The UHM emote is a Pepe the Frog variant that conveys a sense of hesitation, awkwardness, or skepticism. It features a green Pepe with raised eyebrows and a slightly concerned expression, typically used when viewers are unsure about something said or done on stream. The emote visually represents the verbal expression "uhm" - an interjection that indicates uncertainty or questioning.
UHM is a derivative of the YEP emote created by a user named Ferdig, who received permission from the original YEP emote creator (yaYEET_xD) to modify it. The emote was approved and submitted to FrankerFaceZ (FFZ) approximately around 2020. It belongs to the broader family of Pepe the Frog emotes, which originated from Matt Furie's 2005 comic series "Boy's Club" before becoming popular on platforms like 4chan and eventually making their way to Twitch.
The emote has gained significant popularity, being used in over 2,000 emote sets on FrankerFaceZ alone, and has spread to other third-party emote services like 7TV and BetterTTV (BTTV). Like many Pepe variants, it has become part of the visual language of Twitch chat.
The UHM emote is typically used in Twitch chat in the following situations:
The emote effectively communicates a "raised eyebrow" reaction that suggests the viewer is not entirely convinced or is taking a moment to process what they just witnessed.