What is This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things?

It's a LOLcat-style image macro, sometimes called Arguecat, that pairs an angry cat with the scolding catchphrase and is used to call out threads or people ruining something.

Where did This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things come from?

The phrase itself traces back to pop culture uses like Paula Poundstone's 1990 HBO special Cats, Cops and Stuff. The image macro version was first posted by LiveJournal user foxbaby on December 4th, 2007.

What does This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things mean?

It's a mock-parental complaint aimed at someone whose bad behavior ruined something shared, used on forums to shut down thread derailments.

How do you use This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things?

Drop the angry cat macro, or just the catchphrase, into a thread that has gone off topic or dissolved into fighting. The tone is exasperated, not actually furious.

Is This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things still popular?

The LOLcat macro reads as classic late-2000s meme culture now, but the catchphrase stuck around through later image macros and got a mainstream boost from Taylor Swift's 2017 reputation track of the same name.

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

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Published October 2, 2026

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things is a LOLcat-era image macro, also called Arguecat, pairing a glowering tabby with a scolding catchphrase lifted from decades of exasperated parent dialogue. It bubbled up on LiveJournal in late 2007 and became a go-to forum shutdown line whenever a thread went off the rails.

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Overview

The format sticks to the standard LOLcat template: a photograph of a visibly furious cat, usually hissing or mid-snarl, with the all-caps impact text 'THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS' slapped on top1. Some versions split the caption, letting the top line set up the gripe and the bottom deliver the verdict, in the same cadence LOLcat macros used throughout the late 2000s3.

On forums and imageboards, posters drop the macro into threads that have derailed, flooded with low-effort replies, or dissolved into bickering. The implied joke is parental: the cat is the long-suffering adult, the thread is the broken Flintstones jelly jar1. Later versions swap the cat for other reaction characters while keeping the catchphrase intact, and the line is also logged on Urban Dictionary as a general-purpose complaint about someone's destructive behavior7.

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Origin & Background

Platform

LiveJournal (image macro) / pre-internet stand-up (phrase)

Creator

Unknown

Date

2007

The catchphrase predates the macro by decades. One of the earliest widely cited uses comes from Paula Poundstone's 1990 HBO stand-up special Cats, Cops and Stuff, where she recounts dropping a Flintstones jelly-jar glass and her mother sighing, 'Oh, so we can't have nice things'1 2. The line also shows up in the 1998 film Jane Austen's Mafia!, delivered by Jay Mohr's character Tony during a fight with his girlfriend3.

The image macro version surfaced on December 4th, 2007, when LiveJournal user foxbaby posted the earliest known copy to a 4chan-themed community4. The macro rode the LOLcat wave that was cresting across LiveJournal and imageboards at the time, and the phrase stuck because it already carried that scolded-kid energy from the stand-up and movie uses1.

How It Spread

After the LiveJournal post, the macro drifted through gaming and hobby forums. On December 8th, 2008, DigitPress user FxMercenary dropped it into a thread titled 'Does replacing the battery in carts devalue them?' as a scolding punchline5. On July 18th, 2009, the macro showed up in a Caturday round-up on Master Marf, grouped alongside other LOLcat classics still in rotation during the format's late-2000s peak6.

As LOLcats cooled off, the catchphrase outlived the image. It kept appearing on web forums with new reaction characters and no cat at all, and Urban Dictionary entries from the period define it as both a mom-yell and shorthand for 'the consequences of an asshole'7. The phrase got its biggest mainstream boost on November 10th, 2017, when Taylor Swift used it as the title of a track on her album reputation1. On December 12th, 2018, Swift uploaded an official video for the song to YouTube, where it later passed 861,000 views inside three years1.

Timeline

1990

Paula Poundstone uses the line in her HBO special Cats, Cops and Stuff, telling the Flintstones jelly-jar glass story.

1998

Jay Mohr's character Tony delivers the line in Jane Austen's Mafia!

2007-12-04

LiveJournal user foxbaby posts the earliest known angry-cat image macro using the phrase.

2008-12-08

DigitPress forum user FxMercenary uses the macro in a thread about cartridge batteries.

2009-07-18

Master Marf features the macro in a Caturday round-up during the LOLcat peak.

2017-11-10

Taylor Swift releases 'This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things' as a track on reputation.

2018-12-12

Swift uploads the song's video to YouTube, which later passes 861,000 views.

How to Use This Meme

The common convention is to post the angry-cat macro, or the catchphrase alone, in a thread that has gone sideways, is full of in-fighting, or features someone breaking a shared toy (a server, a game lobby, a comment section). It typically reads as mock-parental exasperation rather than genuine anger, so it works best when the derailment is petty.