Iteration Memes

Questioning why programmers use i and j as loop variables is like asking why water is wet. It's not just tradition—it's practically encoded in our DNA at this point. Try using x or counter in your next code review and watch your colleagues react with the same shocked expression as this meme. They'll look at you like you've suggested tabs instead of spaces or declared that semicolons are optional. The unwritten rule dates back to FORTRAN days when variables starting with I-N were integers by default. Now we're just stuck in an infinite loop of convention that nobody dares to break.