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[-] blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 80 points 7 hours ago

It's mental how this is pretty much known worldwide, like drawing that S thing. The one similar to the Suzuki logo

[-] TheEntity@lemmy.world 32 points 6 hours ago

As a non-native English speaker, I still have no idea why this specific phrase is so significant and at this point I'm afraid to ask.

[-] xpinchx@lemmy.world 7 points 3 hours ago

I think it's just the most simplified you can get talking about cellular biology, specifically when teaching organelles. So most primary science textbooks use that terminology and it's more memorable than all the other organelles so it just stuck and it got repeated and reviewed every year and it sorta became a pre Internet meme and part of a shared consciousness if you were schooled in the US.

[-] Naz@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

6th grade biology class in the United States, 2001 AD.

The teacher slaps up a diagram of a cell and organelles.

30-45 children all looking around the room, not exactly paying attention

She points to the various organelles, trying to explain their purpose, the golgi complex, ribosomes..

"And the mitochondria"

"Is the power house of the cell"

Children cheer in applause and repeat it, because it rhymes.

It then enters the collective unconscious of English speakers.

I was in the room where it happened.

[-] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 6 hours ago

I was born in the 1970's and it is lost on me too, I think its something that became a thing to the generation after me

[-] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 4 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

I took biology in 1996; it wasn't a thing yet. Someone else claimed it was already widespread by 2001. I don't think I encountered it in the wild before 2005, but it could have been much later than that.

KnowYourMeme suggests the phrase originated in a textbook from 1957, but it didn't reach memehood until 2014.

[-] rbos@lemmy.ca 8 points 6 hours ago

I think it comes from an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and exploded as a meme.

[-] fahfahfahfah@lemmy.billiam.net 29 points 6 hours ago

It’s not from any specific media reference, it’s just essentially what every child was taught, verbatim, in grade school.

[-] wander1236@sh.itjust.works 11 points 6 hours ago
[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

Huh, I figured it was Dexter's Lab or some cartoon.

[-] adarza@lemmy.ca 6 points 6 hours ago

the meme originated from tumblr. the quote itself is older than color tv.

[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 4 points 6 hours ago

Lol that's like saying a joke originated on the Family Guy

[-] boonhet@lemm.ee 33 points 7 hours ago

The S was known worldwide pre internet though. Was the powerhouse line?

[-] neatobuilds@lemmy.today 29 points 7 hours ago

They are both universal knowledge passed down through generations

[-] Neverclear@lemmy.dbzer0.com 27 points 6 hours ago

...maternally via mitochondrial DNA

[-] tetris11@lemmy.ml 5 points 6 hours ago

we are the self-preservation society.

[-] neatobuilds@lemmy.today 11 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

The exact origin of the symbol (cool S) is unclear; however, it is generally considered to be an artifact of childlore, meaning that it is taught by children to children over the course of generations.

TIL
Cool S wiki

Childlore

this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
913 points (99.1% liked)

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