“Nom nom nom” is an onomatopoeic phrase used to indicate hunger, chewing or pleasure of eating. It has evolved from describing the Cookie Monster’s cookie eating to any food or object. It is commonly used on the internet and in captions of images, but not in formal contexts.
“Nom nom nom” is essentially an onomatopoeia for the chewing noise made by the Sesame Street Cookie Monster. It is a phrase used to indicate hunger, chewing or the pleasure of eating food. For example, if someone responded to a picture of a plate of food online by leaving a comment saying “nom nom nom,” it would indicate that that person thinks the food is delicious and would like to eat it. Spelling and spacing can change depending on the source, producing variations such as “om nom nom” or simply “nomnomnom”.
While “nom nom nom” was mostly used to describe the sound of eating cookies at first, it has largely branched off from that path. Now, the phrase can mean chewing or eating any number of foods or objects. Furthermore, the eater is no longer just the Cookie Monster, but can also be any artfully depicted person, animal, or even inanimate object.
This phrase is generally only used in very informal contexts. While the phrase is used extensively on the internet, many people find it embarrassing or inappropriate to use in real-life situations. It can be attributed to the mutant language form of the internet known as “lolspeak”. Sometimes, the phrase is used as a comedic slur to describe a person who is eagerly eating their food. For example, it would be very rude if an individual teased her boss by saying “nom nom nom” while he eats his food quickly during a break from work.
Sometimes “nom nom nom” is used as a caption on various images on the internet. Often, the subject of the images is a cute animal chewing on food or another object. Other times, the caption describes an image of an animal or person caught on camera taking an abnormally large bite out of something. If a photograph of an inanimate object or something in the environment appears to be biting or swallowing something else, the image could end up on forums or other Internet sites digitally altered to have cartoon teeth and a mouth added, captioned with “nom nom nom !” To add even more personification, cartoon eyes, eyebrows, and other facial features are all commonly added in an attempt to convey an emotion such as anger or joy from the eater towards the object being eaten.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
