Kaw Is the Latest Phrase Trending on TikTok, but What Does It Actually Mean?
Jun. 6 2022, Published 1:39 p.m. ET
It's not at all uncommon for words and acronyms to be common on TikTok even if plenty of people aren't actually sure what they mean. Everything from FNF to SW has trended on the platform in the past, and it's led to plenty of confusion. Now, the word Kaw is trending on TikTok, and plenty of regular TikTok users are not totally sure why.
What does Kaw mean on TikTok?
As it turns out, Kaws are actually a product that have become very popular with a subset of TikTok users. They are a type of modeled action figure that feature a body in shorts and a long-sleeve shirt, as well as an oddly shaped head that has eyes in the shape of x's. The toys are definitely a little creepy, but for some users, that seems to be part of the appeal.
There are also Kaw toys in the same basic shape that are meant to resemble popular fictional characters like superheroes, movie icons, and other easily recognizable people.
These Kaw figures are available on platforms like Amazon, and vary pretty wildly in price. You can buy the figure in a number of different colors and configurations, and many on TikTok have begun to show off their collections for their followers.
Some people have pretty enormous collections, but the videos are generally pretty harmless, and are usually about toys. This has become a fairly prominent subcommunity inside of TikTok, and it seems people are proud of showing off their collections in the same way they may once have been proud of their assortment of Funko Pops, which filled a similar niche in the pop culture conversation.
Kaw seems to be a pretty chill trend.
In spite of what you may have heard on sites like Urban Dictionary, it seems that the primary use of the hashtag #Kaw on social media has to do with the toys, not with the phrase "kill all women." That phrase has been circulating online, and while it seems that KAW could stand for that, there's not much reason to think that this is what the people who are currently posting about it on TikTok are talking about.
Of course, there's always the possibility that the trend could evolve or already be hiding people within it who have deeply toxic and misogynistic views. When you're on the internet, it's often safe to assume that someone is doing or saying something misogynistic or being terrible in some other way. Even so, for the moment, the vast majority of videos that are part of this trend are about toy collectors who have a hobby and enjoy showing that hobby off to others.
It may be too much to ask for some things on the internet to be unrelated to misogyny and violence against women. In this case, though, we can hope that Kaw is just an innocent trend about toys, and will remain that way instead of evolving into something more horrible.
