this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
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Science Memes

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The cell wall is the wall of the cell. (mander.xyz)
submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 days ago (5 children)

Non-anglophones, is this a thing you can relate to? I've never been told "das Mitochondrium ist das Kraftwerk der Zelle" or anything like it, at least not nearly to the extent that anglophones seem to, so much so that it's forever burnt into their brain folds apparently.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

I think "endoplasmatisches Retikulum" is a more memorable phrase we learn or meme about

Bodo Wartke - endoplasmatisches Retikulum

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

i don't even remember learning about the mitochondrion in school lmao

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

As a German, I’ve definitely learned that in school. Maybe it was memes by then as well, but it being the late 90s I doubt it.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 days ago (1 children)

As a Canadian, I share your confusion. I think that phrase was just a common descriptor of mitochondria in US textbooks, or a catchy line in a popular US biology video.

It's just strange enough to make a big impression on bored students, so I'm not surprised it's been memed so hard.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I think it was tossed around on Reddit a lot, too, back in the day, increasing its permeation through our ilk

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Wikipedia says:

The mitochondrion is popularly nicknamed the "powerhouse of the cell", a phrase popularized by Philip Siekevitz in a 1957 Scientific American article of the same name.[4]

But know your meme attributes its meme status to this tumblr post from 2013:

screenshot of text: "what i learned from school 1. im a fucking piece of shit 2. everybody else is also a fucking piece of shit 3. mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell"

Contrary to comments in many places like this reddit thread from 2018, I suspect the phrase wasn't actually used in many textbooks or very commonly known prior to that tumblr post.

(If you search on Google Books you can find numerous textbooks using the phrase. Range-based search on Google Books appears to be broken so I'm not sure, but all the ones I checked were published well after 2013.)

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 days ago (2 children)

All of us who learned Spanish in the U.S. also know "¿Dónde está la biblioteca?"

Just a bunch of canned phrases like that kicking around in our brains.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The FitnessGram Pacer test is a multistage aerobic capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The 20 meter pacer test will begin in 30 seconds. Line up at the start. The running speed starts slowly but gets faster each minute after you hear this signal bodeboop.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

What is going on at your schools?!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

FitnessGram Pacer Tests, obviously

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

All I remember from Spanish class is "no en nintendo"