Texting: Not Just For Teenagers Any More |
|
What Do They Mean For You?
Hey! CTO.
It will make you ROTFL!
Can you decipher these messages?
If not, :-|.
If so, GJ!
Welcome to the next generation of text messaging.
Once just the province of nimble-thumbed teens, text messaging, or sending short person-to-person messages from mobile phones, is catching on with a new wave of businesspeople, often replacing email when immediacy is key.
Stock reports, sports scores, weather updates, and all manner of infotainment can all be obtained with just a few quick clicks of thumb and fingers. Even things like Mobile Banking1 and take-out pizza ordering can now be accomplished via text message where applicable2.
As texting grows in popularity with all segments of the population, critics are saying it’s as addictive as cigarettes, deleterious to the attention span, and damaging to vocabulary and grammar as users search for quicker and easier abbreviations and shortcuts for communication. Secretive texting has also been implicated in test cheating schemes, an endangerment on the road, and as a tool for sexual predators to secretly communicate with young people, often right under the noses of their unsuspecting parents. SmartPhone users please be courteous, keep in mind that long text messages can be received in multiple parts on the other end.
But, for better or worse, texting is here to stay, and text jargon is becoming more and more entrenched in every day speech. So, if you don’t know your TTFN from your 4COL, here’s a guide to some of the most common shorthand messages from Webopedia.com3:
| BFF |
Best Friend Forever |
| LOL |
Laugh Out Loud |
| ROTFL |
Rolling On The Floor Laughing |
| WTH |
What The Heck |
| Y |
Why |
| ? |
What |
| KIS |
Keep It Simple |
| OA:-) |
Offer Accepted |
| OR:-( |
Offer Rejected!!! |
| :-| |
We Got Problems! |
| HS |
Holy Smokes |
| GJ |
Great Job |
| GRATZ |
Congratulations |
| OMG |
Oh My Goodness |
| 4TLP |
4 The Love Of Pete |
| H/O |
Hold On |
| TTYL |
Talk To You Later |
| JAM |
Just A Minute |
| JK |
Just Kidding |
| WRKG |
Working on it |
| WTG |
Way To Go |
| NMCS |
In Meeting Call Soon |
| CUL |
Call U Later |
| @TEOTD |
At the end of the day |
| 2MORO |
Tomorrow |
| 2NITE |
Tonight |
| 411 |
Information |
| 4COL |
For crying out loud |
| AAR8 |
At any rate |
| AFAIK |
As far as I know |
| B/C |
Because |
| CTO |
Check this out |
| DNBL8 |
Do not be late |
| P&C |
Information |
| PLZ |
Please |
| PP |
People |
| SLAP |
Sounds like a plan |
| SM |
Senior moment |
| T@YL |
Talk at you later |
| THX |
Thanks |
| WRUDATM |
What are you doing at the moment? |
| WX |
Weather |
Now, you’re armed with more texting vocab, but remember don’t text while driving 4COL. THX.
