imho my m&d r oot its lk tlking 2 alfs sumtimes
Confused? You’re not the only one. Let me translate that little linguistic gem for you. “In my honest opinion, my mum and dad are out of touch, it’s like talking to aliens sometimes.”
Chances are, your kids could have understood that. Language has always been a social tool, it marks out who’s in, who’s out, what’s fashionable, what’s not. You’ve just demonstrated that you’re not on the ball, that you’re not conversant in today’s language, the language of the Internet, the chatroom, the instant message, or the SMS.
Think about the terms you might have used in your youth, or that your parents used. “Hip”, “trendy”, even the seemingly timeless “cool” is getting a bit dated. You wouldn’t drop any of those into a conversation for fear of an embarrassing silence. Abbreviations are merely the next step, one they’ve already taken and, if you’re not careful, one that will have you sitting there scratching your head while things pass you by.
It’s never pleasant to be reminded that you’re getting on a bit, that your finger is no longer on the pulse. It happens to me on a regular basis. I received an instant message (that’s a text message, sent from one computer to another computer for those of you who are struggling) from a colleague recently and it took me about five minutes to read the damn thing. What did it say? “IMTNG CYB in 5”, translation: “I’m in a meeting, I’ll call you in five minutes.” It was all Greek to me. But then I’m not au fait with instant messaging or chatrooms; it takes me five minutes to write an SMS on my cell phone unless there’s that predictive text function widget.
Let’s face it, it’s good to be able to communicate with younger people, be they your children, or work colleagues. I’m not claiming that we should start tearing up the English language, but you need to be up to speed to avoid looking like a dinosaur from time to time. Besides, it saves time … if our colleagues understand what on Earth we’re talking about.
So, in an effort to get your fingers moving over the keypad or keyboard in a blur, here’s the Bespoke guide to the most popular Internet and cellphone acronyms.
ADIP - Another Day in Paradise
AFAICR - As far as I can recall / remember
AFAIK - As far as I know
ALFS – Alien life forms
B4 – Before
BBIAB - Be back in a bit
BCNU - Be seein' you
BFF - Best Friends Forever
BFN - Bye For Now
BRB - Be right back
BTW - By the way
CU - See you (later)
CYA - See ya
D/L - Download
flamer – Someone who makes statements designed to irritate people
FOAF - Friend of a friend
FWIW - For what it's worth
GJ - Good job
GL - Good luck
gratz - Congratulations
GTG or G2G - 'Got to go'
HAND - have a nice day
handle - Name used in online chat
HTH - Hope this / that helps
IDK - I don't know
IONO - I don't know
IIRC - If I recall correctly
IMHO - In my honest opinion
IOW - In other words
IRL - In real life
IYKWIM - If you know what I mean
JK or j/k - Just kidding
k or kk - OK
KISS - Keep it simple stupid
L8R – See you later, goodbye
lamer – Someone who’s not good at something
LMAO - Laughing my ass off
LMIRL - Let's meet in real life
LMK - Let me know
LOL - Laughing out loud
LTNS - Long time no see
M&D – Mum and dad
MYOB - Mind your own business
newbie, newb, n00b – Someone who’s new to something
NM - Not much or never mind
NP - No problem
O RLY - Oh really?
OIC - Oh, I see
OMG - Oh my god
OOT – Out of touch
OTOH - On the other hand
PAW - Parents are watching
PLMK - Please let me know
POV - Point of view
PPL - People
RL - Real Life
ROFL/ROTFL - Rolling on (the) floor laughing
SCNR - Sorry, could not resist
SMH - Shaking my head
SOHF - Sense of humor failure
TBH - To be honest
THX/THNX, TNX or TX – Thanks
Tlk - Talk
TTBOMK - To the best of my knowledge
TY - Thank you
TYT - Take your time
U - You
w00t, w00T or WOOT – Expressing enthusiasm
W/E – Whatever or weekend
WUBU2 - What (have) you been up to?
W8 - Wait
YAGNI - You ain't gonna need it
