Squidward Tentacles is the grumpy, clarinet-playing neighbour in SpongeBob SquarePants, the long-running Nickelodeon cartoon, and his exaggerated crying fits have become a staple of its humour. This short wail, built around his repeated cry of why, circulates on soundboards and in meme edits as shorthand for melodramatic defeat, much like the spongebob sad song used for similar moments. Because the voice performance is so recognisable and the emotion is so overblown, it still works years later whenever a creator needs instant, cartoonish despair without any explanation.