The Genealogy of Memeology

Throughout mankind’s short history one question has permeated, evolved, and perplexed all kinds of human and non-human thought: memes? (acceptable pronunciations: mēm, may-may, mem, mīme, mr. mīme, mem-buh, and/or saw-wee ay own-lee hah-viv ah cahn-t oh-pen-err) But, how does one describe meme?