Cricket chirping as a symbol for silence has been used in cartoons, comedy shows and theatre for decades, long before short form video. The written form cri cri cri is the cricket onomatopoeia in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, which is why this version spread widely on Latin soundboards and ringtone sites. Editors later adopted the short loop for memes and reaction videos, where a single chirping track replaces dialogue and lets the audience hear the emptiness of a scene after a flop, a snub or a long, expectant wait.