this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2025
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A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.
An Internet meme or meme, is a cultural item that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. The name is by the concept of memes proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1972. Internet memes can take various forms, such as images, videos, GIFs, and various other viral sensations.
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The US used to have those vending machines in bars and some restaurants too, up until the 90s. The smoking section of restaurants was mostly an invisible line that cut the room in half, so you could have a smoking table literally right next to a non-smoking one.
Fun fact, this is how I got about half of my cigarettes in high school. The local dive had the machine by the back entrance which was around the corner from the host stand. You could easily use it without being seen. And on the rare occasion someone did see you and said something all you had to do is tell them to mind their own business and leave because the entire process took about 30s.
Go back before smoking sections, and it was the Wild West. Smoking was the default environment. Non-smokers were expected to remove themselves if they were bothered by it.
At the grocery store there would be a line of gumball machines for kids, right alongside a cigarette machine.
My high school had a smoking courtyard, right across from the cafeteria. We called it The Pit. Teachers smoked in the Teachers Lounge. It was famous for having a cloud of smoke pour out whenever the door opened.
I remember being in a doctor's office as a kid, and having the doctor light up during the exam!
In many families, both parents would smoke in the car with the windows rolled up, and kids in the backseat, with no car seats or seat belts.
Nobody asked permission to smoke after a meal, they'd just light up, even if others were still eating. I remember my Dad getting offended when I asked him not to light his pipe at the dinner table while I was still eating.
People smoked at every table in any restaurant.
In offices, people smoked at their desks, until offices started having smoking rooms, and eventually chased them outside. Today I see workplaces where smoking isn't allowed anywhere on the premises.
I worked in record stores starting in 1977, and there was always a standup ashtray at the intersections of aisles, filled with sand. At the end of the night, while the manager was counting the till, one of the clean up jobs was taking a sieve to each ashtray, and sifting out the cigarette butts. Every store I worked in had ashtrays, until I became a store manager, and banned smoking in my stores.
Almost EVERYBODY smoked in the 60s and 70s, except me.