Sending Me Meaning: 'This Is Sending Me' and 'Sent Me'
“Sending me” is a laugh meter, not a travel plan. The sending me meaning, as The Daily Dot’s November 2024 explainer puts it, is simple: when a post or meme is sending you, it’s extremely funny or absurd to you. Nobody is literally being sent anywhere. Checked against The Daily Dot, Gisselle Hernandez, "What does 'This Is Sending Me' mean?" (27 Nov 2024)Press report
For more reaction words, browse our social media glossary.
Sending Me Meaning: It’s Making Me Laugh
Say something is sending you and you’re saying it’s making you laugh, hard, right now. In The Daily Dot’s words, “if someone finds a meme or a post extremely absurd or hilarious, they may say ‘this is sending me.’” Checked against The Daily Dot, Gisselle Hernandez, "What does 'This Is Sending Me' mean?" (27 Nov 2024)Press report
Lines we wrote:
- “the cat stepping on the keyboard mid-call is sending me”
- “you’re sending me, stop”
What Does ‘Sent Me’ Mean? The Other Forms
“Sent me” is the past tense: the thing already got you. The Daily Dot says “this sent me” is used the same way as “this is sending me,” and that early use was often the full version, “this is sending me into orbit.” Checked against The Daily Dot, Gisselle Hernandez (27 Nov 2024)Press report
| Form | When it fits | Example we wrote |
|---|---|---|
| this is sending me | It’s funny as you watch or read | ”the dramatic music in this clip is sending me” |
| this sent me | It already made you laugh | ”the last slide sent me” |
| this is sending me into orbit | The full form, often used early on | ”okay this is sending me into orbit” |
Is ‘Sending Me’ a Good or a Bad Thing?
Usually good, but not always. Most people use “sending me” for something extremely funny, The Daily Dot says, but it can now also convey frustration, surprise or annoyance. Checked against The Daily Dot, Gisselle Hernandez (27 Nov 2024)Press report What comes before the phrase tells you which.
Examples we wrote:
- Funny: “the dog’s face when the vacuum turns on is sending me”
- Surprised: “they dropped the sequel trailer with zero warning?? sending me”
- Annoyed: “train delayed for the third time today. this is sending me”
If a message could go either way, ask before laughing along.
Where Did ‘Sending Me’ Come From?
No reliable origin is documented. The Daily Dot says there is no official confirmation of where the phrase originated, but its use began to pick up in the late 2010s. Checked against The Daily Dot, Gisselle Hernandez (27 Nov 2024)Press report
Dictionaries help with the verb, not the phrase. Merriam-Webster lists “delight, thrill” as one sense of send, though it gives no date for that sense and doesn’t connect it to “sending me.” Checked against Merriam-Webster Dictionary Dictionary.com labels “to delight or excite” a slang sense of send, and the Collins English Dictionary text it reprints labels “to move to excitement or rapture” slang. Checked against Dictionary.com (American entry and Collins English Dictionary text)
That older send is related in meaning, not proof of origin. No dictionary checked has an entry for “sending me,” and Cambridge Dictionary’s entry for send has no “delight” or “make laugh” sense. Checked against Cambridge Dictionary and Dictionary.com Slang Dictionary
Sending Me vs ‘I’m Dead’ and the Skull Emoji
All three say “that was very funny”; the difference is where each one points. “Sending me” points at the post. “I’m dead” points at you: the joke finished you off. The skull emoji says it with no words at all.
Dictionary.com’s Slang Dictionary calls ded a deliberate misspelling of dead, for something so funny, overwhelming or outrageous that you’re metaphorically dead. Checked against Dictionary.com Slang Dictionary (entry dated 12 Jul 2019) Emoji dictionaries read 💀 as figuratively “dying,” most often from laughing, as in “I’m dead”; it’s not to be confused with ☠️, the skull and crossbones, more often a warning about danger or poison. Checked against Unicode's emoji-test.txt (Emoji 18.0), Emojipedia and Dictionary.com Emoji Dictionary
| Reaction | What it says | Example we wrote |
|---|---|---|
| Sending me | The post or meme is extremely funny or absurd to you | ”this is sending me” |
| I’m dead / I’m ded | It was so funny you’re metaphorically dead | ”I’m ded” |
| 💀 skull emoji | Figuratively “dying,” most often from laughing | 💀 on its own, as a reply |
Ded has its own entry: what ded means, and why it’s spelled that way. The skull sits with the other laughing faces in our emoji faces guide, and the emoji meanings dictionary covers the rest.
How to Reply, and Whether a Brand Should Say It
Reply to the joke, not to the phrase. If it’s about your post, a laugh back is plenty. If it came wrapped in a complaint, answer the complaint.
Replies we wrote:
- They’re laughing at your post: “haha I’ve watched it ten times too”
- They’re fed up: “ugh, again? what happened?”
The same replies work in a DM. Other shorthand from those threads, such as TBF, has its own entry.
For a brand, the phrase fits one job: laughing with your audience. “This is sending me” under a follower’s genuinely funny video reads as human. In your own launch copy it reads as trying too hard, and under a complaint it can read as mockery.
Keep the phrase for casual feeds; a professional network gets the plain version of the same post.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does ‘this is sending me’ mean?
It means a post or meme is extremely funny or absurd to you. The Daily Dot explains that the phrase measures amusement and has nothing to do with literally being sent anywhere.
What does ‘sent me’ mean in text?
“Sent me” is the past tense: whatever you’re replying to already got you. The Daily Dot says “this sent me” is used the same way as “this is sending me.”
Is ‘sending me’ a good or bad thing?
Usually good. The Daily Dot says most people use “sending me” for something extremely funny, but that it can now also convey frustration, surprise or annoyance. What comes before it tells you which.
Where did ‘sending me’ come from?
No reliable origin is documented. The Daily Dot says there is no official confirmation of where the phrase originated, but its use began to pick up in the late 2010s. No dictionary we checked has an entry for the phrase itself.
What’s another way to say ‘sending me’?
“I’m dead” is the closest match. Dictionary.com’s Slang Dictionary calls ded a deliberate misspelling of dead, for something so funny, overwhelming or outrageous that you’re metaphorically dead.