[!["This is the reference implementation of the self-referential joke."][1]][2]

> **Title text:** "*"This is the reference implementation of the self-referential joke."*"


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## Meta

The source of this answer contains three links to http://xkcd.com/917/: [this one](http://xkcd.com/917/), the one before, and the one before the one before the latter one mentioned in this sentence.


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## </meta>

Another picture worth a thousand words:

[![The contents of any one panel are dependent on the contents of every panel including itself. The graph of panel dependencies is complete and bidirectional, and each node has a loop. The mouseover text has two hundred and forty-two characters.][3]][4]

> **Title text:** "*The contents of any one panel are dependent on the contents of every panel including itself. The graph of panel dependencies is complete and bidirectional, and each node has a loop. The mouseover text has two hundred and forty-two characters.*"


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Basically, for something to be 'meta' in [common] usage, it must satisfy at least one of the following conditions:

 - It is self referential.
 - It is recursive.
 - It is about something.

  [1]: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/hofstadter.png
       ""This is the reference implementation of the self-referential joke.""
  [2]: http://xkcd.com/917/
  [3]: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/self_description.png
       "The contents of any one panel are dependent on the contents of every panel including itself. The graph of panel dependencies is complete and bidirectional, and each node has a loop. The mouseover text has two hundred and forty-two characters."
  [4]: http://xkcd.com/688/