Beyoncé and two dancers in black and white, in leotards, performing choreography that people copied at home and filmed. Credited with starting the first major dance craze of both the new millennium and the internet. The record's entry for the video that taught webcams to dance.
Died as a craze around 2012, when the choreography had been through weddings, sitcoms and adverts and had nothing left to be surprised by. Survived by the hand, which everyone still recognises.
Parodied by Barack Obama, Tom Hanks, Joe Jonas and three Kardashians, and performed as a routine in Glee Live! In Concert!
The video is deliberately plain — no set, no cuts to speak of, one costume. That is what made it copyable, and copyability is what made it a craze.
A friend learned the hand movement at a hen do in 2009 and could still do it, unprompted, at her daughter's christening.
What does it mean? Write it the way you would say it out loud.
