Mission

About

The meme originated on 4chan in the latter months of 2005. One of its chat rooms was nicknamed “Speedchat” or “Speedychat” because it was frequently overrun by spammers or by people typing too quickly at the same time. Then, after hearing the song “Speedy Cat” by the Japanese group Y&Co., which was featured in the 2004 rhythm game Beatmania IIDX 11 IIDX RED, the idea of creating a new cat meme for 4chan began to emerge. Part of the appeal came from the song’s somewhat awkward English vocals, combined with the metaphor of a “speedy” cat, which originally represented a female race car driver.