The letters ZZZ have represented sleep in comics and cartoons for over a century, mimicking the buzzing sound of snoring and giving readers a visual shorthand for a character who is fast asleep. That shorthand moved into animation, games and meme editing, where the written ZZZ is now paired with an actual snore loop. Online creators use the clip as audio punctuation whenever a scene drags or a character checks out, turning tiredness into a joke that needs no dialogue or explanation.