the quiz (on internet culture)

the quiz
(on internet culture)
Harsaaj Singh Wander | Srijan Mittal

Rules
 18 questions + betting round.
 Infinite bounce & pounce.
 Pounce window closes 15 seconds after the question has been read out. No part points
on pounce.
 Directs +10 | Pounces +15/-10
 Piggybacking is allowed.
 QM is God.

Q0.
 ‘X and Y’ is one of Mario’s minigames in Super Mario 64 DS. It features Mario,
who has apparently split into three bodies, falling through the air, while trying to
stomp on the Fly Guys.
 The in-game instructions are: “Mario’s in free fall, but he can X back if you touch
him. Stomp the Fly Guys, but make sure he doesn’t fall out of the touch screen!”
 However, most of us (hopefully all) are (or have become) familiar with X and Y in
an entirely different context.

A0.
 X: Bounce
 Y: Pounce

Q1.
 In May 2018, a small clip (not an image) started doing the rounds on Twitter, probably because of how
much Twitter likes things of such a divisive nature. Around 53% of people said that the clip was one thing,
while the other 47% vocally disagreed.
 Donald Trump, however, disagreed with both, claiming that the clip was actually X, as a nod to one of his
most famous tweets as POTUS. X had become a shorthand for a social media mistake, topping
Dictionary.com’s list for the most-searched words which did not have an entry.
 This entire disagreement led the New York Times to do a spectrogram analysis of the clip, which
suggested that older people, whose ability to distinguish higher frequencies had degraded, were more
likely to perceive one thing over the other.
 Which controversy? + Id X (5 + 5).

A1.
 The Yanny/Laurel debate
 X: Covfefe

Q2.
 X pop is a genre of music which is intentionally written to be a certain way to become more popular. This
genre is widely considered to have been birthed by Rebecca Black’s song “Friday”. In India, the credit to
the propagation of this genre has been given to Y – known as the queen of X pop.
 Scientists believe that X originated as an evolutionary mechanism for us to look down upon behaviour
which could elicit social rejection – a mechanism vital to ensure the proper functioning of society.
However, how content with this quality tends to go viral remains a mystery.
 Some psychologists say that this is simply a subconscious mechanism for us to shoot these deeply
embedded fears down in a controlled, light-hearted manner.
 Id X and Y. (5 + 5)

A2.
 X: Cringe pop
 Y: Dhinchak Pooja

Q3.
 In 2010, around the time YouTube and, as a result, X was getting popular, X’s marketing
team decided to launch an Internet poll titled “X My World”, where his fans would be able
to vote for the country X would visit for his debut tour. However, as the polls, opened, so
did the 4chan threads, which collectively decided to vote in huge numbers to send X to
North Korea, which ended up winning the poll. The poll, unfortunately, was promptly shut
down.
 You’d think a PR disaster of this magnitude would prove to be a valuable lesson, but
you’d be wrong.
 (…continued on the next slide)

 In 2012, as part of a promotion for Walmart, Y’s marketing team had a similar idea. However,
instead of making the poll international, they kept it limited to the United States (quite ironic,
considering Y’s nickname). Naturally, the 4chan threads started, and voted, this time, to send
Y to Kodiak, Alaska, perhaps taking inspiration from some of Y’s lyrics. Kodiak also happened
to have the remotest Walmart in the US at the time. This time, however, Y actually went, and
he did get some nice publicity out of it.
 Later that year, Taylor Swift’s marketing team had another one of these ideas, but having
learnt from past mistakes, decided to let the Internet vote for a school to send Taylor to
(…because schools in the US are renowned for their safety). 4chan was back at it again, this
time making the Horace Mann School win, because the school only catered to a certain
portion of the population, who wouldn’t mind being exposed to Taylor’s music.
 Id X, Y + what was so special about the Horace Mann School?
(Direct 5 + 5 + 5 | Pounce +25/-15)

A3.
 X: Justin Bieber
 Y: Pitbull (Mr. Worldwide)
 The Horace Mann School is
a school for the deaf

Q4.
 This meme originates from a long-running animated series, and first appeared in an
episode titled “I Was a Teenage Gary”, which aired on 28th October 1999. In this meme,
the narrator can be heard reciting the text in a dreamy, monotone voice.
 On January 30, 2012, an ordered compilation of the various versions of this meme was
released (and, frankly, it was about time), which has since amassed 9 million views.
 Since the episode’s airing, over 60 different versions of this meme have been used by the
series.
 Id the series & the meme (5 + 5).

A4.
 X: SpongeBob SquarePants
 Y: ‘Time’ cards

Q5.
 Its origin is ascribed to The Economist releasing a blistering article, describing X has
having “roughly the shelf-life of Y.” This inspired a Daily Star staffer to make a quick trip to
the grocery store, and then start a YouTube live stream to see what lasts longer.
 Somehow, Y won, with X lasting only 45 days.
 No matter how bizarre all of this was, many political researchers said this was
“unsurprising”, stating there has always been a “sarcastic, somewhat flippant, cheeky
side” to politics there. Political shitposting of this nature is to be expected, from individuals
and media outlets, both.
 Id X and Y. (5 + 5)

A5.
 X: Liz Truss
 Y: Lettuce

Q6.
 ‘X’ is a phrase often used as the end-all-be-all of arguments online. The Law of ‘X’,
formally expressed as ‘post hoc ergo mater tua’, states that those victimised by ‘X’
automatically lose whatever argument they were engaged in at the time, because they
can’t think of a more lulz-worthy comment.
 However, recently, the use of ‘X’ tends to fail due to it being overused (much like X). Most
people who use ‘X’, therefore, tend to be harassed and made fun of.
 Id X.

Q7.
 This “battle” between two entities, X and Y, officially begins in about a month, but users from both sides
have already begun taking shots at each other. Many argue, however, that this is not, in fact, a battle, as
both sides have widely different bases they will cater to (debatable).
 Many believe that X took an early lead with their witty promotional material, contrasting two different
people – one multifaceted and accomplished, the other being bland and boring. This spawned multiple
memes on the Internet, sparking similar comparisons between multiple celebrities (like Princess Diana
and Prince Charles). Many users on X’s side furthered these comparisons to be between X and Y.
 However, many argue that Y would easily win this battle, as Y would obviously be more bang for the
buck.
 Id X and Y. (5 + 5)

A7.
 X: Barbie
 Y: Oppenheimer

Q8.
 X is a novelty, fictional Twitter account, known for posting tweets with puns and irrelevant
humour. The account posted its first tweet on June 12th, 2013, announcing “hello twitter I
am single,” which gained over 17000 retweets, and gained him over 739000 followers.
 The fictional character, X, is presented as an Indian employee, who happens to have an
intimate relationship with his pet camel.
 Later, it was found that X is, in fact, a real man named Om Prakash, who works as a tech
superintendent in the Physics Department at IIT Kanpur.
 Id X.

A8.
 X: Pakalu Papito / Xavier

Q9.
10: Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune join Sailor Galaxia.
9: Archer wants to kill… himself?
8: An entire series based on ___(8)___: ‘Gankotsou: The Count of Monte Cristo”
7: Annie Leonhart is The Female Titan
6: Arashi ___(7)___ the Dragons of Heaven
5: Aizen ___(7)___ the Soul Society
4: Satsuki ___(7)___ Rayo
3: Do not sign Kyubey’s contract
2: Anthy stabs Utena in the back – literally
1: Griffith becomes Femto
Put funda.

A9.
 Top 10 Anime Betrayals of All Time
(the original WatchMojo video)

Q10.
 This component of hip-hop music first emerged in the East Coast hip-hop scene in the
late 1970s, becoming popular during the 1980s and then in the 2000s, but often fell out of
the public favour due to its highly confrontational aspects.
 In 2011, MrDeshawnRaw posted a YouTube video lampooning this. This video has been
the source for countless memes, and quickly gained 8 million views, before being deleted
from the main channel in 2013.
 How do we better know MrDeshawnRaw?

Q11.
 This meme template originates from an official endorsement video released on YouTube
by a French clothing and accessories brand X in early 2023.
 The original meme was a part of the reaction subtype of meme culture, but its Indian
version uses it in an entirely different context, where many new additions have been
made to the original meme, where each addition is successively worse in quality but,
ironically, adds to the overall relatability of the meme.
 The original meme uses “Luxury” by Azealia Banks as a backing track, whereas the
Indian adaptations use the Punjabi song “Pagol” by Deep Sandhu, featuring Bohemia.
 Id X and the main protagonist. (5 + 5)

A11.
 X: Dior
 Robert Pattinson

Q12.
 On October 29, 1969, the first message was sent between two computers. Charley Kline
wanted to use a simple message, X (one word) for this purpose – a simple query to access
the system, a word still used today. However, the system crashed, and they could only send
the first two letters of X the first time around.
 The programmers then waited for the system to reboot to try to send the message again and
were successful the second time around.
 Because of this, the first three letters sent over the Internet formed the acronym Y, something
that, quite prophetically, would later become widespread on the Internet. Due to its popularity,
Y was also added to the Oxford English Dictionary in March 2011.
 Id X and Y. (5 + 5)

Q13.
 Project Chanology, a portmanteau of 4chan and X, was a protest movement launched
against X in 2008.
 The launch of this project was followed by DDoS attacks, black faxes, and prank calls,
and other methods to disrupt X’s operations. However, the project did ultimately shift to
legal methods, including non-violent protests, and an attempt to get the IRS to investigate
X’s tax-exempt status in the USA.
 Subsequent protests ranged from crashing screenings of various movies of Tom Cruise
and targeting various individuals like Katie Holmes and Kirstie Alley.
 Id X.

A13.
 X: The Church of Scientology

Q14.
 X was a character created in 2005 by cartoonist Matt Furie for his comic series, ‘Boy’s Club’. This
character later gained popularity across websites like MySpace, Gaia, and 4chan (again), and was one of
the most popular memes in 2015, even being incorporated into multiple Twitch emotes.
 However, 2015 onwards, X started to be appropriated as a symbol for the alt-right, and multiple knock-
offs of X were made to associate him with Neo-Nazis and the KKK.
 4chan members also proceeded to create a religion – ‘The Cult of Y’ – worshipping X, and a fictional
country, Y-istan, an ethnicity used by US-based alt-right members to oppose the general views of political
correctness. Y is a Korean onomatopoeia for laughter, which also happens to share its name with an
Egyptian frog deity.
 Id X and Y. (5 + 5)

A14.
 X: Pepe the Frog
 Y: Kek

Q15.
 In a 2020 interview by The Guardian, Boris Johnson, on being asked what he liked to do
in his free time, replied, “I like to make models of buses; I get old wooden wine crates and
paint the passengers enjoying themselves on a beautiful red bus.”
 The interview went viral and was heavily circulated in the British media, alleging that
Johnson had made this hobby for the interview in order to divert attention from stories
about a contentious claim that he had previously made.
 Put funda.

A15.
 Boris Johnson had released an ad
on the sides of London buses.
claiming that the UK sends £350M
to the EU every week which was
an outright lie; he made up the
hobby so that it would show up on
Google searches of “Boris
Johnson buses” instead of his
sensationalist ad campaign

Q16.
 Mehrotra (1965) divided the syllables of Indo-Aryan languages into three parts – weak, heavy, and super-heavy, based on which
he was able to deduce the rules for the placement of lexical stresses in words and sentences.
 One such rule is that in a disyllabic word: (a) if the word contains a super-heavy syllable, stress that syllable, otherwise (b) stress
the leftmost syllable.
 Moreover, optimality theory states that a language develops not through the development of strict phonological rules, but based
on the constraints present around it, i.e., external stresses cause language to change drastically.
 An example of this is the enunciation of a particular word in a particular meme, where the leftmost syllable of this disyllabic word
is stressed quite heavily in the absence of a super-heavy syllable, whereas the rest of the word, in order to save time in view of
apparent external threats, is reduced almost entirely.
 Generally, Hindustani languages do not rely on lexical stresses to the level showcased in the language of the meme, which could
explain why it sounded hilarious to the Hindi-speaking population, contributing to its popularity.
 Which meme?

A16.
 The “pols” in “pols aagi pols”

Q17.
 Brendan Smialowski, a Washington-based journalist who covers politics for Agence France-Presse, shot
this image.
 “The picture is really not that great… I saw X out of my other eye, kind of fiddling… It was just a nice
moment when he crossed his legs and crossed his arms, so I threw over the camera to him.”
 The rest is history, as the photo quickly made its way across the Internet – with captions, and being cut
and paste into different historical contexts and movie scenes.
 X, however, was not that impressed, finding the memes “weird”, and saying that he was just dressed as
any “sensible Vermonter” would for the January cold. “We are a practical and functional people… Style is
not our focus,” he was later quoted as saying.
 Which image? Where was it taken? (5 + 5)

A17.
 The Bernie Sanders mittens meme
 At Joe Biden’s inauguration

Q18.
Identify the
censored
blue and red
words in
this news
article.

A18.
 Blue: ‘slur’
 Red: ‘cis’ / ‘cisgender’

Betting Round
Rules
 6 questions in a grid format.
 Each team must choose a topic from the grid, and then make a bet on themselves, for a
minimum value of 20 points, and maximum value of 50 points.
 Winning the bet (answering your direct) means gaining your bet amount, while losing the
bet (answering incorrectly) means losing half of your bet amount.
 Each team gets to pick a topic, going from the team with the least points up to the team
with the highest points.
 Pounce rules still apply (except for the team whose direct it is). No passing.

Easter
Eggs
Dramas
Songs
Rare
Events
Bakchodi
Iconic
Interviews
/end/

Easter Eggs
 This phrase was first popularised after its use in the 1997 N64 game Star Fox 64, where
performing this specific action would give you a temporary shield from lasers.
 The term, however, was already in use much before that, to refer to an aeroplane aerial
combat technique, which emerged around the time of the aeroplane dogfighting seen in
World War I.
 In 2011, X, currently the market leader in its field due to having minimal turnaround times,
enabled perhaps one of the most widely known Easter eggs of all time, where inputting
this phrase would lead to X performing said action itself.
 Id X.

A – Easter Eggs
 X: Google
 “Do a barrel roll”

Songs
 X is a song released by an American rock outfit. It was famously written in response to
Neil Young’s song ‘Southern Man’, released in 1970, which the band felt blamed the
entire South for slavery.
 Interestingly, the song lyrics have no mention of Y. This, however, has not stopped the
Internet from using X to make memes regarding Y.
 The stereotype of the association of Y to the South was probably derived from the actions
of European royalty (particularly the Habsburgs) around the time of slavery, playing into
the larger sentiment of one’s own lineage being better than the rest.

A – Songs
 X: Sweet Home Alabama
 Y: Incest

Dramas
 X was arguably Anonymous and 4chan’s favourite show on TV, mostly because it features
an IRL troll as the main character.
 One of the cardinal principles and running gags of X is that “it’s never Y” (also why the
eponymous protagonist of X stores his stash in a textbook on Y). This piece of wisdom
was frequently repeated on the /tv/ boards of 4chan in the 00s, leading to its incorporation
as rule 90 on the 100 rules of the Internet.
 Finally, on 20th November 2007, on episode 8 of season 4, X finally had an episode where
it was, in fact, Y, leading to the meme finally being put to rest.
 Id X and Y.

A – Dramas
 X: House MD
 Y: Lupus

Rare Events
 While this could have been found in any home with a television system, it first gained popularity after an
episode of the fourth season of The Office. From that point onwards, the Internet has been full of videos
of this apparently rare event occurring, with becoming part of multiple memes with people cheering on for
this to occur. Google even added an Easter egg to celebrate this around 2 years ago.
 However, one user found that this event was nothing special, and was bound to happen after every ~3.5
minutes. The entire thing was a closed loop and was bound to repeat itself.
 The more hardcore mathematicians discovered that for this to occur:
𝑥 − 𝑦 ≡ 0 mod(gcd 𝑊 − 𝑤, 𝐻 − ℎ )
with (x, y) being the starting coordinates of the collision object, w and h being the dimensions of the collision
object, and W and H being the dimensions of the collision boundary.
 Which “rare” event?

A – Rare Events
 The DVD screensaver
hitting the corner perfectly

Iconic Interviews
 The post-match interview from a nail-biting 2014 game between East View Patriots and
Vandegrift, which ended 42-41, is follows.
 “All right, well, at first, we started slow, we started real slow, and, you know, that’s all right,
that’s OK, because sometimes in life, you’re gonna start slow… We told ourselves, ‘Hey,
we’re gonna start slow, we’re gonna keep going fast… we’re gonna finish hard, we’re
gonna finish fast. That’s all it takes to be successful, an attitude – that’s all it takes. And
that’s what our coach told us… And we believed that, we truly did. And it’s an awesome
feeling.”
 What is this iconic interview the origin of?

A – Iconic Interviews
 “They had us in the first half,
not gonna lie”

Bakchodi
 One of the most famous memes of the past decade can be traced down to a video
released on YouTube in early June 2019.
 This video features a jewellery-laden man, X, sitting in his car, ranting, and simultaneously
gesturing emphatically with his hands, ordering Y to essentially fuck off.
 The video went viral, and the channel was subsequently taken down in early 2020.
 Id X and Y.

A – Bakchodi
 X: Hindustani Bhau
 Y: Javed Akhtar

the quiz (on internet culture)

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