SMS language

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SMS language or Textese (also known as chatspeak, txt, txtspk, txtk, texting language or txt talk) is a term for the abbreviations and slang most commonly used due to the necessary brevity of mobile phone text messaging, though its use is common on the Internet, including e-mail and instant messaging. It can be likened to a rebus, which uses pictures and single letters, or numbers to represent whole words (e.g, "i <3 u" which uses the pictogram of a heart for "love", and the letter "u" replaces "you").

For words which have no common abbreviation, users most commonly remove the vowels from a word, and the reader is forced to interpret a string of consonants by re-adding the vowels (e.g., "dictionary" becomes "dctnry", or "keyboard" becomes "kybrd"). The reader must interpret the abbreviated words depending on the context in which it is used, as there are many examples of words or phrases which use the same abbreviations (e.g., "lol" could mean "laugh out loud" or "lots of love", and "cryn" could mean "crayon" or "crying"). So if someone says "ttyl, lol" they probably mean "talk to you later, lots of love" not "talk to you later, laugh out loud"; and if someone says "omg, lol" they probably mean "oh my god, laugh out loud" not "oh my god, lots of love". Context is key when interpreting txtese, and it is precisely this shortfall which critics cite as a reason not to use it.

The advent of predictive text input and smartphones featuring full QWERTY keyboards may contribute to a reduction in its use. This type of language does not always obey or follow standard grammar; furthermore, the words used in the writing system are not found in standard dictionaries or recognized by language academies.

Contents 1 Significance 2 History 3 Criticism 4 Frequency of use 5 The use of txt in school exams 6 Vocabulary 6.1 Single letters can replace words 6.2 Single digits can replace words 6.3 A single letter or digit can replace a syllable 6.4 Combinations of the above can shorten a single or multiple words 7 Common abbreviations 8 See also 9 References 10 Relevant literature 11 External links

[edit] Significance

The objective of textese is to use the fewest number of characters needed to convey a comprehensible message. Hence, punctuation, grammar, and capitalization are largely ignored.

The dialect has a few hieroglyphs (codes comprehensible to initiates) and a range of face symbols.^[1] According to a study, though it is faster to write it takes more time to read than normal English.^[2] According to research done by Dr. Nanagh Kemp of University of Tasmania, the evolution of ‘textese’ is inherently coupled to a strong grasp of grammar and phonetics.^[3]

[edit] History

Textese is a nascent dialect of English that subverts letters and numbers to produce ultra-concise words and sentiments.^[4] The invention of mobile phone messages may be considered as its source, although elliptical styles of writing date back to at least the days of telegraphese. There are no standard rules for writing SMS languages, and a lot of words can also be shortened, such as "text" being shortened into "txt". Words can also be combined with numbers to make them shorter, such as "later", which changes into "l8r", using the numeral "8" for its phonetic pronunciation. Textese seeks to use the fewest number of letters, and helps in dealing with space constraints of text messaging, although the advent of texting clearly came from a desire to type less, and to communicate more quickly, than one can manage without such shortcuts.

It is similar to Internet slang and Telex speak, and has evolved from the shorthand use in Internet chat rooms to accommodate the small number of characters allowed (early SMS permitted only 160 characters and some carriers charge messages by the number of characters sent), and as a convenient language for the small keyboards on mobile phones.

[edit] Criticism

Welsh journalist and television reporter John Humphrys has criticized textese as "wrecking our language". The author cites ambiguous examples such as "lol" which may mean "laughing out loud" or "lots of love", depending on the context in which it is used. Humphrys describes emoticons and textese as "irritating" and essentially lazy behaviors, and surmises that "sloppy" habits gained while using textese will result in students' growing ignorance of proper grammar and punctuation.^[5]

David Crystal has countered the claims that SMS has a deleterious effect on language with numerous scholarly studies. The findings are summarized in his popular book Txtng: the Gr8 Db8. Despite scholarly research to the contrary, the popular notion that text messaging is damaging to the linguistic development of young people and to the English language itself persists.^[6]

[edit] Frequency of use

In one American study, researchers found that less than 20% of messages used SMS language. Looking at his own texting history, the study's author, linguist David Crystal, noted just 10% of his messages used SMS language.^[7]

[edit] The use of txt in school exams

There have been some reports in the media of children using SMS language for essays in school:

• 16 August 2002: “Examiner's warning over exams culture”. BBC.
• 4 March 2003: “Is txt mightier than the word?”. BBC.
• November 2006: The New Zealand Qualifications Authority discourages the use of text abbreviations after suggesting that they may be used in certain subjects provided they clearly show the required understanding. NZQA Press statement [1]

[edit] Vocabulary

[edit] Single letters can replace words

• be becomes b
• see becomes c
• the becomes da or d
• okay becomes k
• are becomes r
• you becomes u
• with becomes wit or w/
• without becomes w/o
• why and yes become y
• oh becomes o

[edit] Single digits can replace words

• ate becomes 8
• for becomes 4
• to or too becomes 2
• one or won becomes 1

[edit] A single letter or digit can replace a syllable

• ate becomes 8, so:
  • great becomes gr8
  • mate becomes m8
  • wait becomes w8
  • later becomes l8r or l8a
  • skate becomes sk8
  • skater becomes sk8r
• tomorrow becomes 2mro
• for or fore becomes 4, so:
  • before becomes (combining both of the above) b4
  • therefore becomes thr4
• once becomes 1ce

[edit] Combinations of the above can shorten a single or multiple words

• Your and You're become ur, yr, or u're

[edit] Common abbreviations

Word or phrase	Abbreviation(s)
Account	acc, acct or acnt
Address	addy or add
And	n, an, nd, or &
Anticipate	ntcp8
Anytime, Anywhere, Anyplace	A3
Age, sex, location	Asl or a/s/l
Alright	aight or ight or aite
Are you there?	rut or u der
At the moment	atm
As far as I know	afaik
Away from keyboard	Afk
Awesome	or+ or orsm
Back	b
Be right back	brb
Be back later	bbl
Be back soon	bbs
Because	cuz, bcuz, bcz, bcos, bc, cos, coz, cz or bcoz
Best friend or Boyfriend	bf or b/f
Big fucking (or freakin') deal	bfd
Best friend(s) for life	bffl
Best friend(s) forever	bff or bffe
Between	btwn or b/w
By the way	btw
Comment me back	cmb (usually used for social networking sites)
Could be keen (i.e. to go out)	cbk
Cousin	cuzin or cuz
Definitely	def or deffo
Does it look like I give a shit?	DILLIGAS
Don't	dnt
Don't know	dunno
Don't worry	dw
Ducks and runs for cover (after cracking a joke for example)	darfc
Falling off chair laughing	focl
Forever	4eva or 4evr or fo eva
For the win (or inverted wtf)	ftw
For your information	fyi
Friend	frend or frnd
Fuck my life	fml
Fuck you	fuk u, fck, fu, f u or a graphic similar to ,,l,,
Fuck your mom	fym
Get the fuck out	gtfo
Girlfriend or GoodFriend	gf or g/f
Got to go	g2g or gtg
Great	gr8
Have a nice day	H.A.N.D.
Have a good day	hagd
High as fuck (or frick)	haf
Hold on	hld on or h/o
Homework	hw, hwk or hmwk
How are you	hru
Hurry back	hb
I can't remember	icr
I don't care	idc
I don't fucking (or freakin') care	idfc
I don't really care	idrc
I don't give a fuck	idgaf
I don't know	idk
I don't remember	idr
I do what I want	idwiw
I know	aino
I know, right?	ikr
I love you	ily, luv u, ilu, luv ya, i wub u or i <3 u, 143 (I stands for one letter, Love stands for 4 letters, You stands for 3 letters)
If I recall correctly or If I remember correctly	iirc
In my opinion	imo
In my humble opinion / In my honest opinion	imho
Jokes	jks
Just for laughs	jfl
Just joking	jj
Just kidding	jk
Just playing	jp
Just to let you know	jtlyk or j2luk
Know	kno, knw or no
Later	l8r or l8a
Laugh out loud / lots of love	lol
Laughing my ass off	lmao
Laughing my dick off	lmdo
Laughing my fucking ass off	lmfao
Laughing quietly to myself	lqtm
Laugh out loud (multiple times)	lolliesm lulz or lolz
Love	luv or <3
Love you (see also I love you)	ly, <3u
Mate	m8
Message (as in a text message)	msg
Never mind	nm or nvm (depending on context used, see also "not much" below)
No big deal	nbd
No matter	nm (depending on context used)
No problem	np
No thank you	no tnk u, nty or no ty
Not much	nm (depending on context used, see also "never mind" above)
Obviously	ovvi, obv or obvs
Of course	ov cors or ofc
Oh My God	omg or (comically) zomg, romg, womg, omgz
Oh My Gods	omgs
Oh My Fucking God	omfg
Oh My Lordy Potato	omlp
Okay	k or kk
Oh really?	orly?
On My Period	omp or om '.'
On My Way	omw
Parents over shoulder or piece of shit (depending on context)	pos
parents behind back	pbb
Peace	pc, pce, pece, or \/ (V sign)
People	ppl, peeps
Picture(s)	pic, pics or pix
Pissing myself laughing	pmsl
Please	plz, plez, plox or pls
Probably	probz, prbly, prolly, proly, or prob
Quoted for truth	qft
Really	rly
Reals	rlz
Right	rite or ryt
Right On!	RO
Rocking/Rock (metal hands)	\m/
Rolling on the floor laughing	rofl or (comically) Roflcopter, Roflwaffle
Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off	roflmao or rotflmao
Rolling On the Floor Laughing out loud	rotflol
Says	ses or sez
Screen name/User name	sn/un
See you/see you later	cya, cu, or cya/cu l8er/l8a/l8r
Seriously	srsly
Shit outta luck	sol
Shut the fuck up	stfu
Something	sth, s/t, sumthin or summet
Son of a bitch	sob
Sorry	sry or soz
Scare the shit out of my self/Scare the shit out of yourself	stsooms/stsooys
Talk to you later	ttyl or t2yl
Ta-ta for now	ttfn
Text	txt or tx
Text back	txt bck or tb
Thanks / thank you	thanx, thx, tnx, 10Q or thnx
Thank you	ty or thnk u
Thank you very much	tyvm
Thinking of you	TOY
Tomorrow	tom, 2m, tmw, 2moz, 2moro, 2mrw, 2mo or 2mara
To be honest	tbh
That's what I thought	twit
Welcome back	wb
Weekend	wknd, w/end or w.e
Write back	wb
What	wat, wut, wht, whaz or wot
What you up to?	wuu2
Whatever	w/e, wateva, watev, watevr, wtvr or w.e
What the fuck	wtf or wdf
What the hell	wth
What's up	sup or zup
Would	wud or wood
Yeah, really	ya rly
You deserve it	ydi
You there?	yt or u der
You Know what	ykw

[edit] See also

Look up txt in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Emoticon
• Enhanced Messaging Service
• Internet slang
• Martian language
• Microblogging
• Multimedia Messaging Service
• Newspeak
• SMS
• Text messaging

[edit] References

• Rai, Himanshu (30 October 2005). “Thumbs Up!” New Straits Times, p. F14.

Urdu SMS

[edit] Relevant literature

• The Gr8 Db8 (Hardcover) Amazon.com ISBN 978-0199571338

[edit] External links

• 2b or not 2b?
  • David Crystal - Guardian Unlimited - 5 July 2008.
    • This lengthy article talks about the rise of SMS messaging, the language used, precedents for abbreviated language in English and links to further contributions on the subject by Will Self and Lynne Truss.
• [2]
• Dictionary, for reference