kids texting & codes

[TinkerwithDis]

I cannot believe this. I was looking thru my son's phone last night (yes i do this, he's still quite young! Plus he is fully aware he has no choice in the matter lol), I saw that he wrote to his friend "nmu".

I asked him "what the heck does nmu mean?". Apparently it means "not much, you?". I figured thats what it meant, but I had to ask.

Isnt that crazy? Do they really find it too exhausting to fully spell out words? I dont get it.

Aside from the following codes....
nmu = not much you
u = you
k = ok
r = r
gtg = got to go
brb = brb
.....I dont know any others.

Anything else I should be aware of? Im thinking I should keep a booklet of all the codes in case I get stuck and need something 'translated' one day.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

FTW -- for the win -- I had to have it explained to me because it meant something entirely different when I was a kid.

WTH - what the heck (or the other word)

 

[NotUrsula]

Isnt that crazy? Do they really find it too exhausting to fully spell out words? I dont get it.

It isn't about exhaustion, it is about time spent typing. Kids use text messaging to converse, and if there is too much time lag between messages the conversation will not flow. If you can't text quickly no one will bother holding conversations with you; too much time required.

Generally speaking, the abbreviation that holds the most potential for interesting conversations is "P.O.S" and similar variations, in kid-text-speak it means Parent Over Shoulder; it is a signal to drop the subject because a parent has access to the account.

 

[sam_gordon]

idk... i don't know
ik... i know
cu... see you

Here's a link that might help... http://www.textingabbreviations.ca/


Here's some more...

 

[ford family]

I cannot believe this. I was looking thru my son's phone last night (yes i do this, he's still quite young! Plus he is fully aware he has no choice in the matter lol), I saw that he wrote to his friend "nmu".

I asked him "what the heck does nmu mean?". Apparently it means "not much, you?". I figured thats what it meant, but I had to ask.

Isnt that crazy? Do they really find it too exhausting to fully spell out words? I dont get it.
Aside from the following codes....
nmu = not much you
u = you
k = ok
r = r
gtg = got to go
brb = brb
.....I dont know any others.

Anything else I should be aware of? Im thinking I should keep a booklet of all the codes in case I get stuck and need something 'translated' one day.

Does he use "thru" instead of "through" or "he's" instead of "he is" or "don't" rather than "do not"?

ford family

 

[Jennasis]

I remember when POS used to mean something else...

There's also
2...to
ty...thank you
tyvm...thank you very much
ttyl...talk to you later

 

[Lynne M]

Isnt that crazy? Do they really find it too exhausting to fully spell out words? I dont get it.

It's not new, it's not code, and it's not just kids.

All of that evolved in the early days of text messaging when you had to try to type text on a standard phone numeric keypad. There was a name for it, I don't remember what it is, but if you wanted to say 'not', you'd have to press the 6 key 3 times, and then the 6 key 4 times, and then the 8 key twice, or something like that. It took FOREVER just to get through "not much, you?" So, you'd type "nmu" instead.

Nowadays, smartphones come with proper QWERTY keyboards, but the abbreviations remain. Even on a phone with a keyboard like my iPhone, you don't want to do extensive typing.

 

[ilovemk76]

I know many of them and most do not bother me. That being said, a few really annoy me. B4 is one of them.

 

[JaneBanks]

Not much different from when I was a teen in high school. Instead of text and letters, we had beepers and numbers. 143 = I love you, for example.

 

[BearcatsFan]

I remember when POS used to mean something else...

Me too!

 

[Albort]

anyone watch the ellen show of auto corrects? heres a really funny one.

Person 1: hey, what does idk mean?
Person 2: I dont know.
Person 1: if you dont know, then dont use it!

XD

 

[sam_gordon]

Does he use "thru" instead of "through" or "he's" instead of "he is" or "don't" rather than "do not"?

ford family

What's wrong with those?

 

[metalis4ever]

143 = I Love You

 

[goofyintoronto]

Does he use "thru" instead of "through" or "he's" instead of "he is" or "don't" rather than "do not"?

ford family

What's wrong with those?

I think FordFamily was criticizing the OP's grammar/punctuation.

I believe there's another thread where you can vent about grammar etc. Just sayin'.

 

[mom2febgirls]

I think FordFamily was criticizing the OP's grammar/punctuation.

I believe there's another thread where you can vent about grammar etc. Just sayin'.

I think he was using an example of shortening words to make typing them faster.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I think he was using an example of shortening words to make typing them faster.

Ok thats fine. But these are two different things. The OP isnt talking about words like 'thru'. Thats pretty easy to understand/interpret. NMU is an abbreviation. You really gotta think twice about what it means!

 

[superme80]

I remember when POS used to mean something else...

You mean it doesn't mean Point of Sale???? I think I worked in retail too long! I hate text speak.

 

[usd2bmd]

I remember when POS used to mean something else...

There's also
2...to
ty...thank you
tyvm...thank you very much
ttyl...talk to you later

POS still means that to me...

 

[ohiomom28]

It's also because in a text, you are only allowed 160 characters including spaces and punctuation.

 

[goofyintoronto]

It's also because in a text, you are only allowed 160 characters including spaces and punctuation.

Thats not true. It all depends which phone company your with, and the type of phone you have. Here in canada, with Bell you have a text/character limit. With Rogers you dont. At least not with my smartphone/android.