Meme. Twisters

Enigmatic folk similes (Xiehouyu), as a reflection of its culture, custom and thoughts of China, are widely used in people's daily life and literatures. The increasing number of Enigmatic folk similes, as a result of the development of society, has greatly enhanced its significance as a language phenomenon and attracted more scholars'attention.Based on the Adaptation Theory proposed by Verschueren, and enlightened by the Theory of Memes, this present thesis attempts to analyze the memes in Enigmatic folk similes. As meme products, like genes, Enigmatic folk similes must adapt well to their surroundings. Vast and various memes compete for survival in their living environment, and only those which have higher value in fidelity; fecundity and longevity have the chance to win out. Those Enigmatic folk similes which become meme products have to be concise, oral, vivid and humorous. In addition, a cognitive framework based on memetics and adaptability theories is suggested, which sorts the primary contextual correlates of adaptability for memes into three categories: cognition, emotion and culture. Analysis of examples of Enigmatic folk similes proves that the transmission of Enigmatic folk similes from one generation to another is the adaptation to these three factors.