Open any Twitch stream during a clutch moment and watch the chat. Before the caster even finishes the sentence, it’s wall-to-wall PogU. Wide eyes, open mouth, pure hype. If you don’t have the right browser extension, though, you’re just watching people spam four letters at each other and wondering what you’re missing.
When to Drop a PogU
Any time something genuinely impressive happens. Some PogU examples, straight from chat:
juicer42: PogU mod_andy: HE ACTUALLY HIT IT PogU x_fan99: PogU PogU PogU
“did he just clutch the 1v4” “PogU” “POGU I CAN’T BELIEVE IT”
streamer: okay watch this, one attempt only chat: sure jan [lands it first try] chat: POGU POGU POGU
That’s it. You see a sick play, you type the face. No setup, no follow-up. The emote does all the talking (kind of the point of emotes).
Where PogU Came From
The face belongs to Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez. Back in 2009, during a taping of his YouTube show CrossCounterTV, the cameraman tripped over a tripod, and Gootecks turned to camera with this stunned, wide-eyed, open-mouth look. That same outtake footage also produced PogChamp. This variant is just a different frame from a different angle. And “Pog” itself is widely said to be short for “Play of the Game.”
The original went official as a site-wide emote in 2012. The newer face took the fan route: uploaded to FrankerFaceZ in 2018, visible only if you run the BTTV or FFZ extension. Reddit pushed it hard, and streamers like pokelawls and xQc made it a default reaction in their chats.
Why Gamers Can’t Quit PogU
The numbers got silly. StreamElements ranked it the 9th most-used reaction in October 2019, with over 135 million uses across 77,000+ channels. Then in January 2021, Twitch removed the original PogChamp over Gootecks’ comments about the Capitol riot (it briefly became a lizard, long story), and this variant soaked up even more of the hype traffic. Tbh I think the front-facing stare hits harder than the original ever did. The sideways glance says “surprised.” This face says “I cannot believe what I just watched.” No contest.
Here’s my cheat sheet for the whole family:
| Emote | What it is | When you use it |
|---|---|---|
| PogU | FFZ/BTTV variant, front-facing stare | big hype, twitch-native crowds |
| PogChamp | the original official one | legacy hype, mostly retired now |
| Poggers | Pepe-fied version | ironic or playful hype |
| Pog | just the text | anywhere, no extension needed |
FAQ
What does PogU mean in chat?
It’s a hype emote: a shocked, excited face you spam when something amazing happens on stream. Think of it as the crowd gasping, except the crowd is 40,000 people mashing the same four letters.
Why do people type PogU when PogChamp exists?
Same guy. Same video. Different frame. PogChamp looks off to the side; this one stares right at you. The original stayed official until 2021, while the variant lives on third-party extensions, which honestly made it cooler.
Why does it show up as plain text for some people?
You need the BTTV or FrankerFaceZ browser extension. Without one, the site shows you plain text while everyone else sees the face. Install the extension and suddenly half of chat makes sense. You’re welcome.
