Weekend Meme Roundup: Naruto Handshake Grandma Kinda Sus

This past weekend was overwhelmingly dominated by the new meme juggernaut Among Us, particularly featuring the use of the slang term sus. Despite Among Us taking the majority of the spotlight, there were also a couple of other memes able to make a name for themselves, with Sure, Grandma, Let's Get You To Bed and Naruto Handshake appearing in number.

Among Us

Sus is perhaps the biggest meme and term to come out of the newly rediscovered game Among Us, which has been around for over two years but was recently brought into the spotlight. The game consists of a team trying to complete various tasks in a doomed spaceship. The catch is, one (or two depending on the game mode) of the people on the team is actually an imposter, and their job is to sabotage the tasks and kill fellow players. Teams are able to fight back by having a meeting where they can vote to kick a person out if they suspect them to be a murderer. If they correctly guess and kick the imposter, the team wins. If the imposter manages to kill everyone or sabotage the team so they fail objectives, the imposter wins.

This is what has lead to the phrase "sus" being used, as it essentially means "suspicious," and in the context of the game is used to describe that another player is behaving suspiciously, and may be the imposter. The myriad of memes to come from the game revolve around either the word "sus" or imposters. While sus will continue to see use during the game's time in the spotlight, and possibly even beyond that, the lesser-used imposter meme format is not likely to continue much beyond the its lifespan.

Naruto Handshake

Naruto Handshake is another meme made from something that is many years old. The episode that the screen capture is taken from came out back in 2014, but it just recently has become a trending meme. For those who aren't into Naruto culture, the meme depicts two rivals that lead armies shaking hands, symbolizing two opposing sides being able to come together. This type of format can be used in a lot of situations, as there is no shortage of things that people will be at odds with, but it isn't exactly a new concept either. There is a very reminiscent feeling to Acquired Tastes, which has two people that are on different sides of an issue joining hands then facing a third, worse issue. While there are differences between the two, the initial setup is the same.

It's not always used to denote two people who are on opposing sides of an issue, and the meme has the potential to showcase how any two entities can have a common goal or understanding. This allows it the flexibility to be about almost any topic, which can increase its longevity as people continue to push the meta boundary and find new ways to make it relate to niche groups.

Sure, Grandma, Let's Get You To Bed

Sure, Grandma, Let's Get You To Bed is another image macro that utilizes an elderly person remembering the good old days. Except, those "good old days" are now what used to be known as '90s Nostalgia. However, some of the memes reference things that are fairly recent, poking fun at the original concept of the '90s nostalgia, and sometimes at how the world used to be pre-coronavirus. This can be seen in various examples that talk about things such as seeing live concerts, and not having to worry about pandemics.

Another common use of the meme relates to music, such as bands that have switched genres in the past few decades, or faded into obscurity. Sure, Grandma, Let's Get You To Bed has a lot of potential, as it isn't entirely localized to just one generation or age group. There are plenty of examples that can be done referring to other gens, such as boomers, and the fact that there aren't too many examples of other gens could be the start of the shift from millennial meme creators being the main force to zoomers.

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