I did not grow up with a cell phone in hand, or even with a computer for that matter. When I was in highschool, we still had a class called "Typewriting", and I remember lugging my enormous typewriter to college, with a year's supply of White Out.
Most of my generation is computer literate, but we are split between those of us who "text" and "IM" (instant message), and those of us who do not. Now, those of us who are the "do not-ers", are even further behind, as far more people younger than us are now texting, IMing, twittering, pinging, and who knows what else! There is even a new term for all of this electronic communication overload, called "BlackBuried" ("slang for being inundated and exhausted trying to be on top of all your email 24/7 with your handheld mobile device", according to NetLingo).
I have not felt left out of this texting craze until I was emailing a friend, and she used an acronym that I needed to look up in an Urban Dictionary to find it's meaning. I thought this was funny...I wasn't trying a new fancy way of communicating, but the texting world has now infiltrated the email world. It is now time that I know some common acronyms to keep up with communication.
An online resource that I wanted to share with parents is called Net Lingo, and there is a Top 50 Acronyms Every Parent Should Know that children and teens are using in their text messages and other online communication. These acronyms are shocking; they are geared toward topics of sexuality and drugs, but is important to know their meaning.
Less shocking are more general Text Messaging Shorthand definitions that are helpful to know, as well as Acronyms by Alphabetical order.
So, what did my 30-something friend use as an acronym, that I needed to look up? It was embarrassing, KWIM? (know what I mean)
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I still have the little Olympia portable manual typewriter I won in grade school for selling the most World's Finest Chocolate bars, LOL! I carted it to universities across the oceans (a lot lighter than the IBM Selectric of the day).
I remember when I couldn't figure out "LOL." It looked to me as though someone drunk was commenting, as she had seriously overused the acronym; and that was only about 14 years ago.
These days, you can find greeting cards written entirely in acronyms, and I even have a (now outdated) little handbook of common texting acronyms.
What concerns me is that I'm seeing too many kids unable to spell properly because they only know short form communication. Sure, the commercials for (i forget which) cell phone services in which even the grandmother is texting were funny, and comedians have found much fodder in texting lingo.
That the lingo has a dark side is not at all surprising, nor is it much different from the dark side of any vernacular from other generations. What is disturbing is that this lingo travels and replicates at the speed of whatever band the phone is on - 3G, 4G, whatever.
Well, texting lingo is a part of our modern life; but, the idiot texting while driving won't ever be my BFF!!
June 4, 2009 - 8:13pmThis Comment