What "smh" REALLY Means (information & examples) Part I

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part series on the acronym "smh". Part I provides information and comments about a few examples of "smh".
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/10/what-smh-really-means-information_1.html for Part II of this series. Part II provides a portion of the information in that post as well as additional examples of the use of "smh".

The content of this post is presented for cultural and etymological purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to Whoissugar, the vlogger who is featured in one video that is showcased below.

UPDATE: October 7, 2014
Here are links to two other pancocojams post that mention "shakin my head" (smh):
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/10/what-tv-show-glees-shakin-my-head-song.html

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/10/hip-hop-doo-wop-and-country-music-songs.html

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PART I
WHAT IS "SMH" AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
"Smh" is an acronym for "shaking my head". At least to date, "smh" appears to be limited to written communication on the internet (such as blogging, posting on social media sites, and tweeting) and telephone text messaging.

People usually write about something and then add the acronym "smh" at the end of that sentence. For instance, a person might write "Did you see that movie? The reviews said it told the true story about relationships between men and women. smh. Or, less often, "smh" is found at the beginning of a sentence or at the beginning of a short-hand internet/text message statement. For instance, "smh @"XYZ" movie.

Most of the time when people write "smh", they're communicating that they are figuratively shaking their head in reaction to the words and/or actions of another person. When "smh" is written, it expresses that the person feels or felt one or more of the following: disbelief about or negative judgment of what a person has said or done, for example the belief that the person is ignorant, or foolish, or a liar, or racist. "Smh" is also used to express exasperation, disdain, disgust, and/or anger because of those previously listed reasons or for other reasons.

In that regard, it appears to me that "smh" has the same or similar meanings as "kiss teeth" ("suck teeth") does among Black people in the Caribbean and in Africa. I think that "kiss teeth", "suck teeth" have and "smh" (usually) has an element of heightened impatience with the person whose comments or actions caused that person to make that gesture or caused the writer to add "smh" at the end of her or his comments (or at the beginning of those comments). But I think that there may also be an element of impudence in "kiss teeth"/"suck teeth" that I don't think is present in "smh".

I also believe that the reasons for writing "smh" are quite similar to the reasons someone would do a "side eye" or "eye roll". In addition, writing "smh" might also sometimes be motivated by the same reasons that people lightly smack their forehead with their hand (do a "face palm"), although it seems to me that a face palm is usually done because the person is exasperated with his or her foolish, stupid non-serious and non-offensive actions or those types of actions or words that someone else has done or said. Furthermore, I think that the face palm gesture is one that is most often done by non-Black Americans, and I think mostly Black females- write "eyeroll" or write "side eye" at the end of a sentence the same way and for the same reasons that people- I think at least early on, mostly African American people- wrote "smh". [I'll write more shortly about the racial aspects of "smh" and to a lesser degree about the racial aspect of "face palm"].

But in contrast to those other gestures, I think that probably few people who write "smh" take the time and use their energy to actually shake their head. Instead, it's my sense that writing "smh" is a way of conveying the action of shaking one's head (and saying "un un un" along with that gesture).

I listed above what I believe are main reasons why people write "smh" online or in text messages. [I confess I've not used that acronym myself.] However, a person might also write "smh" as a form of wry, self-deprecating sense of humor to note something that she or he realizes about herself or himself or about people (and animals or things) who or that they associate with. Most of the examples from whoissugar's two featured videos in this pancocojams series demonstrate that type of usage of "smh".

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THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ROOTS OF "SMH" & ESTABLISHING A MARKER FOR THE EARLY USE OF "SMH"
I believe that "smh" is used (or at least "early on" was used) more often by African Americans than by non-African Americans, including other Black people. Unlike "side eye", "eye roll", "kiss teeth", and "suck teeth", "smh" isn't an old-school (traditional) African Diaspora or African cultural term. Nor does it appear to be an old school, traditional non-Black term.

I don't know when or where "smh" was first used. However, 2009 is the earliest online mention of this acronym that I've found: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090503231937AA75mhg [hereafter given as Yahoo answers:smh]

That Yahoo query was posted anonymously. Here's that question

"is smh a black internet slang?

i have no idea what it means, but i often see it in message boards and comment areas. the posters are always black people. can someone clue me in?”
-snip-
Notice the use of the term "message boards". The use of the term "message boards" instead of "blogs" provides some clue about when this "asker" saw "smh" used. Other blog posts that i've read in which commenters associated the acronym "smh" with Black people*, such as the 2010 blog thread on http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=128512063 . Here's the initial post on that bodybuilding thread:
"10-22-2010, 12:22 PM#1
mikeyBarracuda
Location: Boca Raton, Florida, United States…
Why do lots of black people say "SMH"?
Yes I know what it means - "shake my head"
But it seems as if a large majority of black people say "SMH" on facebook, through text, etc.
(no racist)"
-snip-
I interprete "no racist" to mean that the blogger wants to assure people that he didn't intend his question or comments to be racist.)

Although Facebook began in 2004, I wonder what the research indicates about when a significant number of Facebook users -whatever that percentage would be- were African American. Beecause of the "digital divide", I wouldn't be surprised if that didn't happen until 2009.

Returning to that Yahoo answers:smh query page, there are six responses to that question "Is smh a Black internet acronym?" Each of those answers was published in 2009. Three of the commenters either self-idenfied as Black or their accompanying photograph was of a person who people would usually identify as Black. One of those three commenters indicated that she or he knew about the acronym "smh", but denied that it was or should be associated with Black people.* Here's that comment:
"msknowitall answered 5 years ago [2009]
"I'm black.. and I have no idea what it means..
Get over it..
Its just an internet slang..
That hasn't caught on yet.."
-snip-
Notice that this commenter writes in 2009 that this internet slang "hadn't caught on yet".

The comment that the person who posted the query ranked as the "Best Answer" was from Christy:
"It means
"shakin my head"
there you're clued in
Example:
Girl: What are you doin?
Boy: Smokin Crack..
Girl: Smh you're a loser
-snip-
Other blog threads also associate the acronym "smh" with Black people and it by the number of racist comments on most of those blogs that many if not all of their commenters are non-Black. Most of those blogs [including the bodybuilding:smh but not the Yahoo answers:smh blog also include profanity and sexually explicit responses.

Speaking of that 2010 bodybuilder:smh thread, one commenter on that thread Bannister11
…Location: New Jersey, United States wrote that
"I thought it was a message board thing but I noticed my black friends who don't frequent forums use it too."
-snip-
I wonder if that blogger meant telephone texting when he said that his black friends who don't blog use the acronym "smh". Perhaps I'm wrong. Maybe Black people (and other peeople?) use "smh" elsewhere besides the internet and telephone texting. I'd love to know more about this.
-snip-
*Note: The referent "Black" wasn't defined in that website or in other blog threads in which commenteers noted that "smh" was associated with Black people or commenters asked whether "smh" was mostly or entirely associated with Black people. In spite of the fact that a lot of Black people aren't African Americans, given the prepondance of Americans on the English speaking internet, and the fact that at least on some website (but not the Yahoo:smh site) a number of commenters indicated that they were from the USA, it's reasonable to assume that people meant "African American" when they wrote "Black".)

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THIS USE OF "SMH" AS DEFINED ON INTERNET ACRONYMS WEBSITES
"smh" may mean other things that aren't related to a person's comments about or reaction to something that was said or done, such as the "Sydney Morning Herald" (newspaper). Here are two entries from the internet acronym website: http://pc.net/slang/meaning/smh

"SMH
Meaning: shaking my head

Type: Acronym

Rank: ★ ★ ★ Common

Usage: Online Only (chat, messaging, e-mail)

Comments
Expresses disapproval, disagreement, or speechlessness; used when something is so bad that you just shake your head; can also mean, "I disagree," "I can't believe it," or "Not again..."

Updated: December 19, 2012
-snip-
"SMH
Meaning: Smash my head

Type: Acronym

Rank: ★ ★ ☆ Average

Usage: Online Only (chat, messaging, e-mail)

Comments:
SMH can also be used to say you are smashing your forehead on your hand. It is similar to saying, "D'oh!" after doing something dumb.*
-snip-
I think that "smashing your forehead" is the same thing as "face palm", but I'm not sure about that. (One commenter on the bodybuilding:smh website wrote that "smh" is black people's way of saying "face palm").

Neeither that Internet acronym website nor any other such website that I visited on September 30, 2014] made any mention about "smh" being mostly or entirely associated early on or presently with any specific racial population.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO AND SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THAT VIDEO

56-whoissugar's side-eye Saturday Volume 2...3 days early



Uploaded by whoissugar on Mar 8, 2011
-snip-
Her's a comment that includes "smh" from the video itself:
"SIDE EYE EVENTS...
A male co worker called me "afrocentric," "neo soul," and "black panther" all BECAUSE I AM NATURAL!! SMH He gets the side eye every time I see him..
-snip-
Here are two comments from that video along with whoissugar's responses to those comments:

Tissa Chelle, march 8, 2011
"you crack me up...I can 't stand it when I dont have a video to watch from you...but twitter helps...lol

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whoissugar, Mar 8, 2011 in reply to Tissa Chelle
"@PureRHOty AWE! Honey, I'm still trying to get the hang of twitter. Apart of me still doesn't get it. smh.
-snip-
“Apart” = a part
Note that whoissugar used smh in her self –deprecating remark about not "getting" (knowing how to use) twitter.
This comment written in 2011 lends further credence to the view that ‘‘smh” is a relatively newly coined acronym.

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Myeka324Mar 8, 2011•LINKED COMMENT
"You are so funny Sug! That's funny what your cat did with the rumba....lawd have mercy! And the iron on the "hell" setting? Lol to that as well...appreciate you too girl and hugs right back at ya! :o) this vid is too much"

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whoissugar, Mar 8, 2011 in reply to Myeka324
"@Myeka324 Chile, I'm mad how he didn't smell my shirt burning. SMH!"
-snip-
Notice how this example of "smh" is also written in good humor, and not in anger, disbelief, disdain, or disgust, as a number of other examples of smh are written.

Many of the comments that will be featured in Part II of this series demonstrate those types of emotions. That post will be published ASAP.

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RELATED LINK
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/03/puttin-on-black-side-eye-videos.html "Putting On The Black: Side Eye"

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http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/09/what-kiss-teeth-suck-teeth-means.html "What Kiss Teeth (Suck Teeth) Mean"

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

What Kiss Teeth (Suck Teeth) Means

Written by Azizi Powell

People don't always have to say what they're thinking. Sometimes body gestures and sounds such as "kiss teeth" say what they want to say and more.

I'm an African American woman from New Jersey & Pennsylvania. Although my maternal grandparents are from the islands (Barbados and Trinidad), I wasn't familiar with the phrase "kiss teeth" until I started reading about it on the Internet. But ever since I was a child I knew about "sucking your teeth". That phrase is often expressed in the warning "Don't suck your teeth at me!"

The phrase "suck your teeth" is documented as early as 1915 in Jamaica and is also found in Barbados, Belize, and Guyana, Trinidad, and the United States (particularly among African Americans). In Tobago, kiss teeth is called "hiss teeth" and in the Cayman Islands it is called "sucking your mouth". Source: http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/papers/KSTpapwww.pdf The Meaning Of Kiss Teeth

"Kiss" and "hiss" are onomatopoeic “[that’s the sound you make when doing it].

In the Caribbean kiss teeth is represented by the initials "KST" (kiss teeth) and "KMT" (kiss my teeth). Among people from the Caribbean, kiss teeth can be represented in writing using the words "Cho!", "Chups", "Tchuipe, "Chupes", "Stchuup”, and similarly spelled words. These words are both nouns and verbs.

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UPDATE - June 6, 2013

Here's a video of the sound made when a person is "sucking" his [or her] teeth"

Tjoerie - NO CANDY



No Candy, Published on Dec 5, 2012

A well deserved ode to the tjoerie. The what?!? The tjoerie, which is the Surinamese word for what is known in the French West Indies as 'le tchip' and in the English speaking part of the Caribbean as 'kiss-teeth'.

When something or someone becomes too annoying, one always has an effective weapon at their disposal: a long, cricket-like sound of which the effect combined with rolling eyes is deadly insulting. There is no one that does not respect a good tjoerie.

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UPDATE: June 17, 2016

Here's another video about "kissing your teeth":
KISSING YOUR TEETH!?



V a r i n d e r Published on Jun 6, 2016

WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS SARCASTIC

Today's word of the day is less of a word and more of a sound. I've heard this sound used mostly when people aren't happy about something, it's referred to as "kissing teeth". To be honest, while filming this video, the sound got annoyingly addictive, it's kind of...fun? lol
..
But at the same time, use caution with this word, it doesn't have the best connotation because me and everyone I know agree that when they've heard it used, it was in a negative light...

Blog: https://varinderpaul.wordpress.com/portfolio/.
-snip-
End of Updates.

Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlg5o2gyfrU
You Know You're Jamaican When... Celebrating JAMAICA's 50th

Examples of kiss teeth are shown in that video at 1:45 - 1:46 and at 2:15 - 2:33.

Notice the neck roll and cut eye (rolling eye) movement that usually accompanied kiss teeth.

Researchers have documented KMT in West Africa, as well as in the Caribbean, and in certain South American nations which have significant populations of people of African descent. Of course, KST is also found in other nations such as the United Kingdom where there are Caribbean, African American, and African residents.

KMT can convey a wide range of emotions including (in no particular order) disgust, disdain, defiance, exasperation, annoyance, displeasure, disrespect, scorn, insult, sorrow, impatience, disagreement, disapproval, dislike, and vexation.

Here's a quote about "chupse" (kiss teeth) that is included in this previously mentioned pdf
The Meaning Of Kiss Teeth
Esther Figueroa (USA) Peter L Patrick (UK)

The chupse is not a word, it is a whole language. There is the small effortless chupse of indifference; the thin hard chupse of disdain; the long, liquid, vibrating chupse that shakes the rafters and expresses every kind of defiance. It is the universal language of the West Indies, the passport to confidence from Jamaica to British South America. How dare the compiler downgrade it to a mere word!(from the “Barbados Advocate”, quoted in Collymore, 1970)

-snip-
Here's a review of the book "Cut-Eye" and "Suck-Teeth":African Words and Gestures in New World Guise by John R. Rickford and Angela E. Rickford:

An investigation questioned whether the words and gestures "cut-eye" and "suck-teeth," evident in Guyana, represent African survivals, and how widely these are recognized in the Caribbean, the United States and Africa. Caribbean data were drawn from observations, dictionaries and interviews. U.S. data came from questionnaires administered to both blacks and whites. African students were also questioned. In Guyana, "cut-eye" is a visual gesture indicating hostility or disapproval. A glare is delivered followed by a vertical or diagonal sweep of the eye over the other person. "Cut-eye" insults by visually invading another's territory and turning away contemptuously. The gesture was familiar to all West Indians interviewed. In the U.S., nearly all black informants were familiar with the term, but few of the whites. All African informants recognized the gesture. "Suck-teeth" refers to the gesture of drawing in air through the teeth to produce a sucking sound. It expresses anger, exasperation or annoyance, and is stronger and ruder than "cut-eye." It is known throughout the Caribbean, by black Americans, though not by whites, and by Africans. The study provides evidence that Africanisms persist in the New World even in commonplace expressions and gestures. (CHK)

-snip-
Here are some responses to a 2007 Yahoo answers question: Why do some black people "suck their teeth"

Hi, I'm Jamaican. In Jamaica we call it "Kiss teet" (kiss teeth).

We do it to show our disapproval, disagreement and/or anoyance.

If someone p*sses you off you do it, if someone says something stupid you do it, if you see someone you don't like you do it.

It means "Whatever man, I don't care what you think, you're talking crap, talk all you like I'm not listening" It's showing your disapproval.

:-) We incorporate this into our internet lingo. The internet slang for this is KMT (which means: kiss my teeth).
-honest

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It's actually coined "smacking the lips." And I do it when someone is saying something stupid, being fake, if I don't think someone is being honest, when i'm calling someone's bluff, brushing someone off etc.

Hope that helped.
-Cesaria Barbarossa

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Its not just the black people that suck their teeth its allot of teenagers do it two and Its sorta like an irritated way of saying its stupid,waste of tI'me, and im not doing it kinda thing
-champ

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It's just an expression to show that what has been said is a load of crap, like when I read your question I skinned teeth big time.
-maxwell

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Update: October 12, 2017- A West African version of "suck teeth" [which might be the source of that custom]

From https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101212052102AAEDgcX
"What is the meaning of mtchew?
It s a written expression made when someone is displeased, or when their expectations is lowered. Also called "sucking teeth"
Clint, 2015"

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From http://www.naijalingo.com/words/mtcheew
"Mtcheew

Definition: a popular sigh of disapproval in Nigeria, (maybe West Africa). The sound can be heard when one sticks his tongue to the roof of the mouth and ties to suck in air. Just like germans use 'Scheiss' Example: Mtcheew... poor man, I even think say you carry money come."
-snip-
Here's another example of the use of the Nigerian (West African ?) Pidgin English word "mitchew"
from http://www.nairaland.com/3011672/daniella-okeke-marks-birthday-dazzling/1
"Re: Daniella Okeke Marks Birthday With Dazzling Photos by abdoolorunwa(m): 3:24pm On Mar 26, 2016
...O BOY U DEY LOOK UP TO BABA MAKE HIM MAKE U UP, NO MIRACLE FIT CHANGE THIS UR STONE FACE. IF U NO FYN, NO DEY USE UR PICS DEY SPOIL MY MOOD ABEG. I DEY BEG U AND UR TYPE ABEG. AH AH WHICH KAIN THING BE THIS. U JUST MAKE ME VOMIT SPOIL MY RUG NOW. MTTCHEWWW!!!"
-snip-
Here's my attempted interpretation of this comment: [Corrections welcome]
I think that in the first part of this quote, the commenter criticizes the person he or she is addressing by saying that that person professes to look up to Fathr [God]. Then the commenter says (using an African American way of speaking] God need to "fix" that person [Make up up], but actually no miracle would fix that person's hard hearted being [stone face]. Then the commenter basically says "If you don't like the actress, then don't post any pictures of her because they spoil my [good] mood. I'm asking you and people like you this. Ah, Ah, [expresses exasperation] What can this thing be?! You just made me vomit on my rug now. Mitchewww!! [suck teeth expression]


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RELATED LINKS
Cut-Eye and Suck-Teeth: African Words and Gestures in New World Guise Author(s): John R.Rickford and Angela E. Rickford Source: The Journal of American Folklore, Vol.89, No. 353 (Jul. - Sep., 1976), pp. 294-309 Published by: American FolkloreSociety Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/539442Accessed:
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Dillard:perspectives on American English Csl 29
By Joey Lee Dillard
http://books.google.com/books?id=6zPgjduXBcQC&lpg=PA359&ots=Z8EEAFQID0&dq=sucking%20of%20the%20teeth%20africa&pg=PA359#v=onepage&q=sucking%20of%20the%20teeth%20africa&f=false
-snip-
hat tip to tonyspeed on http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=717325&page=2 "Words of African origin in American English" for this link.

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Click http://nonjeneregretterien.blogspot.com/2009/07/kiss-my-teeth-or-sounds-with-meanings.html
"Kiss My Teeth or Sounds with Meanings in Africa"

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