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26 August 2017

The internet dictionary: what does kys mean?

With its resemblance to “kiss”, it looks almost sweet – but it can cause genuine distress.

By Amelia Tait

The word “die” has the same number of letters. Written in isolation, “die” immediately feels like a powerful, hateful word. But “kys”, usually styled with every letter in lower case, has none of these connotations.

With its resemblance to “kiss”, it looks almost sweet. Yet it has the same meaning as “die”. Kys is an instruction. It means, quite simply, “kill yourself”.

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