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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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 ??!?
Every teen uses abbreviations, I am from Germany and here are many englisch abbreviations in use, but there are some invented in German as well.
For exampel: "HDL" - "Hab dich lieb" which means something between I like you and I love you.
Thank u very much for the above information.. I didn't know the meanings for most of'em. but now I know all... I wil be checking this link for future reference... and also tel my friends about it.. cheers!!!
Just chk dis also. . . . .lots mor r avlbl here !!
N1 Really
Thx 4 it
THX WHO SEZ UR 40........UR A DUDE CHAMP.......THX FOR THZ WONDERFULL LIST
I'm from Norway and here some English text abbreviations are used (lol and brb most frequently), but we also have some Norwegian ones as well. (like "snx" = "snakkes", which also is a short version of "snakkes senere" which means "talk to you later"). But I am under the impression that we in Norway mostly use full words and phrases and using too many abbreviations, especially English ones, is considered somewhat immature.
Now thats cool!! Awesome maan
Thanks so much for this!! I'm Argentinian and a teacher of English as a foreign language and this is SOOO useful!!! And as somebody said it's the most complete list I've come across! Just Great!
i'm from argentina, and we don't use all these text abbreviations. some ppl use omg, xoxo or lol, but it's no usual.
MIHAP is wrong, MIHYAP is right
Thanks for the list as I have been looking for one. Is there a book in the works?
Wow, man. Thanks a bunch. I thought I was doing fine till I saw this hub. LOL
Thanks, again.
You entirely missed TTFN --- Think Tigger
Finally, omg can't understand a damn thing these days
This is my favorite hub ever
bookmarked, printed and hanging by computer
can't wait to use them
thanks
L8R
that was really educative
thanx !!!!
I am a filipino, and i am a teenager, yes we do use this shortcuts,its just the same!. we use this in texting and also in chatting!... TY!..
I think this Hub should be bookmarked for reference! Nice collection!
in turkey,we have nearly the same problems....
a few years ago,it was really popular to use that kind of weird turkish language...old people were all stuck to understand what the hell they were tslking about...but now it's been losing its popularity,as people grow up, they start to think that being weird is not something amazing... shortly, i've realized that our youth has done with it... ;)
i cn say its awsm...havin so mch info. bout shrt frms n all...
raelly...it gonna help me .....thnx!!
LSHCCOMNAIWEDA: laughing so hard coke came out my nose and I wasn't even drinking any. That's the longest one I know. LOL
Thanks! This is very usefull, I'm not very good at english so it helps me to learn a little more of what they're speaking of :)
Thanks for the whole list. Man! you might have worked hard trying to find these. (or was it Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V)!! hahaha... thanks anyways ;)
Wow, thx a lot 4 the information, these days I was wondering the meanings of some abreviations that my friends write, now I can understand what they say TYVM and L8R
I really NEED this! Even after looking the list over I still needed to scroll up constantly to understand what the abbreviations in the comments were saying LOL I have a lot of learning to do =) TYVMFAYH (snicker)
thanks for help when i was starting chatting everyone send these short words. i was don't known what they talking about, and now i am very easy feel when i login in chat room...
ty
I say we have to keep up with these text abbreviations because we can get lost on it all when we do not understand what the others are texting.
ooohhh .. XOXO means hugs and kisses ? >.< just knew it just know . :D
Hahahah u guys yo so fuuny! lol but tuvm 4 dat huge list of hubs.
@Softcornhippo if ur daughter wants u to text her its m8 B coz its embarassing u kno what I mean? when ur wiv' ur fren' n' ur parents call u!
Try to not tired her, I'm sure every1 in dis planet loves his parents :) HAND!
Lots of them are here
in poland english short words that's in use borowed from english are Lol and Rotfl, brb in polish is zw = zaraz wracam(same meaning as brb) or nmzc = nie ma za co, that's using is very similar to yw.
ohhh.... i'm a teenaga bt neva used dis language... cz i don't wanna confuse ny1... lol... bt.... gr8 job!!!
Really great and useful hub! I certainly need to cave this table in order to understand all this internet slang and be able to speak to my son.
its kinda nice job done ,acrnyms basically is "sweet n short" way to convey ur feeling ..like someone read them who dont know and if suddenly he came to knew the meaning whats actually message wanna say he/she may smile ....i m 16 but try to write a complete word rather than writing this rediculous slang ..bkoz somewhere its incomplete n untouched so must be mend and checked...rather appreciable job is done...a bunch of thanks to u...
some more 4 u
t.c.= take care
fine =f9
canteen = can3(this is in hindi bkoz 3 is pronunciated as "teen" in indian lingo)
i.d.n = i dont need
d.m.m=dont make mess
j.f.a.i=just forget about it
about = abt
c.y.L = catch u later
c.u.L = see u later
c.u.s = see u soon
s.a = send acknowledge
b.2.p =back to pavelian
o.o.c = out of control
c.y/c.u. = control(ctrl) urself(yourself)
b.h. = be happy
s.c. = stay cool
swt drms =sweet dreams
h.n.m = have night mares
f.t.w = follow this way
Very useful info. Thank you.
Dude,this is awesum...i have printed this page and i always keep it with me.it really helps.thx m8. :)
ily-i love you
ihy-i hate you
ilysm-i love you so much
ihysm-i hate you so much
imysm-i miss you so much
imy-i miss you
This is great, I have to bookmark it TYVM!
Cool stuff
TY
U 4got
Ily - I Love You
Ilu - I Love U
Ilysm - I Love You So Much
Ilusm - I Love U So Much
Ilysfm - I Love You So F****n Much
Ilyufm - I Love U So F****n Much
wow you forgot so much have 20 front and back pages with text language on it!
Some more to add 2 ur list:
msg- message
2nite- tonight
b4-before
4ever- forever
b4n- bye for now
bcoz/ b/c- because
ACk- ackowledgement
r8-rate
AML- all my love
gr8-great
XME- excuse me
Cu- see you
EZ-easy
XOXO- hugs n kisses
zzz- sleeping, bored, tired
plz/pls- plese
ASAP- as soon as possible
gn- good night
u can find many more interesting abbrevations in the following link
wow thnx... idk there's a lot of them... and yeah some other country use abbrev. like here in the Philippines... since we use a lot of vowel in text we disregard all of them... and we call this people... jejemon.. came from digimon and jeje came from their laughs jeje instead of hehe...
I'm from Brazil and we also use lots of abbreviations when texting in portuguese. Apparently this is a global phenomenon. New languages is being created with the event of texting. Can we call this evolution?
Wow maxxxxxxa collection
ThnQ boss
Hey there!
Thanks very much for posting this. Im 21 years young and I found this extremely useful! FYI, Our 1st language here is Afrikaans (Close to Flemish and Dutch), but even though we chat in our home language, we use all these English abbreviations.
TY and 73's :P
"73's is a Ham Radio code for saying Good Bye & Go Well"
a couple more w - with tmi - too much information
tmi is so common you should add it people actually say it in comversation like OMG
You forgot IKR : I know right
BTW : By the way
THNX FOR THE INFO
Oh, goodness. I miss the days when people valued grammar and spelling. I'm up to date with all the chat-talk and leet-speak, but try my best not to use it. My friends all say I'm weird,and I'm the designated 'Grammar Nazi' in our group, but I don't mind. Personally, I love early modern English, like Elizabethian. My mom once said to me "I'm glad you don't talk like other kids, because I'd never know what you were saying. I just don't get why they put numbers in their words now!" I'm just afraid of the future. If things like this bother me now, at only 20, what will it be like when I'm 40?
But, chat and leet aside, I must admit...I am addicted to emoticons. :D
wonderful & handy.lol.thx
Thanks Guys Iam Really didn't know them and all people says them and i just say what :P
thx
OMG this new foreign language is a little confusing! LOL
It will take me quite a lot of time to get used to it!
BTW thanks for the info!!
Hi...
I'm from middle Eeast, and I like this list verey much
Because i have alot of American friends and they use this list all the time.
And about that if another langs are doing like that,, No we Dont use it whine we chatting or somthing.So, thx alot for the list again :) .
Good Job Dude! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX joke :P
My brain hurt by the time I reached the end of this hub, but I feel uber empowered at the moment! Thanks for what must have been exhaustive (and exhausting) research on the subject!
Nice to know, but wow. I miss words.
cn someone tell me what NIE means in texting! really would appreciate it :-)
This is very helpful because it is in alphabetical order. I want to add one more word :
gr8 = great
u've a gr8 job.thx
Half of the ones people use aren't here. TTFN? LMFAO? Just a couple...
This is very helpful. Another very useful site is http://www.txt-dictionary.com
GR8, U SHOULD PRINT BOOKLETS TO SELL.
Asesome...Appreciate your efforts in putting this in front of everyone and creating the awareness.
I tink d only way for effective communication is writing wat d reader understand, i consider it unwise wen you send abbrev. to someone who either misconcept or find it real hard to comprehend. Don't get it twisted, abbrev. is a beautiful thing. Tnx a millie
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This is awesome.TYVM.TAFN.
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Craig Walker 2 years ago
Felllllaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr..... rrrrrr