Dealing With Text Message Acronyms And Shortcuts

Dealing with Text Message Acronyms and Shortcuts

by Lee Brannon

Frankly the English language is changing. Thanks to chat rooms, Instant Message programs, email, blogs, text windows for interactive video game players and cell phones we all suddenly find ourselves confronted with letters in groups that are not recognizable. These groups are text shortcuts and they are now nearly as common as the common English word. Whether we like it or not it is now an ingrained part of our culture and we either embrace it or fail to communicate.

Some of this has been driven by simple peer pressure in younger generations. Knowing the code makes you feel "in". Unfortunately many people carry this with them when they enter the job market. This has effected business communications in such a way that many companies are having to setup guidelines and special training classes, Not to mention the fact that supervisors are having to learn these new Acronyms whether they approve of them or not.

It is not as alien as one might think. When you reply to an email what does your email program automatically do with the subject line? It puts RE: in front of it. Of course we all recognize this as "Regarding." Another example is the RSVP. We all know this right off as a request to respond. The only real difference is that the text shortcut has progressed to the point where multiple instances of these letter combinations show up in the same communication. It has gone far enough now that there are many of people who carry cell phones but never talk on the phone. They communicate almost entirely through text messages. There are many reasons for this and I’ll leave this up to the linguist and psychologist , but probably the best explanation is that using text messaging gives them the option of not replying or taking the time to think about what they want to say. Good or bad we are all going to have to join in.

The Basic Rules.

Keep in mind that people won't always get what you type. As a matter of fact I would have to look half of my own list up if you sent them to me because I don't see them often and I don't use more than a dozen of them. Worse, your shortcuts may be misread. Keep the use of acronyms and shortcuts in your messages to a minimum. It makes it easier to read.

There are several places on the net that will allow you to look up shortcuts you do not understand. Several of them claim to be the "biggest" or "Largest" list. I recommend staying away from those. They seem to focus on the foul language use and tend to be filled with Acronyms for every common phrase uttered by mankind. For example, if someone writes ABIHIWTITB in place of "A bird in hand is worth two in the bush", are you really going to recognize it?

In most cases a text shortcut is either an acronym or a combination of letters and numbers that sound like the word. In many cases it is two shortcuts combined. For example CU (See You) and L8R (later) can be combined to make "See you Later." I have prepared a list of about 100 of the most common text shortcuts based on my own experience and from browsing many other list. This should be the basis to help anyone get started. Personally I didn’t think I used that many myself but after tracking my text messages, emails and website comments I found that I actually use about 10 of these on a regular basis.Note to Parents:

Text Message Shortcuts Chart :

Acronym Meaning More Meanings or additional Info


TTFN Ta Ta For Now Origin: Winnie the Pooh 411 Information Origin: Phone company information number ? What?
2morrow Tomorrow
2nite Tonight
4COL For Crying Out Loud
5O or 5-O Five-O (Police) Origin: TV Show Hawaii Five-O ADR Address Sometimes Implies the question “What is your Address?” AFAIAC As Far as I am Concerned
AFC Away From the Computer
AKA Also Known AS
ASAP As Soon As Possible
ASAYGT As Soon as you get this Could also be ASAUGT AUC Aren't You Clever
AYK As You Know
B4 Before
BFF Best Friends Forever
BFN Bye for Now
BRB Be Right Back
BTW By the Way
BZ Busy
CID Consider It Done
CM Call Me
CTO Check This Out
CUL8R See You
CWOT Complete Waste of Time
CYE Check your e-Mail
CYM Check your Mail
CYT See You Tomorrow
DETI Don't Even Think It
DNBL8 Do Not Be Late
EMA Email Address (?) Sometimes Implies the question “What is your Email Address?” EOD End of Day
EOM End of Message
ETA Estimated Time of Arrival
EZ Easy
F2F Face to Face
FDL Falling Down Laughing
FITB Fill In the Blanks
FOAF Friend of a Friend
FOFL Falling on the Floor Laughing
FTR For the Record
FUBAR Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition
FWIW For What its Worth
FYI For Your Information
G1 Good One
GF Girl Friend
GFI Go For It
GI Google It Isn't it amazing how much Google has become a part of our lives? GIGO Garbage In Garbage Out Origin: Computer Programming GMTA Great Minds Think Alike
GTG Got to Go
HIG How's it Going
HTH Hope This Helps
IM Instant Message
JJ Just Joking
JM2C Just My Two Cents
JMO Just My Opinion
K OK or Okay
KYFC Keep your Fingers Crossed
L8R Later
LMK Let Me Know
LOL Laughing Out Loud Also used as Lots of Luck MMB Message Me Back
MOF Matter of Fact
MSG Message
NAC Not A Clue
NC No Comment
NP No Problem
OIC Oh, I See
OMG Oh, my Gosh
OO Over and Out
OST On Second thought
PFD Putting Phone Down Similar to AFC PLS Please
RE Regarding
RSVP Please respond
RTM Read the Manual
SLM See Last Message
SNAFU Situation Normal All Fouled Up
SOW Speaking of Which
SSDD Same Stuff Different Day
SYS See You Soon
TAFN That's All For Now
THX Thanks
TNTL Trying Not To Laugh
TOY Thinking Of You
TTE Till the End General meaning till the end of time, but can mean Till the end of whatever subject is being discussed. TTTT To Tell The Truth
U You
U2 You too
UOK Are you OK?
VM Voicemail
WE Whatever
WTG Way to Go!
WTMI Way Too Much Information
WYM Watch Your Mouth
XOXOXO Kisses and Hugs
Y Why
YGLT Your Gonna Love This
YW Your Welcome

I have a suggestion for the Wireless phone companies, chat room program authors and Instant Message providers. Build in a translator for these terms! That way when people type AFAIAC and push the translator button it changes to "As far as I am concerned." JM2C