The phrase comes from Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, released in 2014, where players were prompted to press F to pay respects at a funeral scene. Viewers on Twitch soon turned that prompt into a chat ritual, typing a single F whenever a streamer died, lost or faced an awkward moment. The habit spread to YouTube, TikTok and Discord, where the letter alone became shorthand for sympathy mixed with comedy. It endures because it is instantly readable, works without explanation and turns a failure into a shared joke.