Sometimes Twitter memes are so spectacularly silly that explaining them is more difficult than simply showing them.

That's definitely the case with the "the thing that killed" meme, a trend that sees Twitter uses trying to explain the thing that led to the death of famous figures via a simple question.

The meme sees people declaring a seemingly everyday activity, with little risk attached, that someone has had the audacity to ask you to do. Then, it's time to hand over one irrefutable piece of evidence that such a task would lead to one's doom: the death of a famous figure at the hands of that very task.

Confused? That's understandable. Here are a couple of popular examples:

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Although some historical and literary figures have cropped up, the meme seems to be particularly focused around movies.

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Of course, like any good meme, it's also started to stretch beyond the screen and into weirder realms.

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It's difficult to track down the very first iteration of the meme, but there are examples of the format stretching back over the past week, with the whole thing seeming to swell in popularity in the last 48 hours.

And as for the thing that'll finally kill it? Well, we're guessing another meme will probably come along.