About

Pingas^[2] (often mistaken for "Penish") is a famous misheard phrase from the animated TV show Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Since its emergence as an internet meme in 2007, it is well-known as a prominent source in YouTube Poops.

Origin

On September 22nd, 1993, the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog episode "Boogey-Mania" premiered in the United States.^[1] At one point in the episode, Dr. Robotnik catches his robotic minions Scratch and Grounder eavesdropping on his conversation ("Snooping as usual, I see!").

On May 27th, 2007, YouTuber^[3] Stegblob posted a YouTube Poop called "Robotnik Has a Viagra Overdose."^[11] The video received over 137,000 views in nine years. It was later taken down for copyright violations. A reupload of the video was shared by YouTuber^[12] youtubepoops in 2017, where at the 3:35-minute mark, Stegblob cut "Snooping as usual, I see!" to sound like the word "penis," ultimately forming the word "pingas" (shown below).

Spread

A year later, when McMaNGOS^[4] uploaded the video "THIS VIDEO CONTAINS WIN", the popularity of PINGAS increased. This video is also the source of the meme called THIS VIDEO CONTAINS X; which involves a picture of Dr. Robotnik (with a face usually super-imposed onto the image) and a phrase or sound to create a song.

PINGAS was the first and most popular phrase to be used in YouTube Poops.^[5] As a result, the phrase PINGAS has become widespread across many internet subcultures and forums.

Illustrations

While the meme began as sound-effect, it has also become a frequent subject of illustration. There are thousands of illustrations parodying PINGAS on the illustrators community deviantART.^[6]

2024 Resurgence

Starting in late 2023, a new slew of Pingas videos spread on Twitter / X and TikTok.

One of the first Pingas memes a part of the resurgence was posted by X^[7] user @chronakey on December 26th, 2023, who used a video of a kid screaming for his vape, replacing the word with "Pingas." Over four months, the tweet received roughly 13,000 likes (shown below).

pic.twitter.com/4m5nlDnTHj

— gabe (@chronakey) December 26, 2023

X^[8] user @chronakey continued the trend in the following days, leading to iterations from others in early 2024. For instance, on April 11th, 2024, X^[9] user @NintendoGCN tweeted a Pingas video, receiving over 3,900 likes in a day (shown below).

pic.twitter.com/oGi6zLAu4T

— cake (@NintendoGCN) April 11, 2024

Rather than being ironic adoration, X^[10] user @chronakey stated in a reply shared on April 12th, 2024, "I never really thought of it as something ironic I just thought the fusion of old and new was pretty funny. I feel most of the people making them now are doing it out of appreciation for it as well."

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References