iamachilles:

This cat made me LoL.

Me too; I laugh every time I see it. I’m sorry, okay? I think it’s time for

AN IMPORTANT DISCUSSION ABOUT CAT-RELATED HUMOR

Something I have learned in my travels through the Internet is that the world is very evenly divided between people that think pictures of cats are incredibly funny, and people that think those people are incredibly stupid.

Just yesterday I showed this picture to new CH intern Talia, and she said to me, “Oh, no - don’t tell me you think this is funny.” She said she could not believe that someone who writes comedy for a living could laugh at a stupid picture of a cat. But I don’t think that’s a factor. My friends Sam and Amir have impeccable comedy tastes - Sam burst out laughing at this, Amir barely grinned.

Where does this difference come from? Does it come down to whether or not you had a cat growing up? Maybe, but I think there’s more to it. I had both cats and dogs as a kid; both species are fuzzy and get into weird poses. But I don’t think dog pictures are funny, and LOLdogs never became an Internet-wide phenomenon. Why is that?

I do not have answers to these questions. Do you? I smell a research paper.