youzicha:

I always thought gitaigo in Japanese are really mysterious, because there is no obvious link between the sign and signified. How exactly does tsurutsuru come to mean ‘smooth’, kirakira ‘sparkling’, or niyaniya ‘smirking’?

But perhaps we can see the process in action on /r/ragecomics; note how nom nom, fap fap, and herp derp gradually established themselves.

Fap comes from Sexy Losers, an oglaf-like paraerotic 4koma from a gaijin teaching English in Japan. It was later renamed “The Thin H Line” when he freaked out that someone would tell on him.

Went dead and then years later it revived only now it was paraSJW in the Sinfest-like “reverse Dave Sim” manner.