CTA

 

            You are probably aware that people use all sorts of clever abbreviations when texting. You may not be aware of how important it is to know what the letters represent. True story: a woman was responding by text to the news of the death of her good friend’s husband. After expressing her condolences, she meant to sign off saying “Lots of Love”: LOL. Unfortunately, she did not know that it means, to everyone but her, “Laugh Out Loud.”

 

            So, as a public service, I will share some of them. These are the first 20 of the hundred listed online at a site called SlickText.

 

Common Text Abbreviations (from SlickText)

 

1.     ROFL: Rolling on the floor laughing

2.     STFU: Shut the f*** up

3.     ICYMI: In case you missed it

4.     TLDR: Too long, didn’t read

5.     TMI: Too much information

6.     AFAIK: As far as I know

7.     LMK: Let me know

8.     NVM: Never mind

9.     FTW: For the win

10.  BYOB: Bring your own beer

11.  BOGO: Buy one, get one

12.  JK: Just kidding

13.  JW: Just wondering

14.  TGIF: Thank goodness it’s Friday

15.  TBH: To be honest

16.  TBF: To be frank

17.  RN: Right now

18.  FUBAR: F***ed up beyond all repair

19.  BRB: Be right back

20.  ISO: In search of

 

How many of these did you know before the turn of the century? For me, #10 and #18.   

 

            It occurs to me that if I’m going to use these, I might need to add a few more to cover things I might want to say if I ever care to text:

 

1.     WRU: Who are you? (Best said in the voice of the Caterpillar in Disney’s Alice)

2.     WAI: Where am I?

3.     PU: Please unsubscribe (can be applied numerous ways)

4.     WMW?: Where’s my whatever? (can’t remember what I was looking for)

5.     SNT: Sorry, it’s nap time

6.     BDN: Busy doing nothing

7.     CIG: Change is good

8.     KTC: Keep the change

9.     TWT: That was a typo

10.  PRB: Pushed the wrong button

11.  DKDT: Don’t know how to do that

12.  BRN: Battery recharge needed

13.  OD: Off duty

14.  WFD: What’s for dinner?

15.  TYA: Thank you, again (Best said, in my case, after WFD)

16.  WDT: What day is this?

17.  GT: It’s a guy thing. (Usually said by a woman about a shortcoming)

18.  MPB: Male Pattern Blindness

19.  SMB: Sorry, my bad

20.  HDTTO: How do I turn this off?

 

            These, of course, are or will be Common Text Abbreviations (thus the title of this post). Now, imagine a world where our actual conversations use these and other abbreviations. On the other hand (SMB), in the future we may not ever have actual conversations, for all communication will all be done using our phones. Imagine if texting were achieved before the invention of the telephone. What would texters say when they actually heard a human voice on their device?