{{Short description|Internet slang}} {{about|typing letters randomly on a computer keyboard|the act of smashing musical keyboards (and other instruments)|instrument destruction}} {{Globalize|date=February 2021|2=}}{{Infobox phrase|title=Keysmash|image=Keysmash examples|200px|caption=Examples of keysmashes|meaning=Used to convey laughter or other intense emotions}} A '''keysmash''' (alternatively '''key smash, key mash''' or '''keyboard smash''') is internet slang for the typing out of a random sequence of letters on a computer keyboard or touchscreen, often to express intense emotion. An example of a keyboard smash is ajhdjdheyegeg.<ref name=":0"/> Gaining popularity since 2019, the term is often used to convey intense or indescribable emotions (such as frustration or excitement),<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=McCulloch|first=Gretchen|title=Because Internet : Understanding the New Rules of Language.|date=2020|publisher=Thorndike Press|isbn=978-1-4328-7307-3|oclc=1138716342}}</ref> and it can also be used as an expression of laughter.

== History and usage ==

Dictionary.com lists keysmash as both a noun ("I typed a keysmash") and a verb ("I keysmashed a response"), dating the term to sometime between 1995 and 2000.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/keysmash|title=Definition of keysmash {{!}} Dictionary.com|website=www.dictionary.com|language=en|access-date=2020-03-10}}</ref>

The first commonly used variation of "keysmashing" appeared and possibly first majorly originated from the Turkish internet sphere, where the so-called "random laugh", or "''random''" (as said in Turkish) has been in use since at least the mid-2000s in online forums, e.g., ekşisözlük, to convey and portray a more genuine laughter—implying a user "laughed so hard that they fell on (rolled over) their keyboard".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hemmat |first=Massùod |date=2021-05-16 |title=Haha's of the World: How to Laugh in 29 Languages? |url=https://mhemmat.medium.com/hahas-of-the-world-how-to-laugh-in-29-languages-d608f5af02c |access-date=2022-09-03 |website=Medium |language=en}}</ref>

== Variations == Keysmashes of any kind can usually be seen in either all lower case, or all upper case letters.<ref name=":3" /> Despite how random many keysmashes may appear to be, there are societal patterns and norms to what a keysmash is supposed to look like.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=http://www.laineygossip.com/taylor-swift-needs-to-do-homework-if-she-wants-to-be-true-ally-to-lgbtq-community/55901|title=Taylor Swift needs to do her homework if she wants to be a true ally to the LGBTQ+ community|last=Prem|date=2019-06-18|website=www.laineygossip.com|access-date=2020-04-24}}</ref> Keysmashes that fail to visually appeal to the ones typing them have a chance of being completely rewritten or having a few minor adjustments made (i.e., removing or adding new characters).<ref name=":3" /> The overall format of a keysmash is one that is usually dependent on the type of device or keyboard that is being used<ref name=":4">"Our Language Is Evolving, 'Because Internet'." ''All Things Considered'', 31 July 2019. ''Gale In Context: U.S. History'', <nowiki>https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.library.astate.edu/apps/doc/A596564896/UHIC?u=akstateu1&sid=UHIC&xid=379fd2f8</nowiki>. Accessed 3 Apr. 2020.</ref> and therefore makes different keyboard layouts more acceptable for keysmashing than others.

=== QWERTY === thumb|Layout of a QWERTY keyboard Keysmashes typed on QWERTY keyboards are not as randomized as the action of keysmashing tends to imply. QWERTY keysmashes consistently begin with the letter "a", which are often followed by the letters "sdf" which can combine to form a strand of letters commonly associated with keysmashing.<ref name=":3" /> The letters "asdf" appear as their own slang term in several online dictionaries such as dictionary.com.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/asdf/|title=What Does asdf Mean? {{!}} Slang by Dictionary.com|website=Everything After Z by Dictionary.com|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-03}}</ref> The typical keysmash tends to be much longer than "asdf"; because of this, it rarely appears as a keysmash on its own. QWERTY keysmashes tend to be made up of letters and characters from what is referred to as the keyboard's home row, which includes the letters a, s, d, f, g, h, j, k, l as well as two special characters, the semicolon (;) and apostrophe (').<ref>Ygartua, Hayden Tusa. ''Linguistic Feature Spread in Online Social Networks''. Diss. University of Oregon, 2018, https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/24149/Final%20Thesis-Ygartua.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.</ref> When keysmashing, these letters do not usually appear in this exact order and are more often seen alternating and repeating to form a randomized pattern. Keysmashes can include letters and characters from both the top and bottom row as the keyboard as well, though more commonly from the top row (qwe...) than the bottom (zxc...), but rarely include numbers.<ref name=":3" />

=== Smartphone keyboards === While a majority of smartphone virtual keyboards continue to use a type of QWERTY layout, the positioning of a user's fingers over a phone screen vary from that of a physical keyboard. Because of this, the increase in smartphone technology has led to new combinations of keysmashes that look different from their physical QWERTY predecessors.<ref name=":3" /> Examples of these new patterns can include "gbgdgdhfbhfchd", "akskskdkfjansnf" or "hdhfhdjs", all of which are the effects of users' fingers hovering over the center of smartphone keyboards rather than QWERTY's home row.<ref name=":4" /> Keysmashes made using this method rarely include numbers or special characters.

=== Dvorak === thumb|Layout of a Dvorak keyboard The home row of Dvorak keyboards varies greatly from that of QWERTY keyboards, beginning with the vowels "aoeu" instead of "asdf". Gretchen McCulloch reports having talked with several Dvorak keyboard users who gave up keysmashing because the layout of their keyboards produced patterns that were "socially illegible".<ref name=":3" />

=== Other languages === {{Expand section|date=March 2021}} Other languages may have special characters, different symbols, and such more. Popular instances of these characters can be found in the Turkish and German languages, specifically with special letters such as ß, Ö, Ş, Ç, Ğ, Ü, İ and ı.

=== VSCO culture === In "VSCO kid" culture, there is a variant of the standard keysmash that uses a repetitive pattern of "ksksksk" that replaces the stereotypical smashing of random keys from which keysmashing earned its name. Generally, the usage of "ksksks" is similar to that of the usual QWERTY keysmash in that it is often used to express a form of laughter or other unidentifiable emotion.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/sksksks/|title=What's The Story Behind Sksksk?|website=Everything After Z by Dictionary.com|date=4 October 2019 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-03}}</ref>

In 2019, the usage of "ksksks" became most commonly associated with what the internet refers to as VSCO girls, but there is evidence on Twitter which dates its usage back to 2009 among Portuguese speakers located in Brazil.<ref name=":2" /> From 2010 on, it could be found used by a growing variety of people on social media, including people from the Black, gay, and UK communities.<ref name=":2" />

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * Line noise on Wiktionary, a similar concept

Category:Internet slang Category:1990s neologisms Category:2000s in Internet culture Category:2010s in Internet culture