Well, there have been a bunch of memes based around the term pew pews . . . at least here in Commiefornia. I thought of it as more of a "draw you in to the thread" kind of joke. I just thought it was funny and everybody knew the term.
I tend to be a jokester and love to look at things from the lighter side.
I tend to believe that it was originally used that way too, but many didn't get the joke and started spewing "pew-pew" like it was a legitimate term for the lack of knowing any better.
Seems everyone has to make their mark by coming up with a new nickname or diminutive for something without bothering to look it up and see if someone else hasn't already done that. Diminutives of diminutives, or worse, diminutives which have more syllables than the original word? Making up their own acronyms and abbreviations, using a slash or dash in a ratio, like twist rates?
Oh, THIS one: "SHOTTY!" I'm sorry, but a shotgun, to ME epitomizes SERIOUSNESS, and some will peg it with such a cutsie name, and with the same number of syllables, so it's no more efficient to say "SHOTTY" than to say shotgun.
See? I'm a grouchy old guy who thinks effectively communicating is important and I grouse openly about it.
In contrast,
@glassparman makes light of it. I should probably try to follow his example and be less a less miserable being.