About

TS Frying Me or ts is frying me refers to a catchphrase combining the slang term "TS," which is an abbreviation for "this shit" or "that shit," followed by "frying me," which is used to express the feeling of finding something very funny or absurd. The slang expression, which has become increasingly popularized on social media platforms such as TikTok, Twitter / X and Instagram in the mid-2020s, is an example of the common phenomenon wherein AAVE, or African American Vernacular English, is co-opted and popularized within a broader internet context. The slang is also used in reaction image and GIF memes depicting a literal depiction of a "TS" character frying the word "me."

Origin

Both terms, the abbreviation "ts" for "this shit" and the use of "frying" as a means to communicate that something is funny, have not been attributed to a particular creator or source. Rather, the terms were likely conceived and spread organically throughout various online Black communities sometime in the late 2010s or early 2020s before seeing wider use on the internet.

Currently, the earliest known post to use "ts frying me" is a TikTok^[4] from user @sexyyaquariusgf on September 16th, 2024, which featured the caption, "ts frying meee YOURE WEIRD," alongside several Laughing Crying Emojis in a short video, garnering over 468,800 likes and 1,560 comments in roughly two years.

The phrase "ts is frying me" quickly became a popular means of communicating that a user has found something to be particularly funny as the expression spread online throughout the mid-2020s, primarily in 2024 and 2025.

Spread

The spread of the slang term has been largely organic, with no singular source or identifiable impetus for its spread, though viral videos incorporating the term illustrate its increased usage and presence online beginning in 2024 and 2025.

On September 15th, 2025, TikTok^[1] user @butteryfunnuts uploaded an AI-generated video of the letters "TS" literally frying the word "ME," which received over 7.8 million views and 1.1 million likes in less than seven months. The image and GIF versions of this would go on to be commonly used as reactions to express the same meaning in the following years.

The phrase is typically paired with a video or piece of media that a user finds either extremely funny or ridiculous. For example, on February 24th, 2026, TikTok^[2] user @urmumsmanicure uploaded a video of billionaire and Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg as his Metaverse avatar with the caption "ts still frying me to this day." The video received over 8.8 million views and 1.8 million likes in less than two months.

Another example, uploaded by TikTok^[3] user @jaquavian.demarcu on March 10th, 2026, repeats the format of attaching "ts is frying me" (or a similar variation) to a funny video. This upload in particular received about 2.8 million views and 434,300 likes in less than one month.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References