Pspspsps

About

Pspspsps is an onomatopoeia used to recreate the sound some make to get the attention of a cat. Since becoming prevalent online during the 2010s, the phrase has been used in a series of jokes and memes about futile attempts to attract a cat, among other humorous references to the noise.

Origin

The origin of the phrase "pspsps" is unknown, and usage of the phrase likely existed prior to its appearance online. The earliest available example of the phrase in a meme was published in a Rage Comic on the /r/fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu subreddit on March 17th, 2012.^[1] The post received more than 1,700 points (95% upvoted) and 160 comments in less than a decade (shown below).

Spread

References to the sound continued to appear online over the next decade. For example, on October 18th, 2018, in a since-deleted post, Twitter ^[2] user @malim_nunes posted the phrase in a tweet that received more than 71,000 like and 34,000 retweets in less than two years (shown below, left).

The following year, YouTuber Jeremy on easy shared a video entitled "pispispispispispispis," in which a man makes the noise to a cat. Within one year, the post received more than 135,000 views (shown below, right).

On August 15th, 2019, Twitter^[3] user @PeachyKneeSocks tweeted a Screen Reaching Emoji with the caption, "Me when I pspspspsps at a cat and it runs away." The tweet received more than 361,000 likes and 97,000 retweets in less than six months (shown below).

Following the post, jokes about getting a cat's attention by using the phrase began to appear in greater usage on Reddit and Twitter (example below, center). People also began using the cats in conjunction with more cursed emoji memes (example below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References