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Some Twitch emotes are for good times. By participating in your favourite streams, you can feel like you’re part of the community. But what happens when you don’t have something nice to say? Where are the toxic emotes? Well, one such you may be looking for is Pepega.
Pepega meaning
A Better Twitch TV emote, Pepega (pronounced “peh-peyguh” and not “pepe-gah”) is usually found in chats where someone is acting like an idiot. In fact, some consider Pepega to be a “politically correct” way of saying a lot worse; sometimes implying that the individual in question has learning difficulties.
Thus Pepega can be used in a wide range of scenarios. Say the streamer has just acquired a new teammate in the matchmaking lobby and they’re quickly proving themselves not to be MLG pro. Or, say the streamer has just made a fatal goof. It’s not uncommon in either of these scenarios to see chat spammed with Pepega.
For the most part, it is used ironically to express that something or someone is stupid. However, as a result of some using the emote alongside pejoratives to mock mental disability, you’re most likely to pick up Pepega in the more toxic chatrooms.
Be sure to read the room before you pull this one out the hat.
Pepega origins
The birth of Pepega dates back to April 8th, 2018, during a text channel conversation on Discord. User Adew posted the image, claiming that “I can’t meme” alongside it. Sadly, Adew was very, very, very mistaken.
Pepega is a trippy-looking member of the Pepe the Frog meme family. Created in 2005 by Matt Furie, Pepes have come to dominate online meme culture – and Twitch emotes are no exception.
A few months after its debut, Redditor elojudx posted Pepega to /r/forsen, the subreddit of streamer Sebastian ‘Forsen’ Fors. Elojudx claimed that it had been added to the Twitch channel’s slate of emotes. However, there was a load of pushback against it. For some reason, many in Forsen’s fanbase weren’t fans of the image. As a result, pro-pepega fighters spammed the image relentlessly. Thus, a meme was born.
Although the emote and meme continues to pick up steam in the streaming community – with Google Search Trends showing interest growing outside of Reddit and Twitch – Pepega is still inextricably linked to Forsen. Users will often accompany Pepega with “FOR SAN”, a bastardisation of the streamer whose subreddit started the whole thing off. This can sometimes leave noobs feeling like they aren’t in on the joke.
Pepega will continue its rise to emote stardom, but only time will tell whether its niche roots or pejorative connotations will end up holding it back.
