Recently I received the following message on my phone from a younger friend, “nps idk yet cu l8tr”. After staring at it for a minute or two, a couple of worrying thoughts came to mind. The first and more obvious one was, ‘how do I reply to that’; the second and more depressing one was, ‘when did I get this old!’
Being “slightly” over forty, I didn’t grow up with mobile phones, instant messaging and the like. Space Invaders was about as advanced as technology had become by the time I left school. I was taught to write using complete words, on paper. We used to send letters, in the post, and everything was just a little… slower!
Of course the world has moved on, new gadgets have made our communications more instantaneous, and so our good old written English became needlessly clunky in the hands of thirteen year old text wizards. Instant communication requires speed and English just wasn’t delivering it. Necessity, being the mother of invention demanded we evolve this new and frightening language of texting.
Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t “we” who created texting language, it was “them”. So now, in a strange role reversal, it’s not me that needs to teach my kids, it’s them that need to teach me. With that in mind, here’s a primer for all us “old people” to some of the some common words in the texting vocabulary, so I’m told.
Being “slightly” over forty, I didn’t grow up with mobile phones, instant messaging and the like. Space Invaders was about as advanced as technology had become by the time I left school. I was taught to write using complete words, on paper. We used to send letters, in the post, and everything was just a little… slower!
Of course the world has moved on, new gadgets have made our communications more instantaneous, and so our good old written English became needlessly clunky in the hands of thirteen year old text wizards. Instant communication requires speed and English just wasn’t delivering it. Necessity, being the mother of invention demanded we evolve this new and frightening language of texting.
Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t “we” who created texting language, it was “them”. So now, in a strange role reversal, it’s not me that needs to teach my kids, it’s them that need to teach me. With that in mind, here’s a primer for all us “old people” to some of the some common words in the texting vocabulary, so I’m told.
Common Text Abbreviations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
AFK | Away From Keyboard | BBL | Be Back Later |
AFAIK | As Far As I Know | BRB | Be Right Back |
ASL | Age, Sex & Location | BRT | Be Right There |
CFN | Ciao For Now | DIKU | Do I Know You |
CID | Consider It Done | DK | Don't Know |
CM | Call Me | DWL | Dying With Laughter |
CU | See You | ||
EG | Evil Grin | FFS | For F**ks Sake |
EL | Evil Laugh | FWIW | For What It’s Worth |
EM? | Excuse Me? | FYEO | For Your Eyes Only |
EOD | End Of Discussion | FYI | For Your Information |
G2G/GTG | Got To Go | HAGD | Have A Great Day |
GAL | Get A Life | HAGN | Have A Good Night |
GBH | Great Big Hug | HAGO | Have A Good One |
GBTW | Get Back To Work | HAK | Hugs And Kisses |
GF | Girl Friend | HAND | Have A Nice Day |
GFC | Going For Coffee | HB | Hurry Back |
GFETE | Grinning From Ear To Ear | ||
GL | Good Luck | ||
IAC | In Any Case | JAS | Just A Second |
IBTD | I Beg To Differ | JK | Joke |
IC | I See | JM2C | Just My 2 Cents |
ICBW | I Could Be Wrong | JT | Just Teasing |
IDC | I Don't Care | ||
IDK | I Don't Know | KK | OK (Bizarrely!) |
IMCO | In My Considered Opinion | KWIM | Know What I Mean |
IMHO | In My Humble Opinion | ||
IMI | I Mean It | ||
IRL | In Real Life | ||
L8R | Later | M8 | Mate |
LMAO | Laugh My Ass Off | MIHAP | May I Have Your Attention Please |
LOL | Laugh Out Loud | MKOP | My Kind Of Place |
MMS | Multimedia Messaging System | ||
MSG | Message | ||
MYOB | Mind Your Own Business | ||
N1 | Nice One | OIC | Oh, I See |
N2M | Not To Mention | OMG | Oh My God |
NALOPKT | Not A Lot Of People Know That | OOC | Out Of Character |
NAP/NP/NPS | Not A Problem | OTOH | On The Other Hand |
NBD | No Big Deal | ||
NBIF | No Basis In Fact | PAW | Parents Are Watching |
NC | No Comment | PCM | Please Call Me |
NE1 | Anyone | PLS | Please |
NM | Never Mind | PM | Personal/Private Message |
NRN | No Reply Necessary | PML | Pee Myself Laughing |
NSFW | Not Safe For Work | PPL | People |
NTK | Nice To Know | ||
NTYMI | Now That You Mention It | QQ | Crying |
NW | No Way | QT | Cutie |
RBAY | Right Back At Ya | SH | Stuff Happens |
RLF | Real Life Friend | SMAIM | Send Me An Instant Message |
ROFL | Rolling On The Floor Laughing! | SMEM | Send Me E-Mail |
ROFLMAO | Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off! | SRY | Sorry |
ROFLOL | Roll On Floor Laughing Out Loud! | STFU | Shut The F**k Up |
ROTFL | Rolling On The Floor Laughing! | SYS | See You Soon |
TAFN | That's All For Now | UR | You Are |
TB | Text Back | URW | You Are Welcome |
TDTM | Talk Dirty To Me | ||
TFN | Thanks For Nothing | VBG | Very Big Grin |
THX | Thanks | VFM | Value For Money |
TIC | Tongue In Cheek | VM | Voice Mail |
TM | Trust Me | ||
TTYL | Talk To You Later | ||
TXT | Text | ||
TYVM | Thank You Very Much | ||
W8 | Wait | X | Kiss |
WFM | Works For Me | XME | Excuse Me |
WG | Wicked Grin | XOXO | Hugs And Kisses |
WKND | Weekend | ||
WRK | Work | YKW? | You Know What? |
WTB | Want To Buy | YNK | You Never Know |
WTF | What The F**k | YPI | Your Point Is |
WTG | Way To Go! | YW | You're Welcome |
WYP | What's Your Problem? | ||
WYS | Whatever You Say | ZZZ | Sleeping, Bored, Tired |
WYT | Whatever You Think | ||
WYWH | Wish You Were Here |
