The boing has been a staple of animated comedy since the golden age of cartoons, when sound designers used spring and Jew's harp effects to make characters bounce, stretch and recoil without injury. As those cartoons moved to television reruns and later to the internet, the clip was isolated and shared as a standalone effect. Editors, animators and meme creators now reuse it as universal shorthand for something elastic, clumsy or unexpectedly springy, which keeps it popular far beyond its original cartoons.