Monday
Monday has spawned an entire cultural ecosystem of shared suffering. The Boomtown Rats' 'I Don't Like Mondays' achieved chart success on the strength of universal relatability. 'Case of the Mondays' entered the cultural lexicon through Office Space, requiring no explanation to any viewer familiar with employment. Monday memes constitute a significant percentage of workplace internet traffic. This cultural production represents humanity's collective processing of cyclical dread - art born from the particular anguish of weekly reset. Monday has, quite literally, inspired more creative works than any big cat.
Tiger
The tiger's cultural impact spans millennia and continents. From William Blake's 'Tyger Tyger, burning bright' to the Chinese zodiac, from Shere Khan to Tony the Tiger, the species has embedded itself into humanity's mythological consciousness. Tigers symbolise power, danger, beauty, and wild freedom across dozens of cultures. Conservation efforts have mobilised billions in funding precisely because of this cultural significance. Yet much of this impact derives from the tiger as symbol rather than lived experience - a beautiful abstraction of danger rather than danger itself.