Yes, you may have cats.

October 9, 2009 3:35 PM

No, it is not Caturday.
posted by Pronoiac (63 comments total)

I've got a lot of reconsidering to do.
posted by Joe Beese at 3:39 PM on October 9, 2009 [2 favorites]

I am not laughing out loud.
posted by dersins at 3:40 PM on October 9, 2009 [5 favorites]

Just chuckling a little to myself.
posted by dersins at 3:40 PM on October 9, 2009

Actually, I'm fairly certain that my cat is breaking maritime law.
posted by brundlefly at 3:42 PM on October 9, 2009 [11 favorites]

This cat is neither a metaphorical nor a literal Viking.
posted by Pronoiac at 3:43 PM on October 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

Well this site just takes ll the fun out of live doesn't it?

This site is actually pretty funny.
posted by lekvar at 3:52 PM on October 9, 2009

All cats are Vikings, that's why they nap.
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:53 PM on October 9, 2009 [7 favorites]

I wish I could say my parent's cat is average, but I can't. He is exceptionally evil (to me only).
posted by preparat at 3:53 PM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

this and fuck you, penguin are my favorite of this type.
posted by nadawi at 3:56 PM on October 9, 2009

Sheesh, haven't we done this to death already?
posted by chillmost at 3:58 PM on October 9, 2009

apparently not
posted by squeakyfromme at 3:59 PM on October 9, 2009

I wanted to laugh

[CAT]

but I did not
posted by 2bucksplus at 3:59 PM on October 9, 2009

This cat is not screaming. Cats cannot scream.

This caption was written by someone who's never stepped on my cat by accident at 3am.
posted by rokusan at 4:00 PM on October 9, 2009 [10 favorites]

GRINCATS
posted by fuq at 4:01 PM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Also, explaining the joke makes the joke funnier.
posted by ardgedee at 4:02 PM on October 9, 2009

Wait, just so I'm clear on this -- those are intentionally unfunny, right?
posted by mudpuppie at 4:02 PM on October 9, 2009

I wonder whom the site owner was explaining all that to.
posted by path at 4:04 PM on October 9, 2009

This one's provably wrong.
posted by acb at 4:06 PM on October 9, 2009 [5 favorites]

Well I think it's funny.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:06 PM on October 9, 2009

I admire how the blogger started by detourning popular lolcat photos, and after those ran out has now resorted to simply describing, as painfully literally as possible, what the pictures consist of.
posted by ardgedee at 4:11 PM on October 9, 2009 [2 favorites]

I didn't realize there were all these people on the internet taking pictures of felines and superimposing text over them. How long has this sort of trend been going on?
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 4:12 PM on October 9, 2009 [2 favorites]

Why not also go ahead and devote a website to disproving fairies and time travel? Way to rain on the one meme that was about pure innocent happiness.
posted by mccarty.tim at 4:13 PM on October 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

Question: Do cats intend to be vikings? I mean as in, do they intentionally nap because they want to be vikings, or do they just happen to be vikings because they sleep, and sleep in and of itself is the reward?
posted by mccarty.tim at 4:14 PM on October 9, 2009 [2 favorites]

The guy actually understands the jokes, he's just being ironic.
posted by qvantamon at 4:16 PM on October 9, 2009 [4 favorites]

Question: Do cats intend to be vikings?

I've seen a few that do that opening wail from Immigrant Song really well. Does that count?
posted by qvantamon at 4:17 PM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

So, these cats DO want?
posted by WolfDaddy at 4:35 PM on October 9, 2009 [2 favorites]

This is a debunking, not a declawing. It is easily not read. Please close the window and return hackles to the rest position.
posted by vapidave at 4:35 PM on October 9, 2009 [4 favorites]

I didn't realize there were all these people on the internet taking pictures of felines and superimposing text over them. How long has this sort of trend been going on?

Since right after you fell asleep, Mr. Van Winkle.
posted by incessant at 4:36 PM on October 9, 2009 [4 favorites]

oddly, on both sites, that damn cat still wantz cheezburger.
posted by logicpunk at 4:37 PM on October 9, 2009 [2 favorites]

Cats can't play cards. Their paws are too small to hold them. And yet, I still laugh. What is this phenomenon they call "cat"?
posted by saturnine at 4:37 PM on October 9, 2009

So I assume that he'll soon have to take time off to go inform all of the grade school kids about Santa?
posted by nonliteral at 4:38 PM on October 9, 2009

Hey, back off, some of these are funny and nearly all are mildly amusing.
posted by rainy at 4:38 PM on October 9, 2009

Last night I tried to give my cat a piece of cheeseburger and he initially refused it. It only now occurs to me that I missed an iconic photographic moment.
posted by pointystick at 4:51 PM on October 9, 2009

I thought a site with 'Meta' in the name would have less snark and more love for this sense of humour. No, I haven't been here long.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 4:51 PM on October 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

Caturday is not the name of a day of the week. There is a day called "Saturday" which differs only in the first letter.
posted by mhum at 4:54 PM on October 9, 2009 [5 favorites]

Well, I thought they were pretty funny. Funnier if you know the original captions by heart.
Yes, I have a problem...
posted by gemmy at 5:00 PM on October 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

I've seen a few that do that opening wail from Immigrant Song really well.

Like this?
posted by EvaDestruction at 5:09 PM on October 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

this reminds me of when i was drunk one night and thought that mayipleasehaveacheeseburger.com was the funniest idea evar.
posted by snofoam at 5:26 PM on October 9, 2009

Also, explaining the joke makes the joke funnier.

Yes. This person, they're not really stupid. They don't misunderstand the lolcat meme, or take the images as true representations of cats' abilities and characteristics. In fact, they understand the jokes contained in the images all too well, because they've seen hundreds of them in the last few years. But the whole cultural thread that the jokes depend on has worn thin through wear, and they no longer enjoy the jokes as they once did. Instead they now see them as symptomatic of the pointless and empty anthropomorphizations that we project onto our pets, which they feel to be intellectually and emotionally weak responses to the actual bonds we can form with animals.

So, this person has taken it upon themselves to effectively jam the meme by ironically interposing unemotional and literal descriptions of the same images using the very same style. The result is a violent transgressive violent attack on modern internet culture, made all the more potent by it's normative representation. Had the person written an essay about how much they disliked the lolcat meme, it would not bear the same impact. However, the chosen presentation excites others who share this persons feelings by its sophistication. They invite others to share in their wit in attacking a now crass cultural icon, and enjoy to feeling received from being above the masses.

Unfortunately, this work only serves to reinforce the lolcat meme because negations must always invoke the original. It shows that in any prevailing culture, ours is not a choice of position, in or out, but rather of role, with or against. Both serve to create and center our social existence in the same culture.
posted by Sova at 5:28 PM on October 9, 2009 [29 favorites]

This meme ok, that other meme, not ok.
posted by Big_B at 5:29 PM on October 9, 2009

I thought a site with 'Meta' in the name would have less snark and more love....

I've never really understood the name MetaFilter. I always think we should be talking about, like, Digg and Del.icio.us, or debating Google's ranking algorithms.

Isn't it really just, like... Filter?

* Like, do I still have to spell it that way, or can I say 'Delicious.com' now that they sprung for the real name?
posted by rokusan at 5:31 PM on October 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

I beg to differ. Some cats play the piano. Cats can also make music videos with their friends that are very funny!
posted by Eclipsante at 5:32 PM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Cats do not eat doughnuts

That is a lie.... one of my cats will eat just about anything. Could he live off of doughnuts? No. But that didn't stop him from eating some. Just this morning he ate waffles. My precious waffles.
posted by wildcrdj at 5:35 PM on October 9, 2009 [5 favorites]

Some cats ride around on roombas. Try rationalizing that one.
posted by woodway at 5:56 PM on October 9, 2009

Primate masturbation is a concept foreign to cats so they would not engage in voyeurism and only enjoy the feeling of security in observing from a ceiling perspective.

(Also, I am not noticing popular television shows in the background of pornography.)
posted by Smedleyman at 5:58 PM on October 9, 2009

As a life-long Dog Person (who outgrew a childhood allergy to cat dander but not the accompanying fear and loathing thereof), I enthusiastically endorse this site. I hope he goes on to debunk the myths created by cartoon cats like Garfield (cats don't care that it is Monday), Top Cat (alley cats do not set up homes in trash cans and do sophisticated con jobs), Choo-Choo-Bear from Something Positive (no such thing as a boneless cat; there are limits to how limp a cat can get) and Felix (no cat has a magic bag of tricks). Also, cats can not become invisible by grinning widely, The Catanooga Cats were all anonymous studio musicians and female cats do not fall romantically in love with mice (Krazy Kat) or befriend cockroaches (Archy and Mehitabel); also no mouse can physically lift a brick, let alone throw one. And Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke did other business in addition to the saloon.
posted by wendell at 6:23 PM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Also, I am not noticing popular television shows in the background of pornography

Good thing you don't watch TV - its a vast wasteland or so I've heard.
posted by rough ashlar at 6:27 PM on October 9, 2009

If you're reading backwards through the archive, it gets funnier around page 5 or 6.

This is not the standard position for a cat to be in, and this photograph is something of a novelty for this reason.

Cats cannot play handheld gaming devices. Cats are not bothered by this fact.

Cats may sleep on humans.

After I figured out what they were doing, I though it would get old very quickly, but there's something about sticking a cute picture behind a mildly amusing caption that makes me chuckle. I think this site is a good argument for the claim that you don't need to anthropomorphize a cat to make it funny.
posted by ErWenn at 6:39 PM on October 9, 2009

If I were a cat, I wouldn't think this site is funny.

Because cats don't give a fuck about irony.
posted by digsrus at 7:01 PM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Caturday in the Snark.
posted by gman at 7:45 PM on October 9, 2009

This stuff never gets old!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:05 PM on October 9, 2009

Awesome. Total and complete awesome. This will be my daily ying to my lolcat yang; balance has been achieved.
posted by Bovine Love at 9:02 PM on October 9, 2009

When I read these, I hear Emily Deschanel in my head.
posted by stavrogin at 10:16 PM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

When I read these, I hear Emily Deschanel in my head.

So true!

It's like I was saying to her last week - Ems, get out of my head or start paying rent.
posted by Sparx at 3:05 AM on October 10, 2009

This cat is neither a metaphorical nor a literal Viking.

Obviously - surely we must all know by now that real vikings did not have horns on their helmets?
posted by biffa at 3:17 AM on October 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

Some cats ride around on roombas. Try rationalizing that one.


Well it's quite simple. They're recreating famous scenes from cinema history. That, or re-enacting the invention of Photoshop, the assassination of Lincoln, or the enactment of prohibition. The Roombas were obtained as a reward from Ray, for breaking into Yahoo! to remove his fake personal ad.
posted by Infinite Jest at 4:00 AM on October 10, 2009 [2 favorites]

=^.^=
posted by everichon at 8:29 AM on October 10, 2009

These are hilarious, nevermind the haters.
posted by cj_ at 9:36 AM on October 10, 2009

Cats do not eat doughnuts.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 10:44 AM on October 10, 2009

I was meh, but then I LOLed.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 3:42 PM on October 10, 2009

Cats do not eat doughnuts.

I'm glad you made that important clarification that cortex is not a cat. Of course, no cat would ever take on the responsibilty of being a MetaFilter Moderator. There may be a couple of them working at Fark, though.
posted by wendell at 6:16 PM on October 10, 2009

It must have been a bitch to hunt down the original, caption-less versions of all those pictures.
posted by Rhaomi at 6:52 PM on October 10, 2009

It must have been a bitch to hunt down the original, caption-less versions of all those pictures.

I suspect he just finds the pictures on icanhascheezburger.com, and then clicks the "recaption this" link.
posted by BrotherCaine at 12:18 PM on October 11, 2009