Gen Z has been cranking out new texting lingo at an impossibly fast pace. The latest in the long line of texting and social media shorthand is “IMY,” which is most often used to mean “I miss you.”
This phrasing is most often used in text messaging or Snapchatting, but it can also be seen while scrolling through TikTok.
Gen Z also uses phrasing like this to create TikTok trends — often demonstrating the emotional difference between using the acronym and spelling it out. Texting shorthand is often associated with a lack of effort or meaning.
People can also abbreviate the phrase “I miss you” using different forms of the acronym. Variations include IMU, MY, and MU. It is also often paired with phrases like “ILY,” which means “I love you.” People often add the letters S and M after these phrases to mean “so much” so that they read “I love you so much” and “I miss you so much.”
To respond back, people may add the number 2 like “IMY2,” which can be translated to “I miss you too.” However, it is often more meaningful to type out the full phrasing on both ends of the conversation.
It is unclear when this shorthand became prevalent, but through TikTok, Snapchat, and even Instagram, these texting acronyms have become fairly common. It can be hard to keep up with all the trends, but luckily through context clues or a quick search, they hopefully shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.