(CNN) — Trying to pinpoint the earliest internet meme is like trying to discern the first written word, or the first time someone sliced a loaf of bread; a futile effort, but one that unearths ...

Trying to pinpoint the earliest internet meme is like trying to discern the first written word, or the first time someone sliced a loaf of bread; a futile effort, but one that unearths fascinating ...

This story is adapted from Meme Wars: The Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America, by Joan Donovan, Emily Dreyfuss, and Brian Friedberg. Joan Donovan is the research director ...

The said meme, which is a format-dependent joke, usually of a picture with a subtitle or caption, had a printed date of 1919 and 1920, but it was believed to have been published in 1921. The meme had ...