by Lenna Gonya

Created on: September 07, 2010

Everyone loves their pets, and cats are some of the most expressive of our four legged friends. Their expressions, antics and behavior are often funny, surprising and bewildering. Anyone who owns a cat, or who is owned by a cat, knows that no day goes by without your cat performing some bizarre maneuver, or getting into some unlikely situation. So, it’s only natural that we attribute certain human characteristics and thoughts to our feline companions. The bottom line is that we think our cats are hilarious.

LOLcats is a way of capturing cat antics and poses, and attaching humorous captions. They are clever, and are meant to be not only expressions of how we might feel, a message meant specifically for someone else, or just humor. The captions are generally in, what is depicted as baby talk, or “kitty pidgen” which is supposed to add to the humor of the photo. Also known as “kitty speak”, these little captions are grammatically incorrect, which is just the way we would expect our cats to express themselves. These captions can be innocent and cute, or tend toward more adult humor.

Actually, people have been sending and receiving photos of animals, complete with funny captions, since the late 19th century, when the fad of postcard sending became popular. Even back then, creative photographers began to use cats as their models for funny or inspirational messages.

In a world where too often, the messages and information we get is fairly grim, anything that makes us smile is going to be popular. And, the language attributed to the furry model in the photo makes it even funnier. In short, they make us happy.

It’s a well known fact that most people find animals, especially the small and furry kind, small children, and babies, cute and cheerful photographic subjects. So, when you attach captions to their photos that relate to the picture, that are supposed to represent their thinking at the time, the effect is appealing. There is something about the contrast between an innocent or funny picture, and the deeper, or humorous message that makes us smile.

LOLcats is one more method of sending a message, quickly and effortlessly to someone that relates certain feelings, or emotions, without actually having to put anything into words. Using the antics and expressions of our feline friends is something that everyone understands, and pretty much transcends cultures. It is, for the most part, innocent and cheerful, in an age when lighthearted greetings are at a premium.

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