네모네모 멈뭄미

The 'Nemo Nemo Meom-mum-mi' meme first appeared and began to gain popularity on Twitter in 2015.

This meme, 'Nemo Nemo Meom-mum-mi' (pronounced roughly as 'Neh-moh Neh-moh Muhm-moom-mee'), combines photos of dogs (primarily Bichon Frise puppies) with their fur trimmed into a square shape, along with a 'curse' message like, "You have made eye contact with the Nemo Nemo Meom-mum-mi. You are now under the Nemo Nemo Meom-mum-mi's curse and cannot type round characters. Meom Meom!" Here, 'Meom-mum-mi' is a playful alteration of 'meong-meong-i' (doggy), where the round Korean character 'ㅇ' (ieung) is replaced with the square character 'ㅁ' (mieum). Those who encounter this meme follow an unwritten rule: when commenting, they must replace all round characters with square ones. This acts as a type of wordplay and an image-based 'curse' message, serving as an element that brings fun among internet users.

Since its inception on Twitter in 2015, this meme has been widely used and parodied across various internet communities and mainstream media. Given its utilization in various fields such as webtoons, games, official social media, KakaoTalk emoticons, and K-POP fandoms, it is popular among all ages and genders who enjoy internet culture, without being limited to a specific age group or gender.

The most common usage examples of the 'Nemo Nemo Meom-mum-mi' meme are as follows:

• Original Text Variation: The original curse message, which translates to "You have made eye contact with the Nemo Nemo Meong-mung-i. You are now under the Nemo Nemo Meong-mung-i's curse and cannot type round characters. Meong Meong!", is altered by replacing its round Korean characters with square ones. For example, the original '당신은 네모네모 멍뭉이와 눈이 마주치고 말았습니다. 당신은 이제 네모네모 멍뭉이의 저주로 동그란 글자를 칠 수 없습니다. 멍멍!' becomes '담신믄 네모네모 멈뭄미뫄 눈미 마주치고 말맜습니다. 담신믄 미제 네모네모 멈뭄미믜 저주로 돔그란 글자를 칠 수 멊습니다. 멈멈!' (Dam-sin-meun Neh-moh-neh-moh Meom-mum-mi-mwa noon-mi ma-joo-chi-goh mal-mat-seup-ni-da. Dam-sin-meun mi-jeh Neh-moh-neh-moh Meom-mum-mi-meui jeo-joo-roh dom-geu-ran geul-ja-reul chil soo meop-seup-ni-da. Meom Meom!).
• Commenting Culture: When commenting on meme posts, users replace all round characters with 'ㅁ' (mieum). For instance, a comment like '나무위키, 여러분이 가꾸어 나가는 지식의 나무.' (Namuwiki, the tree of knowledge you cultivate) would be written as '나무뮈키, 며러분미 가꾸머 나가는 지식믜 나무.' (Na-moo-mwi-ki, mye-reo-boon-mi ga-kkoo-meo na-ga-neun ji-sik-meui na-moo.).
• YouTube: On the YouTube channel 'Red Underwear Yako,' a dog appeared that turned everything square with a 'Nemo Nemo Beam' ray.

When using the 'Nemo Nemo Meom-mum-mi' meme, the core unwritten rule is to replace round characters with the square character 'ㅁ' (mieum). While 'ㅇ' (ieung) is easily replaced by 'ㅁ' (mieum), for other characters containing a round shape, such as 'ㅎ' (hieut), the replacement method might not be clear. In such cases, methods like using the Chinese character '古' (go, meaning 'old') or replacing it with 'ㅍ' (pieup) are sometimes employed. As this meme is intended for humor, it's important to use it appropriately, considering the situation and the reactions of others.