The clip circulates under the name TPup Cards and is credited to TacticalPinup, with the line That was a thing preserved as its identifier. Short spoken reactions like this spread through soundboards and short form edits because they can be dropped into almost any context without setup. Creators reuse it when a scene is too odd for a serious response, and its recognisable flat delivery has kept it in rotation as a shorthand for bemused, speechless disbelief online among meme editors everywhere today.