Meaning
What does OwO What’s This? mean?
OwO What’s This? is a copypasta phrase parodying the furry and online roleplay communities and subcultures in which the emoticon OwO is used to represent innocence, surprise, and in those communities it also represents one’s horniness.
Before the phrase “OwO What’s This?” has become a common meme, primarily used in furry communities online for role-playing activities.
It is typically used online for mocking who might be a member of those communities, in other words, it is used for trolling.
Origin
What's the origin of OwO What’s This??
The phrase like many others originated from the online roleplay within the furry community.
“OwO What’s This?” and related expressions were used on a regular basis as well as emoticons, including “OwO.”
According to Know Your Meme, the earliest known appearance of the phrase was on January 6th, 2013 on DeviantArt by the user CookiMuffinFaic.
Spread & Usage
How did OwO What’s This? spread?
In the beginning the phrase and the emoticon wasn’t a meme and wasn’t used outside of those subcultures.
However, as those communities grew, phrases like “Owo What’s This?” became more popular, and even got into mass media.
On June 24th, 2015 user MinotaurusPro uploaded an image which featured two old, fat men who were sexually role playing as furries online using the phrase.
A couple of days later, on July 2nd, 2015, a Tumblr user posted this picture with the caption “WHO DID THIS?” wanting to know who created it. The post gained over 60,000 notes in about a year.

External resources
- Urban Dictionary – OwO what’s this?