SMH

SMH is very frequently used in diverse forms of digital communication, especially in black internet communities. The abbreviation, however, is now widely familiar in internet culture—and common enough that some people will say SMH in their speech as they might LOL or OMG. SMH is also incorporated grammatically in text (e.g., I’m smh because of his antics).

The tone of SMH often implies an impatience with a perceived unnecessary stupidity of a person or process. SMH is often issued to preface what the user is disappointed or frustrated by (e.g., smh… My flight got cancelled and can’t be rebooked). GIFs of people shaking their heads captioned with smh are popular on GIF keyboards, and can be sent via text message or attached to tweets as a reaction image. The hashtags “#smh” and “#smdh” are popular ways to tag exasperation on social media.

SMH is also intensified, most commonly as smdh (shaking my damn head) but also smfh (shaking my fucking head), and smmfh (shaking my motherfucking head).

Less often, SMH will stand for so much hate, showing or commenting on disdain, or scratching my head, used for puzzlement. The internet slang is not be confused with the common abbreviation of the Australian newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald.