Why We Still Drop F in Chat

There are a lot of buttons on your keyboard that matter — WASD for movement, spacebar for jumping, escape for rage-quitting. But none of them have achieved the cultural dominance of one single letter: F.

Not because it’s the start of everyone’s favorite curse word (though, fitting). No — because in 2014, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare gave us the most unintentionally hilarious moment in video game history.

Picture this: you’re deep into the campaign of Advanced Warfare. The guns are futuristic, the stakes are high, and then… you’re at a funeral. A somber, serious cutscene. This is supposed to be a moment of honor, remembrance, and raw emotion.

And then the prompt pops up on screen: “Press F to Pay Respects.”

That’s it. A single button press. Tap F on your keyboard and suddenly, your digital soldier bows his head like he’s in line at a drive-thru funeral. It was supposed to be emotional. It ended up being comedy gold.

Gamers everywhere lost it. A heartfelt scene was reduced to the equivalent of signing a guest book with one key. Just like that, a meme was born.

At first, it was just a running joke. People mocked the clunky design, made memes about it, and laughed at how Call of Duty turned grief into a QuickTime Event.

But then something weird happened: it stuck. “Press F” evolved into the perfect shorthand for loss. Someone dies in-game? Drop an F in chat. Someone disconnects mid-match? F. Your buddy accidentally sells his legendary sword in World of Warcraft? F.

It escaped Call of Duty and bled into every corner of gaming culture. Twitch chat? F. YouTube comments? F. Twitter? F. Hell, even grandma’s Facebook post about her Wi-Fi going down could get an F. It became universal.

Other phrases fade away, but “F in chat” has survived a decade because it captures the essence of online culture: caring just enough to acknowledge something, but not enough to type a full sentence.