The sting comes from Seinfeld, the American sitcom that ran on NBC from 1989 to 1998 and followed Jerry Seinfeld and his friends in New York. Its distinctive slap-bass interludes were used to bridge scenes, replacing traditional background music with short, improvised-sounding bursts. As clips and edits spread online, the transition became a shorthand for a sudden scene change or an awkward pause, especially in short-form video and comedy memes. It endures because the sound is instantly recognisable and needs no explanation to signal that the story has moved on.