Whomp whomp comes from the sad trombone tradition in vaudeville and cartoon comedy, where a muted trombone sliding down in pitch punctuated a flop or failure on stage. The two-note version became a spoken and written shorthand for that cue, often spelled womp womp online. As short video and meme editing grew, creators replaced or imitated the trombone with a simple sound clip that could be dropped into any scene. It remains popular because audiences recognise the meaning instantly, even without context or dialogue explaining the failure.