The viral quiz of the year: how well do you know the memes of 2021?

1. Soon May the Wellerman Come was an unlikely chart hit in January, driven by the trend for sea shanties on TikTok (“ShantyTok”, you may recall). But who or what was the titular Wellerman?

   1. A whaler, “weller” being 19th-century slang for “whale”

   2. An employee of the Weller Brothers shipping company

   3. A crew member of the SS Weller

   4. A legendarily elusive whale

2. “Bean Dad” was perhaps the most stupid of all the stupid Twitter controversies of 2021. And it happened on 3 January! What did this man tweet about to become the site’s main character for the day?

   1. His historic beans-only diet, in protest at his millennial children always eating out

   2. His highly public wager that he would livestream himself eating 11lbs (5kg) of baked beans if Trump tried to stay president after 20 January

   3. His “good parenting”, leaving his young child to learn to use a can opener or go without food

   4. His gleeful embarrassment of his family with his flatulence at the dining table

3. 

   In February, lawyer Rod Ponton appeared before a judge as a wild-eyed kitten after failing to remove a filter in the Zoom courtroom. Who was Ponton, in his feline guise, representing?

   1. The state of Texas

   2. A complainant who appeared with a potato filter

   3. A defendant who took the call with the username “h0e’N-g0”

   4. The American Kennel Club

4. 

   Jackie Weaver was the breakout star of a testy Cheshire parish council meeting that went viral from Zoom. What was NOT one of the remarks lobbed at Weaver before she booted people from the meeting room?

   1. “Read the standing orders! Read them and understand them!”

   2. “You don’t know what you’re talking about”

   3. “You have no authority here Jackie Weaver. No authority at all”

   4. “This is a very good example of bullying in Cheshire East, and the environs!”

5. In March, a 220,000-ton “megaship” blocked the Suez Canal for six days, sparking perhaps unprecedented levels of memeage. What was it called?

   1. Ever Given

   2. Evergreen

   3. Never Given

   4. Ever Giving

6. 

   Lady Gaga's method approach to acting in Ridley Scott's House of Gucci made for quite the press cycle. What was her ad-libbed line that went viral from the trailer?

   1. "You take care of Gucci now"

   2. "Gucci is next to godliness"

   3. "Gucci by name. Gucci by nature"

   4. "Father, Son, and House of Gucci"

7. In April, very much against our will, we learned a new word: “cheugy”, pronounced chew-gee, meaning off-trend in a very specific, ageing-millennial way. Which of the below, according to the progenitors of this poorly articulated trend, is NOT cheugy?

   1. Birkenstocks

   2. Gucci logo belts

   3. Lasagne

   4. People who get married at 20 years old

8. In June, Star Wars gave rise to a new four-panel meme format, whereby Natalie Portman’s character Padmé’s smile falls in response to her companion’s silent steely gaze. Where did it come from?

   1. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones

   2. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

   3. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

   4. A Twitter account posting fake Star Wars quotes

9. 

   In October, Mark Zuckerberg announced on video that his troubled company Facebook would rebrand as a hopefully less troubled company called Meta. But what unexpected item did viewers spot in pride of place on a shelf behind him?

   1. A book about political campaigning, renewing speculation of a presidential run

   2. A framed photograph of him arm-in-arm with Jeff Bezos

   3. A bottle of BBQ sauce

   4. A collectible Bearbrick toy valued at $40,000

10. 

    Jake Gyllenhaal’s remarks to Vanity Fair that he was “more and more” finding “bathing to be less necessary” started a viral debate about personal hygiene in which many celebrities felt moved to weigh in. Who of the below did NOT speak out?

    1. Ashton Kutcher

    2. Kristen Bell

    3. Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson

    4. Julia Roberts

11. 

    Doctors cautioned young people against taking part in the milk crate challenge, warning that it was “perhaps even slightly worse than ...” what?

    1. The ice box challenge

    2. Planking

    3. The blackout challenge, linked to a death in January

    4. Falling off a ladder

Solutions

1:B - A Wellerman worked for the Sydney-based Weller Brothers’ shipping company, which from 1833 was the major supplier of provisions to whaling stations in New Zealand, including of the “sugar and tea and rum” of the shanty’s refrain. You’ve got it stuck in your head now, haven’t you? , 2:C - In a 25-part Twitter thread that no one, literally no one asked for, podcast host John Roderick shared the story of his “teaching moment” with his nine-year-old daughter. When she asked him to make her some baked beans, Roderick gave her a can opener, with which she wrestled for six hours. Twitter debated this for more than a day. Bean Dad now rarely ever tweets. Aren’t you glad you know about this now?, 3:A - Ponton was representing the state of Texas in the hearing, which reportedly centred on a person who had attempted to leave the US with contraband and illegally obtained cash. , 4:D - This was said in support of Weaver at the meeting’s end. She subsequently wrote a self-help book, You Do Have the Authority Here!, and identified Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones, Queen Elizabeth I and Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard as models of leadership., 5:A - The Ever Given was one of a fleet of ships run by the Taiwanese company Evergreen. In August it returned to the Suez canal to give it another go – in the absence of news, we may assume that it went better this time, 6:D - "I would do it in the trailer all the time ... it felt right," said Lady Gaga of the instantly iconic improvised line., 7:A - As Hallie Cain, who popularised the term in a viral TikTok, clarified to the New York Times (which must bear responsibility for bringing it to mainstream attention): “It’s also totally open to your interpretation.”, 8:D - While the meme uses stills of Padmé and Anakin on a romantic picnic in Attack of the Clones, the dialogue of the caption is never said in the film and is attributed to @starwarsposting on Twitter., 9:C - The cameo of a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce was interpreted as a knowing reference to the memes sparked by Zuckerberg’s 2016 livestream that showed him barbecuing (or, as he repeatedly put it, “smoking meats”) in his backyard. “I do love grilling and cooking,” he said this year, “and I appreciate that everyone enjoys it.”, 10:D - While Gyllenhaal walked back his comments, saying they were “sarcastic and ironic”, Roberts in fact was a forerunner, saying of deodorant in 2008: “It’s just never been my thing." Kutcher said: “I wash my armpits and my crotch daily, and nothing else ever.” Bell said she was a “big fan of waiting for the stink”. The Rock said he showered three times a day., 11:D - The milk crate challenge asks that impressionable bored teenagers climb up precariously stacked crates. Shawn Anthony, an orthopaedic surgeon in New York, told media: “It’s very difficult to brace yourself from the falls I’ve seen in these videos. They’re putting their joints at an even higher risk for injury.”

Scores

1. 8 and above.

   The memes start coming, and they don’t stop coming. Good effort for keeping up

2. 11 and above.

   You’re across everything, all of the time – well done. Make sure you get some Vitamin D

3. 0 and above.

   Are you even on the internet? (Tell us, what’s it like out there?)

4. 4 and above.

   You’ve spent little time online this year – what's your secret?