Why are people saying “Mommy? Sorry. Mommy?” all over TikTok? It’s complicated.
The origin appears to be an Aug. 25 TikTok from roofjesus, who uses the line (he says “Excuse me” first) to get the attention of a woman standing in a parking garage. “Mommy,” in this case, is not meant literally, but more like “daddy” is used to express attraction or admiration. (The woman is his girlfriend.)
On TikTok, the sound was quickly applied to a range of situations, from horny to thirsty to a little scary. Some TikToks were expressions of friendship, while others worked the sound into product promo.
The format has also been applied to stan Twitter.
The sound’s originator, roofjesus, said in a Sept. 3 video that it’s largely being used by a “lesbian army.” It’s been used in more than 104,000 TikToks, and the original video has more than 6 million views.
It’s not as weird as the “Mommy’s milk” TikTok sound, but it’s close.