WTF Is This Shit!? — Gaston from Beauty and the Beast reads a book with a furious expression next to Belle, captioned 'WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT!?'

WTF Is This Shit!?

2006catchphraseclassic

Published October 8, 2026

WTF Is This Shit!? is an internet catchphrase paired with image macros of a confused or disapproving character, most famously Annoyed Picard from Star Trek1. The phrase first appeared on Flickr in December 2006 and later anchored thousands of Quickmeme submissions, making it one of the go-to reaction formats of the early 2010s3.

catchphrase memes reaction memes star trek memes image macro memes frustration memes

Overview

WTF Is This Shit!? is a catchphrase slapped onto image macros of a character looking baffled or fed up, typically used to call out a post that is stupid, poorly written, vulgar, or just out of place2. The format reads as a more hostile cousin of the softer What Is This I Don't Even reaction, trading confusion for open contempt2.

The most recognizable version pairs the line with Annoyed Picard, a screen capture of Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard throwing an exaggerated open-handed gesture at the camera1. That gesture, half shrug and half accusation, became a defining visual cue for the format, though plenty of knockoffs drop Picard entirely and reuse the caption with other confused faces2. Urban Dictionary logged early definitions of the phrase, flagging it as shorthand for not understanding something, whether a math problem, a magnet, or any other baffling input4.

Origin & Background

Platform
Flickr (origin) / Quickmeme (viral spread)
Date
2006

The earliest known image macro using the catchphrase was uploaded to Flickr on December 10th, 2006, using the Annoyed Picard screencap from Star Trek1. The specific hand gesture in that frame, Picard reaching outward as if gesturing at something off-screen, became the format's signature visual, even though the gesture is not present in every later variant2.

The original Flickr poster is not identified in available documentation, and the Picard screenshot itself comes from Star Trek: The Next Generation, so the image is a found object, not an original creation2.

How It Spread

The catchphrase sat in the wild for years before dedicated meme galleries picked it up. On January 23rd, 2012, a Quickmeme page titled Annoyed Picard launched with the outstretched-arm screencap and captions built around incredulous frustration3. A higher-resolution follow-up page, Annoyed Picard HD, went live on June 23rd, 20125.

By July 24th, 2012, the original Annoyed Picard Quickmeme page logged more than 5,500 user submissions, while the HD page passed 2,80035. The WTF Is This Shit!? caption was one of the recurring templates filling out those submissions, often used to react to someone else's post rather than as a standalone joke2. Urban Dictionary entries from the same era cemented the phrase's meaning in internet slang circles4.

Timeline

2006-12-10

Earliest known WTF Is This Shit!? image macro uploaded to Flickr using the Annoyed Picard screencap from Star Trek[1].

2012-01-23

Quickmeme launches an Annoyed Picard page built around the outstretched-arm screencap[3].

2012-06-23

Quickmeme adds an Annoyed Picard HD page with a higher-resolution version of the image[5].

2012-07-24

The two Quickmeme pages together pass 8,000 user submissions, with WTF Is This Shit!? one of the recurring captions[2].

Frequently Asked Questions