Y U Do Dis? is an image macro catchphrase that spells 'why did you do this?' in LOLcat-style broken English and is used to accuse a subject of a disappointing or baffling act.

Where did Y U Do Dis? come from?

The caption first appeared on April 24th, 2008, on the video game blog GameFront, attached to a LOLcat image macro accompanying a post about Grand Theft Auto IV being torrented before release.

What does Y U Do Dis? mean?

It is a mock-sad version of 'why did you do this?', using the same broken-English register as LOLcats and the 'Y U No' family of macros.

How do you use Y U Do Dis??

The caption is typically pasted over an animal, cartoon character or person who looks wronged, often in LOLcat, 'Y U No Guy' or Dolan-style formats, as in the January 2013 r/funny 'Y, Bat? / Y u do dis?' post.

Is Y U Do Dis? still popular?

Its peak activity was between 2010 and 2013 across Reddit, FunnyJunk and Memebase, with the Dolan-era posts in 2012 and 2013 being the most-upvoted documented examples.

Y U Do Dis?

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Published October 8, 2026

Y U Do Dis? is an image macro catchphrase that spells out the question 'why did you do this?' in deliberately broken English. It first appeared alongside a LOLcat about Grand Theft Auto IV piracy in April 2008 and spent the following years attached to confused animals, Dolan comics and 'Y U No Guy' remixes across Reddit, FunnyJunk and Memebase.

catchphrase memes misspelling memes lolcat memes image macro memes late 2000s memes

Overview

Y U Do Dis? is a deliberately misspelled rendering of 'why did you do this?' that works as a mock-sad accusation, usually pointed at a subject who has done something disappointing or baffling2. The phrasing follows the same broken-English register as the LOLcat and 'Y U No' families, which is where the format got its visual grammar from1.

The wording shows up in several recurring templates. The earliest versions used LOLcat-style photos of kittens and other animals with impact text, while later iterations swapped the cat for the yellow 'Y U No Guy' rage face captioned in the same broken register1. By the early 2010s the line was being delivered by poorly drawn Dolan-style redraws of characters like Shaggy and Spider-Man, usually asking the question of whichever character had just betrayed them2.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

GameFront (LOLcat origin) / Reddit, FunnyJunk, Memebase (viral spread)

Date

2008

The catchphrase first appeared on April 24th, 2008, when the video game blog GameFront ran a short post about Grand Theft Auto IV being leaked and torrented tens of thousands of times before release2. The article was illustrated with a LOLcat image macro of a sad-looking cat captioned 'y u do dis?', framing the pirates as the ones making the cat (and Rockstar) sad2.

The LOLcat was not credited to a named creator and the original artist is unconfirmed; GameFront used it as editorial decoration rather than as original art2. From there the exact caption, with the same spelling, started getting reused on unrelated subjects.

How It Spread

After the 2008 GameFront post, the catchphrase moved slowly through user-generated meme sites. A Facebook page called 'y u do dis?' went up on March 29th, 2010, and on September 27th that year FunnyJunk user HollyWobbles uploaded a 'Y U No Guy' variant captioned 'U read dis in funny accent / y u do dis?!', which pulled in over 11,900 views and 175 up-votes over the next three years2.

In 2011 the line jumped to Reddit and bodybuilding forums. BodyBuildingForums member yelojackt posted a monkey image macro with the caption on April 14th, 2011, and on October 28th Redditor AnonymousAutonomous submitted a kitten version to r/trees aimed at people who opposed marijuana legalization, where it picked up more than 1,000 up-votes and 40 comments before being archived2. On April 20th, 2012, Cheezburger's Memebase ran a Dolan-style Scooby Doo comic in which a crude Shaggy asks 'y u do dis skubby'2.

The peak Reddit moment came in early 2013. On January 3rd, Redditor ryanger3 submitted an image macro to r/funny pairing a photo of a man about to be hit by a flying baseball bat with the caption 'Y, Bat? / Y u do dis?', and the post gained upward of 14,000 up-votes and 100 comments within four months2. On May 7th, Redditor shirox91 posted a Dolan comic to r/funny of a poorly drawn Spider-Man asking Dolan 'y u do dis', which pulled in over 960 up-votes and 15 comments in under two weeks2.

Timeline

2008-04-24

GameFront publishes a post about GTA IV piracy illustrated with a LOLcat image macro captioned 'y u do dis?', the earliest known use of the phrase.

2010-03-29

A Facebook page titled 'y u do dis?' is launched.

2010-09-27

FunnyJunk user HollyWobbles uploads a 'Y U No Guy' variant captioned 'U read dis in funny accent / y u do dis?!'.

2011-04-14

BodyBuildingForums member yelojackt posts a monkey image macro using the caption.

2011-10-28

Redditor AnonymousAutonomous submits a 'y u do dis' kitten macro to r/trees in response to opponents of marijuana legalization.

2012-04-20

Memebase posts a Dolan-style Scooby Doo comic in which Shaggy asks 'y u do dis skubby'.

2013-01-03

Redditor ryanger3 submits the 'Y, Bat? / Y u do dis?' image macro to r/funny, which gains over 14,000 up-votes.

2013-05-07

Redditor shirox91 posts a Dolan-style Spider-Man comic captioned 'y u do dis' to r/funny.

How to Use This Meme

The format typically pairs a photo or drawing of a wronged-looking subject (an animal, a cartoon character, a person at the moment of a bad decision) with the caption 'y u do dis?' in LOLcat-style broken English. Common conventions include stacking it with another target name on a second line, as in 'Y, Bat? / Y u do dis?', or dropping it into a Dolan-style redraw where the badly drawn character delivers the line2.