![LOLcats LOLCATS picture of a cute kitten.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/000/018/lol.jpg)
LOLcats
Part of a series on Cats. [View Related Entries]
[View Related Sub-entries]
Featured Episode
About
LOLcats are image macros consisting of humorous photos of cats with superimposed text written in a form of broken English known as lolspeak. The LOLcat meme gained much of its traction through the weekly ritual of Caturday on 4chan and I Can Has Cheezburger.
Origin
According to an article in The Star,[5] LOLcats originated on the imageboard 4chan sometime in 2005, when an anonymous user submitted a picture of a relaxed cat waiting for "Caturday." In a blog post on Time Magazine's TechLand,[7] writer Lev Grossman published an email claiming that Caturday was created in 2005 as a protest to "Furry Friday" threads.
"There is more than enough EXIF data scattered around the internet to prove that cat macros are ancient, by internet standards. Caturday, for example, was a meme on a 4chan.org imageboard which originated around the beginning of 2005 as a protest against \”Furry Friday\” threads (In which basement-dwelling creeps would post anthropomorphic disney characters giving [sorry, gotta go family values at this point."
Precursors
In the 1870s, photographer Harry Pointer[3] took black-and-white photographs of cats posed in a variety of different situations, adding humorous text referencing the context of the photo (shown below, left). In the early 20th century Harry Whittier Frees,[4] an American photographer, produced similar-looking photographs with overlaid text (shown below, right)
![491.jpg black and white photograph of a cat posed next to a camera as if it's working as a photographer](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/486/151/491.jpg)
![94d.jpg black and white photograph of a cat in a dress sitting in a baby highchair asking what's delaying its dinner](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/486/156/94d.jpg)
In the 1970s, a motivational poster of a cat hanging from a tree branch with the caption "Hang in there, baby" was released (shown below, left), which spawned a series of imitations (shown below, right).
![467712185_161f58128e.jpg HANG IN THERE, BABY!](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/038/588/467712185_161f58128e.jpg)
![0811839974_norm.jpg lang in There nifer M Tront:](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/038/587/0811839974_norm.jpg)
Spread
On June 14th, 2006, the website LOLcats.com was registered.[13] Later that year, on September 12th, 2006, Urban Dictionary [6] user bridgepiercingbex defined "lolcat" as "laugh out loud, with cat on the end of it." The post received more than 60 upvotes in 12 years (shown below).
![laugh out loud, with cat on the end of it TOP DEFINITION lolcat laugh out loud, with cat on the end of it toms face....LOLCAT!! #lolcat #lol #cat #10101 #tom by bridgepiercingbex September 12,2006](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/434/976/39c.png)
On June 12th, 2007, Time Magazine[8] published an article about the LOLcat phenomenon, reporting that a Google search for "lolcat" already yielded over 3.3 million results and that the website I Can Has Cheezburger was receiving 200-500 submissions per day.
That following year, on January 5th, 2008, the /r/lolcats subreddit was created, garnering more than 67,000 subscribers over the next five years. On December 4th, 2009, Entertainment Weekly[9] ranked LOLcats as #99 in a list of the "100 Greatest Movies, TV Shows and More." On December 22nd, 2010, the cat enthusiast blog Catster[12] published a list of the "top 10 most famous LOLcats," including Happy Cat, Monorail Cat, Limecat, Ceiling Cat and Basement Cat. On May 8th, 2012, The Atlantic[10] published an article about the academic study of lolcats, reporting on researcher Kate Miltner's dissertation[11] on the appeal of LOLcats.
Exhibitions
On November 10th, 2012, The Huffington Post[2] published an article about an exhibition at the Framer's Gallery in London titled "LOLCAT – TEH EXHIBISHUN," featuring 49 original LOLCat inspired artworks. On January 24th, 2013, The Huffington Post[1] reported that a new version of the exhibition had opened at The Framer's Gallery.
![975.jpg OV BIRF: 20.08.97 FINDZ GUILTY OV LEADINP James McKenzie](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/486/201/975.jpg)
![910.jpg LOLCATRAZ CORRECSHUNAL FACILITEE FURSDAY 25TH JULEYE 2012 NAYM: NINJA WATE: 1.9 LBS oV BIRF: 15.04.12 SEKZ: BOI HIYT: 0.8 FT OLDZ: 2 MUNF FINDZ GUILTY OV STEELIN AN POSESSHUN AN EXCESIV KAPNIP TAKIN](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/486/202/910.jpg)
![a93.jpg NAYM: FUDGE WATE:3.7 LBS OV BIRF: 13.09.08 2011 SEKZ: GURL HIYT: 1.1 F OLDZ: 28 FINDZ GUILTY OV POSESSHUN OV KATNIP AN KATNIP DEALIN](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/486/203/a93.jpg)
Various Examples
![**** **** ur passwerd is FAIL entry are denied](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/284/242/202.jpg)
![Water BE NOT AFREYD ARE JEEZUSCAT](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/347/714/18f.jpg)
![That is no MEOW FIND UR LACK OF TUNA DISTURBING](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/337/114/3ef.jpg)
![Palla's Cat Toothbrush ERMAHGERD](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/000/718/128/60f.jpg)
Search Interest
External References
[1] The Huffington Post – LOLCat Art
[2] The Huffington Post – New Exhibition of Original LOLCats raises money for charity
[3] Photo History Sussex – Harry Pointers Brighton Cats
[4] Wikipedia – Harry Whittier Frees
[5] The Star – Funny how stupid site is addictive
[7] Time – Lolcats Addendum – where I got the story wrong
[8] Time – Creating a Cute Cat Frenzy
[9] Entertainment Weekly – 100 Greatest Movies, TV Shows and More
[10] The Atlantic – Are LOLCats Making Us Smart
[11] Dropbox (via Wayback Machine) – Miltner Dissertation
[12] Catster – 10 most famous lol cats
[13] Who.is – lolcats.com
Top Comments
Ihavenoidea!
Feb 27, 2021 at 02:06PM EST
Everything's Burning
Feb 27, 2021 at 04:01PM EST