nosotros felt that they were very under-represented in NS conversations," said Yee.

"We were quite a striking at the start, growing by a yard likes a week for a good 2 months. Things really spiralled out of control during Chinese New year. Jon and I were making upward to 10 memes a day and people were just sharing them like crazy. I'grand guessing it'south because during visitation, people don't really practice much," said Yee.

Memedef has also explored Telegram to build a community for NSFs. To date, some 1,400 members in the Telegram supergroup talk over memes, current affairs and NS-related matters, with 10 volunteer moderators to "brand sure people don't pause the rules".

In February, Memedef ventured into publishing satire features in the class of The Tekong Times. "We've always wanted to do satire but never got that ball rolling. So, when [one of our content creators Benjamin Goh] created a concept on Weebly, I was all in on it and we rolled out a proper website," said Yee.

While the founders of Memedef will complete their NS obligations in less than a twelvemonth, Yee hopes that the page volition go along to accept a positive impact on the lives of our men in green. "People come to the states for our memes and humour, merely they as well come up to usa for back up and even to detect lost 11B cards. Information technology's funny because someone pointed out that we have the power to rally enough men to form a division."

GENERATION GAP

Few things are funnier than the stark differences between generations. The @uncleswithstyle folio on Instagram highlights the sometimes outrageous fashion that men of a certain vintage in Singapore are wont to wear.

"Uncleswithstyle is an account that collates photographs of old people in interesting outfits seen mostly in Singapore. Information technology aims to certificate the seemingly mundane theme of elderly fashion," said founder Cheah Sziyang.

"Elderly" is, of course, subjective – at just twenty years quondam, the fresh graduate of Singapore Polytechnic'south Visual Advice And Media Design programme is a few decades younger than the subjects on his page.

"I found it to exist an interesting theme as the outfits of the elderly capture sure styles of the past, similar bell bottom pants, pleated trousers, Hawaiian shirts, every bit well as their hobbies and their interests, similar colourful graphic tees of fitness and martial art clubs."

Launched in June 2017, the account started equally a mood board and a source of inspiration for Cheah.

"I was fatigued to outfits worn by some onetime people. It sounds funny, I guess, only there is a certain charm to the comfortable outfits of yesteryear they tend to wear," he said. "I presently realised that documenting the clothing styles of the elderly in Singapore could be an interesting self-initiated project to embark on."

Today, some 1,500 followers contribute pictures of wacky outfits seen in public to Cheah'south Instagram business relationship.

TUCKING INTO KUEY PNG

Sometimes, appreciating life's simpler pleasures is enough. That is the bulletin of A Different Flick Of Chicken Rice Every Day on Facebook, or @kueypng (Hokkien for chicken rice) on Instagram.

Categorised as "Art" on Facebook, the folio does as information technology describes, uploading a different epitome of the quintessential Singaporean hawker favourite each day at noon.

To the more than eleven,000 followers on Instagram, @kueypng is an old true-blue, serving up an image of either roast or steamed craven rice daily.

The just caveat? No location tags. The page may take visited well over 400 chicken rice stalls across the island, but they have even so to reveal the name of the unmarried vendor.

When questioned, the admin has been known to reply with a cheeky response: "All chicken rice is good craven rice bro/sister."

Who says memes are light-headed?

NS, 'uncles' and chicken rice: A peek into Singapore millennial meme humour

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