Every five years or so, something enters the nation's consciousness that is, for whatever reason, incredibly catchy to Middle America. When our nation's soccer moms and middle managers get hold of these phrases, they use them half to death. Long after the point when everyone else is sick of them, these people are still trotting these catchphrases out as if they were actually funny. It's not just a meme, it's a specific meme which gets treated a specific way by a specific demographic.
"Can you hear me now?" is an excellent recent example of this. Or "Where's the beef?" in the 1980's. I'm telling you, there are STILL people who ask "Where's the beef?" My dad made this reference a few months ago, and believe me, it is still not funny. Too soon, man, too soon.
The 90s will forever be branded with the two phrases "Got Milk?" and "Things That Make You Go Hmm." In fact, I saw a "Got Milk?" parody bumper sticker just the other day in the Walmart parking log. It said "Got Jesus?" Haw haw.
The "Got Milk?" campaign was launched in 1993 with an ad about a history buff who knows the answer to the radio call-in question is Aaron Burr, but he can't say it because his mouth is full of peanut butter. Directed by then-unknown Michael Bay, the ad made a huge splash. (See what I did there?) Its iconic white sans serif letters on a black background would soon be taking the world of "people without an actual sense of humor" by storm.
I originally thought that the phrase "Things That Make You Go Hmmm" started as a C+C Music Factory song (we could probably do an entire article on C+C Music Factory!) and was picked up by Arsenio Hall. But according to Wikipedia, I had the order backwards: Arsenio Hall coined the phrase, and C+C Music Factory later used it in their song.
At any rate, this phrase became a smarmy sort of touchstone for anyone who wanted to appear arch about something. In its own way, it was the 1990's version of today's sarcastic "Really?" or "How's that working out for you?"
It is also often trotted out for those lists of idiotic questions that some people find inexpressibly funny, like "Do sheep shrink in the rain?" or "Why does Hawaii have interstate highways?" Call them brain twisters for imbeciles.