Pittsburgh-themed 'memes' go viral

Complaints about the Squirrel Hill Tunnel, Fort Pitt Bridge and bad parking are almost as deeply rooted in Pittsburghers' vernacular as cheers for the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates.

Those traffic woes are making the rounds online in the form of “memes,” Internet photos or trends that poke fun at troubles behind the wheel. They're popular, a local social media expert said, because everyone can relate to them.

More than 5,000 people last week re-posted Ian Richards' image ridiculing the Fort Pitt Bridge. It features a picture of the bridge along with text reading: “Left lanes need to exit right. Right lanes need to exit left. Here's 300 feet. Make it happen.”

Richards, a 24-year-old from Sewickley, posted the photo on May 20 while traveling across the bridge in the passenger seat and noticing the traffic.

Within two or three minutes, Richards shot the photo on his phone, added the text with a “meme generator” application, posted it on Facebook and then watched as the photo grabbed “likes” from hundreds. He didn't expect all the attention.

“I felt that it was adequate for like 10 to 15 of my friends to get a laugh at,” Richards said.

To Richards, a lifelong Pittsburgher, that reaction shows that people can relate to his feelings about the bridge.

Memes such as the Fort Pitt Bridge photo go viral because they're amusing and they resonate, social media expert Andrew Stephen said.

“It's got that sort of mass appeal or general appeal,” said Stephen, assistant professor of business administration at the University of Pittsburgh. “It hits home as a truth, and that's what makes it innately appealing to people.”

Sure, Richards could have drawn attention to the Fort Pitt Bridge traffic with a petition or a meeting with city hall, Stephen said, but it's not the same.

“That's just not going to have the same resonance because it's not humorous,” he said. “This is doing it in the nicest possible way with a smile.”

Karen Copeland drew inspiration from another source of commuters' agony — the Squirrel Hill Tunnel.

Copeland, 30, of Mt. Washington, spent five minutes on a computer embellishing a photo of the tunnel with fangs and googly eyes embodying the mythical “Squirrel Hill Tunnel Monster.” Her meme includes the text, “This is not real. Stop hitting your brakes.”

“These people can drive (there) every day, and they still slam on the brakes,” she said. “You have to take it in jest though, because people are always going to slam on their brakes.”

Copeland made the image in 2008. In 2012, local radio stations spotted the meme and promoted it. She estimates that it has been shared “thousands of times” and is still being shared to this day.

“How was I to know this MS Paint picture would go viral like five, six years later? I thought it was just going to stay between friends ... and all of the sudden, it's everywhere,” she said. “I didn't think it was going to go this crazy. But I'm glad that everybody enjoys it and gets a kick out of it.”

Responding to the images, Cheryl Moon-Sirianni, a PennDOT engineer, said in an email that the agency recognizes that “‘memes' and other varied media forms are being used more commonly.” She pointed out PennDOT's social media accounts and encouraged customers with infrastructure questions to contact PennDOT.

Every week, dozens of people poke fun at poor parkers on Dan Greenwald's website, “Yinz Can't Park” and the site's Twitter and Facebook accounts. The website's bio says it accepts photos of drivers “who park terrible ‘nat.”

More than 1,700 people follow the Facebook account, along with about 800 on Twitter.

“If you had asked me when I started this, I would have been happy with 180 (followers),” said Greenwald, 39. “A lot of people are enjoying it.”

A native of the South Side Slopes who now lives in Shaler, Greenwald launched the website in January after he noticed a car at a gas station “taking up two spaces, perfectly straddling a line.”

“I decided to make a very Pittsburgh-specific site, which is how ‘Yinz Can't Park' came along,” Greenwald said, pointing out the both “endearing and infuriating” jockeying of cars in city neighborhoods.

Greenwald even sells T-shirts specific to Pittsburgh driving emblazoned with messages including “I hate Route 28,” “I survived the South Side Slopes” and “I brake for tunnels.”

Rossilynne Skena is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-836-6646 or rskena@tribweb.com.