The exact origin of the recording is not widely documented, so the clip spread mainly as a reusable reaction sound shared between meme pages and short video edits. Its hook is the familiar idea of sleeping with one eye open, a phrase used for staying vigilant, which creators stretch into a joke about trust and paranoia. It is often layered over staring animals, cartoon sleep scenes and awkward sleepovers, sometimes next to a snore for contrast, and it remains popular because the line alone explains the whole joke.