Learning Text Abbreviations, the New Foreign Language
85Recently 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.
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
|
Not every abbreviation you’ll ever come across there, but certainly enough to get the flavour of the language, and probably enough to work out what anything other than this might mean if you do get sent it.
Don’t forget, there’s countless variations along a theme with texting as people add individual flourishes to differentiate their texts from others. Nowhere is this more nobly exemplified in the embellishment of the simple abbreviation for laughing. LOL after several flourishes becomes ROTFLMAO, and much, much longer.
So TAFN, GL and TYVM for reading. SYS.
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Comments
um, don't think I've got that one covered! :D
golly! I been lookin for this info! My daughter wants me to text her instead of calling (I suspect she doesn't like the sound of my voice!) and I have been afraid to do it, afraid I'd send the wrong abbrev. or not know what she was saying back! So TYVM! all VNTK!
YW, as they say! :)
This is very funny, but so necessary if we want to communicate with a certain segment of the population. Thanks!
Thanks for your kind comments. There will be classes in it one day, I swear! :)
I need to print this out and keep it with me. I have a teen daughter and she only texts me. This way I can know what she is talking about.
I hope it helps a little!
this is very helpful to alot of ppl these text messaging and instant messaging abbrev. are expanding everyday
Here's a question. All these text abbreviations are based on English. What about other languages? Do they do the same or do non English speaking teenagers use the English ones? IMHO, this could be v interesting. TTFN
Hi Liam, that's an interesting thought. I've no idea. Do tell please someone.
Very helpful, thanks! Like the other comments above I will have to print this out to know what the heck people are trying to say in text messages. Personally I tend not to reply to texts and wish they would just leave an understandable voice message. What I find troubling is the lack of understanding of what "good" English is supposed to look like. KWIM????
This is the biggest list I have seen of text abbrreviations. This is handy to have if you have kids.
Thanks for the comments Mardi and Mitch. VBG at you all! :)
Im 20 and I had no idea about all this. I knew about omg and lol and whatnot but all this other stuff? If kids my age and younger put as much effort into something productive as they do creating and memorizing all these ridiculous abbreviations, the world would be a better place, imo, haha. Nice post, ill need this when talking to my sister, thanks!
You've made lots of us feel a little bit younger with that comment Chris, thanks! :)
I was thoroughly annoyed with the abbreviation "lol" - I thought it stood for "lots of luck". for some reason this is the most common one i come across and it irks me to an unreasonable limit. So i decided to find out about it and your list and the commentaries has been able to sort-of take the edges out of "lol". Heartfelt thanks.
My other language is Bangla (or Bangali), which has a script of its own. Recently the trend is to use English alphabets to write Bangla words, and in fact entire emails, chats, etc, but of course, informally. (Bangla has a very interesting and unique history). I am yet to discover if they have particular abbreviations in the language.
As a forty-something person, I prefer to write full words. While sending me text messages, I encourage my 11-year old son to do the same - full words, please.
He has all his friends to "converse" with in their "hip and trendy lingo".
I may not use them, but thank you for educating me. I won't feel so old and out-dated!!
Sorry. I misspelled....... Bangla, also referred to as Bengali.
outstanding hub
Thanks both for your comments. I can understand your confusion with lol Samina. I'm not convinced that they're actually laughing out loud as much as they say they are!
this is a great compendium of abbreviations for text messages. It is truly a new language. My sister is a teacher and the kids in her class have horrendous typing skills due to texting. They will often type the letter "u" to signify "you."
Now that's scary.
...this is cool! Next time i encounter these text abbreviations and forgot the meaning, i'll chek this hub! :) thank you very much Sir! :)
thanks for your comments. :)
MIHAP AFAIK this is all rage at the moment, i better copy this list and learn it so I know what the hell my friends are talking about. TAFN THX!
WTG Billy, HAGD!
So my initial investigation revealed that although Bangla is written with the English alphabets in the "net" medium, the abbreviations used are the ones that RP has listed.
I hope it answers Liam's question - atleast for one living and thriving language.
wtb =want to buy
so
wts should be want to sell ??!?
Craig Walker says:
2 months ago
Felllllaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr..... rrrrrr