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What's in a meme? A joke by any other name would still bring many laughs.

Politics, by its nature, is filled with dull and dry details: the deficit, taxes, pensions, the triple lock. All of these things are important but sometimes the intricacies of policy can leave some feeling a little turned off by politics - particularly if you're young.

Could this be where memes come in? A meme is an all-encompassing word for online jokes, pictures and cartoons. It usually starts with one version of a joke which then spreads across social media taking on new commentary - Ed Miliband's bacon sandwich, for example.

As with most social media, they are particularly popular with young people who don't often engage with politics.

But why do people like memes so much? One Twitter user told me that memes helped them understand more complex ideas and that having politics framed in a different way makes it more digestible.

Richard Cook said that memes are simply satire for a new online generation, describing them as "Punch cartoons for the Snapchat generation".

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For some, rather than engaging in debate on why a politician or policy might be wrong, why not post a picture of Boris Johnson stuck on a zip wire holding two flags?

Journalist Tara Mulholland said that, while it's easy to say memes help people engage with politics, it is worth noting that they will likely only do this for those who already have an interest in politics.

She said: "Memes act as cultural glue and confirm what we 'know', so if you aren't politically aware you won't get them."

Over the US election, as Barack Obama and Joe Biden prepared to give way to Donald Trump, I made a few memes about their bromance which gained traction on Twitter.

I got a few hundred thousand re-tweets for some simple captioned pictures of Mr Biden looking sad. Rather than engage in the melancholy of Mr Trump, it was good to try and make people laugh.

Politically in the UK the past few years have been a stronghold of news. We had the coalition government, then the Tory majority and George Osborne's front-bench gurning and promises of fixing a metaphorical sunroof.

We had the EU referendum, which created a weird paradox in which half the country was patriotically jubilant while the other half just wanted it all to stop.

We're now in the midst of a General Election, where everyone is already pretty tired and holding onto the last dregs of their political motivation.

It's no wonder that many may choose to engage with what makes them laugh rather than what makes them think about a potentially fiscally desolate future.

Some young people like memes because some of them have short attention spans which means boring policy talk about the economy and pensions - which may not even exist by the time we are old - turns us off and so what else is there to do but make fun of David Cameron eating a hot dog with a knife and fork?

Anyway, for those dipping their toe in the ocean that is memes, here's one of Jeremy Corbyn: