What is this~?

Origin

The phrase comes from a reply that Shotaro of the idol group RIIZE left on the fan platform Weverse. A fan had posted a comment consisting of a long string of dog-barking noises, and Shotaro replied to it with "What is this~???" That is the source, from early 2024.

Two things made the short reply into a meme. One is the structure: a response to fan gushing became fan gushing itself. The fan, unable to contain their affection, flooded the comment with meaningless noise, and instead of getting annoyed or ignoring it, the recipient asked earnestly what it was. The other is the ending. With a tilde and three question marks, "What is this~???" does not read as a challenge but as genuine curiosity.

Spread

The main venue was X, driven initially by Briize, RIIZE's fandom. What set the phrase apart, though, is that it works with no knowledge of the idol context at all. It carries a single emotion — not understanding what you are looking at — so people simply lifted the sentence without knowing whose it was.

Usage then split in two. One branch keeps the original register of asking cutely; the other uses it when something is absurd or infuriating. The latter keeps the innocent tone while the content is a complaint: "Professor, what is this? Why is there an assignment during exam period?" The scrupulously polite ending ends up serving as padding that softens the protest.

Usage

Confronted with something incomprehensible — asking rather than judging
Gushing over something you love — the state of being lost for words
Raising a complaint gently — protest wrapped in an innocent register
On absurd notices, assignments or bills — quoted directly as a caption

Variants and derivatives

It was consumed in tandem with "There's no reason it can't be" (a line by Anton) from the same group, the two circulating together as RIIZE's signature memes. One asks and the other answers back, which made them easy to string into a dialogue.

The number of tildes and question marks is fluid, running from one question mark to three; more question marks read as greater bewilderment. Note also that while standard Korean orthography would spell it differently, the original's spelling is preserved by convention.