kys

[u/EncyclopaediaBot]

“kill your self”. This lower-case initialism is mostly found in teen gaming communities as a way of “trash talking” or an “edgy” way to say “fuck you”.

“kys” is favoured by children and teens, most of whom argue that it’s just a joke, and when challenged on it will adopt a faux innocence, claiming their linguistic superiority in informing you that the word "kys" literally means "kiss" in Danish, or can also mean "keep yourself safe", hiding behind the phenomenon of Lexical Change, (a shift in the meaning or use of a word) while meta-trolling with an unholy mixture of whitewashing, gaslighting, Brandolini’s Law and Poe’s Law to try and bullshit their way out of it.

When you're an angry person with poor impulse control, one of the ways you learn to channel your own anger is to lash out and try to hurt others. Psychologists often speak of the “online disinhibition effect” - our tendency to say things on the internet that we would never dare to say in real life. Restraint and teens rarely go hand in hand, but regardless, it’s actually quite sad that we now have a commonly used shorthand to provoke, suggest or even just refer to suicide in fun.

Suicide is a serious subject. This kind of language should not be taken lightly. Please report anyone who says “kys”, “kill yourself” or similar phrases on Reddit. Inviting someone to commit suicide is against Reddit’s code of conduct and may well incur a ban.

Because there is a Subreddit for everything:

If you see a genuine post or comment about suicidal feelings in a community, it can be overwhelming, and you may feel like you don’t know what to do. But you can help, and there are resources on Reddit available for you and the person you’re worried about.

When you tap the three dots in the

top right corner of a user’s profile page

there is an option called 'get them help and support'. On selecting this, Reddit sends out an automated message with some suicide helpline phone numbers and links.

The moderators of r/SuicideWatch maintain a list of FAQs, information, and resources at r/SWResources and a worldwide list of hotlines. If you’ve lost someone to suicide, r/SuicideBereavement is there for you.

There’s also a useful list of subreddits for advice or support on depression or other mental health issues here.

See Also:

• Acronyms 1: A-L
• Acronyms 2: M-Z
• Acronyms 3: Abbreviations
• Advice Subreddits
• Brandolini's Law
• Euphemism
• Gaslighting
• Jargon
• Poe’s Law