Hugudung-Gudungs

Origin

"Heogeodeonggeodeongseu" came out of a February 27, 2025 post by the Instagram account itiscoolthing. The post paired a photo of a middle-aged man staring straight ahead with his arms folded and the caption "a real heogeodeonggeodeongseu situation," and that post became the meme wholesale. That neither the photo nor the phrase has any backstory is precisely the point: a contextless expression attached to a meaningless word can be applied to absolutely anything.

The word itself is a stretched-out version of Korean exclamations like 헉 or 허거덩. The trailing -seu mimics an English plural or a brand-name suffix and carries no meaning at all, which is exactly what gives the word its rhythm when spoken. Having no fixed definition, it can sit anywhere between surprise, fluster and disbelief — conveying the feeling without having to explain the situation.

Spread

It spread fast because it slots into a sentence so easily. The original caption already puts the word in an adjectival position, so it can be tacked onto the end of any story as-is. Before long, plenty of uses dropped the photo and kept only the word.

Celebrities picked it up quickly. NewJeans, BABYMONSTER, and Karina and Ningning of aespa all used the expression, carrying it into idol fandoms. By March 2025 it was established enough to appear in marketing-industry roundups as one of that month's defining new memes.

How it is used

• As a standalone exclamation after something surprising or absurd.
• In the "a real heogeodeonggeodeongseu situation" form, as a tag closing out a story.
• Attaching the original photo itself as a reaction image.
• To deliberately deflate something serious — the word is silly enough to drain the weight out of it.

Sources

• Namuwiki, "리얼 허거덩거덩스한 상황" — the February 27, 2025 itiscoolthing Instagram post as first appearance, the pairing of the folded-arms photo with the caption, and use by NewJeans, BABYMONSTER, Karina and Ningning
• Namuwiki, "itiscoolthing" — the Instagram account where the meme first appeared
• Gogumafarm, "New memes roundup, March 2025" — coverage as a then-current meme