I have come to realize that I am officially old. Yes, I am admitting it. I am about to say something that I heard my parents and grandparents say a million times. I have to admit I am a little shocked about it coming out of my mouth. "The kids and teenagers of today have their own language. Most times I can not even understand them."
Recently, one of the cell phone commericals made light of this scenario. I laughed hysterically as a mom talked with her tween about the amount of text messages on the cell phone bill. It was like the girl was talking in code with all of the abbreviations. Teenagers today seldom do email. They live by texting or on instant messaging programs. This change in technology has led to the change in their communication -- leaving us parents scrambling to understand.
So I decided to do a little research. What I have learned is that the kids of today have an acronym for everything in the English language. Here is a list of the most commonly used acronyms by teenagers and their meanings:
BFF-Best Friend Forever
LOL - Laugh Out Loud
BRB - Be Right Back
CUL8R - See You Later
IMO - In My Opinion
HTH - Here To Help
WTH - What The Heck
AFAIK - As Far As I Know
IIRC - If I Recall Correctly
OMG - Oh My God!
AFK - Away From Keyboard
ROFL - Rolling On The Floor Laughing
YT? - You There?
Some more that parents should definitely be concerned or familiar with are as follows:
P911 - my parents are coming!
PA - parent alert
PAL - parents are listening
PIR - parent in room
POS - parent over shoulder
A/S/L? -age, sex, location
A/S/L/M/H? - age, sex, location, music, hobbies
Then probably the one that is most overlooked is the one that has to do with teenage love. Yes, no longer do teenagers do the cutesy I luv U! or something of that matter. You have to know the code. The code is 143. In teenage text world that means none other than "I love You".
My advice is to get schooled just to be on the safe side. It is important as parents to know what is going on in your child's life. Unfortunately, it is not going to be an easy task. It is amazing the amount of acronyms kids can store up in their mind, but not have the materials for tests memorized.
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