The whee is part of a long tradition of exaggerated vocal and slide effects used in cartoons to exaggerate falls, slides and fast exits without showing impact. Sound designers created these short pitch bends to replace realistic noise with comedy, and the style carried from theatrical shorts into television animation and later into online video editing. Short clips like this spread through soundboards and meme edits because they are instantly readable, fit almost any slapstick scene, and need no dialogue or context to get the joke across to viewers.