About

An image macro series consisting of two elements: a stock image of a distressed old man clutching his chest (see main image) and a casual sentence (EX: Hey Guys-) suddenly interrupted by “HNNNNNNG-,” an onomatopoeia associated with painful experience of heart attack. Much like Candlejack or Hypnotoad, it’s typically useHNNNNNNNG-

Origin

While one is unable to pinpoint the exact date of the start of this meme, it has been popularly featured on 4chan’s random board (/b/) since 2007. The earliest 4chan archive thread^[1] dates back to December of 2007. The origin of the picture comes from a widely-used image of an old man apparently having a heart attack. It is the first image that appears when one searches for “heart attack” in Google Images^[2]. Since it is essentially a stock photo, the image is also used in other contexts.

Usage

The earliest Urban Dictionary^[3] entry for “HNNNNNG” was submitted on December 29th, 2009. The “HNNNNNNGGG” image macro series is in the Top Tier on Memegenerator^[4], with nearly 3,000 images.

Since there are so many different spellings of the sound, there is no accurate Google Insights data to represent the search interest of this meme.

Notable Examples

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External References

^[1] 4chanarchives – Hnnnnnnng

^[2] Google Images – Search Results for HNNNNNG

^[3] Urban Dictionary – HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG

^[4] MemeGenerator – Hnnnnnnggg