# What Is This I Don't Even

What Is This I Don't Even is a catchphrase that first appeared on Paheal in April 2007 and became a go-to way to express speechless confusion on 4chan and other message boards. The unfinished sentence structure is the joke: the sentence trails off because the thing you just saw literally broke the speaker's ability to finish a thought.

## Origin
The earliest documented use is a Paheal post dated April 26, 2007, where an anonymous user dropped "What is this I don't even" into the source link field of a Rule 34 image pairing the Family Guy characters Meg and Lois[1]. The phrase was the user's own reaction, not an actual source URL, which is part of why it stuck: it read as a confession that the uploader couldn't justify what they were looking at.

The exact author is unconfirmed, since the post is anonymous and no artist claim exists[1]. KYM also credits the Paheal post as the first known appearance rather than a specific person[3].

- **Platform:** Paheal (origin) / 4chan (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2007

## Overview
What Is This I Don't Even works because the sentence refuses to end. Instead of saying "I don't even know what to say," the speaker breaks off mid-thought, as if the stupid or disturbing post they just saw short-circuited their brain before they could finish the clause[3]. That deliberate grammatical collapse is the whole gag.

On image boards the phrase typically shows up as a reply to a shocking, nonsensical or disgusting image, where it signals that the usual snark toolkit has failed[1]. Others pile on by repeating it, which inflates the lulz but also, in some communities, counts as overuse worth punishing[3]. The phrasing spawned the broader "I can't even" family of truncated reaction speech that stuck around well after the original catchphrase cooled off.

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is What Is This I Don't Even?
It is a message board catchphrase used as a reaction to posts so shocking or stupid that the speaker cannot finish their sentence, and the unfinished grammar is the joke[3].

### Where did What Is This I Don't Even come from?
An anonymous Paheal user typed the phrase into the source link field of a Rule 34 Family Guy image on April 26, 2007, which is the earliest documented use[1].

### What does What Is This I Don't Even mean?
It signals speechless confusion or disgust; Urban Dictionary's 2007 entry defined it bluntly as an internet meme used to indicate confusion[4].

### How do you use What Is This I Don't Even?
People typically drop it as a standalone reply under a bizarre image or video, and others repeat it to pile on, though some boards treat overuse as a bannable offense[3].

### Is What Is This I Don't Even still popular?
The literal phrase is a classic now rather than an active trend, but the truncated "I can't even" style of reaction it helped seed stuck around in wider internet speech[2].

## References
1. [https://rule34.paheal.net/post/view/612/](<https://rule34.paheal.net/post/view/612/>)
2. [https://ytmnd.com/users/JDalpha22/sites](<https://ytmnd.com/users/JDalpha22/sites>)
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/what-is-this-i-dont-even](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/what-is-this-i-dont-even>)
4. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=what%20is%20this%20i%20dont%20even](<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=what%20is%20this%20i%20dont%20even>)
5. [https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090727093114AAaWVRK](<https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090727093114AAaWVRK>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/what-is-this-i-dont-even
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