Press F to Pay Respects
The Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare quick-time-event prompt at a funeral — instantly mocked, then absorbed as the standard internet condolence gesture.
Origin
In Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014), an early cutscene takes place at a soldier's funeral. The player is suddenly prompted: 'Press F to pay respects' (or X on console). Many players reflexively laughed — the reduction of grief to a button prompt struck people as so tone-deaf it was unintentionally comic. The phrase went viral within days and has stayed as one of the most-quoted gaming jokes.
Modern usage
Standard internet condolence reply, often typed simply as 'F' under a bad-news post. 'F in the chat' is the streaming-and-Twitch variant. Almost no users still picture the original cutscene — the phrase has fully detached from Call of Duty.
In the wild
[someone posts bad news] F— common social-media reply
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