In the olden days, culture and traditions dictated how people spoke, looked, and lived. With the digital revolution, the tables turned, and everything took a backseat while the Internet transformed how we lived.
The Internet even manipulated our language and introduced jargon that penetrated our day-to-day lives.
The Internet has a funny way of tweaking and twisting common-use words. The netizens love simplifying everyday words and phrases by introducing different slang and acronyms to make things more legit and often cool.
The acronym we are interested in today is “KYS.” If you want to know what it stands for, allow us to explain.
KYS stands for “Kill Yourself” and is pronounced as “Kiss.” It is used by someone instructing playfully or jokingly to die over something said or done embarrassing. The tone here is jovial and playful and not at all hateful. However, often, some people use it to bully or harass others, insinuating that they should do suicide because they hate them so much. It comes under cyberbullying and can be distressing for sensitive people.
Many acronyms used on one social media bears the same meaning across all platforms on the Internet. So, “KYS” means the same on Discord, Instagram, Steam, and elsewhere. Let us walk you through what it stands for.
What Does “KYS” Stand for on Discord?
KYS is an abbreviation for “Kill Yourself.” Though it sounds aggressive and hateful, it has more playful connotations on Discord or other social media platforms.
The true intention behind this acronym was to playfully taunt any friend who said or did something so embarrassing that they should kill themselves out of embarrassment instead of living with it.
Here the intentions were not to insinuate that one should get a knife and cut their veins. It was all playful and used jokingly.
From the beginning of its origins, the abbreviation caught the attention of gamers in online forums and messaging boards.
So, the context and intention behind this “KYS” back in the day were so innocent that everybody mocked and laughed at each other.
Unfortunately, like everything else, social media had to kill it and make it spooky. “KYS” supposedly made it to social media around the 2010s, and that’s where its meaning twisted.
The seemingly playful “KYS” turned into something vengeful. Often people use it to show their hate for someone on social media by implying that they should kill themselves.
The term is often used in bullying or harassing people and causing distress. When someone found someone so despicable, they just asked them to kill themselves.
Many celebrities have encountered cyberbullying and harassment in their comment sections on their social media, where people taunt them to “kill themselves” or “die.”
In 2016, many netizens, specifically gamers, urged people to stop using “KYS” anymore, even playfully, because of the potential danger of cyberbullying and suicide concerns.
Despite all the above problems, “KYS” is still popular among people on the Internet, especially gamers and teenagers.
During live streams, when anyone makes ridiculous blunders, their friends may mock them, saying “KYS,” and they all laugh it off.
It is still popular on Reddit and Discord servers and playfully used against people making fools of themselves through their funny or embarrassing comments.
It is only used in this context to show your frustrations for something inappropriate or embarrassing.
Though, we cannot still rule out that in many social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and even Twitter, “KYS” is still used negatively to bully others.
Many platforms can ban you from using “KYS” because of the underlying implications of self-harm. So, it can come under cyberbullying.
Other Meanings of “KYS”
“KYS” can also stand for the following:
- Know Your Status — to check your HIV status and get yourself tested.
- Know Your Students — the context is to instruct tutors to tailor their lessons to their audience.
To Sum Up
“KYS” is an abbreviation of the term “Kill Yourself.”
Pronounced as “Kiss,” one of the contexts it is used is to taunt your friends or others on social media jokingly or playfully when they make embarrassing blunders, like while gaming or commenting.
The other context where it is used and is the point of concern is when people use it to bully others by insinuating that they should do suicide. It makes it hate speech, and it falls under cyberbullying.
So, avoid using words or terms that may hurt others or cause distress.
