Hope you don’t mind a little clarification from the other explanations. The original meme has English subtitles for a Spanish-speaking show. You know how sometimes you’ll get a subtitle about a show in a foreign language that’s [Crowd murmuring in (translated language)]? That’s to indicate to a deaf person what the language is. It’s “in” a language, not “as” a person.

There are lots of semi-nonsense words that make sense in the format. For example, “mutters in Spanish” would indicate the sounds are unintelligible but she’s still speaking Spanish.

So, the original meme is technically properly indicating that she is speaking in Spanish—gasping in Spanish—even though a gasp is not a translation of a word and therefore it’s funny that a translator tried to make sure the audience knew she was still gasping in the Spanish language.

The meme format isn’t saying “as” is funnier than “in,” it’s making fun of the fact that it’s silly to specify a random action as belonging to a specific denomination of people or as if it’s a language.

[over-explains in random Redditor] [shrugs in American] [waves in introvert]