popCat

popCat is a popular emote featuring a cat with its mouth wide open in a circular shape, appearing to be making a popping or screaming sound. The emote captures a moment of surprise, excitement, or reaction, making it perfect for expressing sudden emotions in Twitch chat.

The emote alternates between two states: a normal cat face and the wide-open mouth version, creating a popping effect when animated, which is where the name 'popCat' comes from.

The popCat emote originated from a domestic short-haired cat named Oatmeal, owned by Twitter user Xavier BFB. In mid-October 2020, Xavier posted a video of Oatmeal chirping at a bug to a private Discord server. A friend named Skettidragon turned this into a GIF and posted it to Reddit's r/MEOW_IRL subreddit on October 9, 2020.

The meme went viral after Twitter user @partitiongal reposted the edit, gaining over 1.6 million views. The original video was then uploaded by Xavier on October 11, 2020. The meme gained significant popularity when it was used in music videos on Instagram, where the GIF was synced to music to create the illusion that Oatmeal was singing.

The popCat phenomenon expanded further when three University of Sheffield students created a clicking game called Popcat.click on December 11, 2020. The emote has since been adopted across various platforms including Twitch, 7TV, and BTTV as a popular reaction emote.

popCat is commonly used in Twitch chat in the following situations:

• When something surprising or shocking happens during a stream
• To express excitement when a streamer makes a good play or achieves something impressive
• During loud or chaotic moments in a stream
• As a reaction to sudden noises or jump scares
• When viewers want to create a wave of animated emotes in chat (popCat spam)
• To show enthusiasm or hype for an announcement
• Sometimes used rhythmically in response to music or beats

The emote is particularly effective when used in large numbers by multiple chat users simultaneously, creating a visual effect of many cats popping their mouths open and closed.