Family and Child Online Safety Blog - SafetyClicks

"IM speak," also called "Internet Slang" or "Netspeak," originally developed as a way for online chatters to convey ideas more quickly by replacing full words and phrases with various forms of shorthand, acronyms and abbreviations, thus cutting down on keystrokes. This "language" continues to evolve and is today used in a number of places -- especially by teens -- where electronic text is used to communicate, such as chatting via Instant Messaging or "texting" via mobile phones.

One common technique is to leave out vowels to shorten words. For example: sorry becomes sry. Here are some other commonly used terms below. This is not an exhaustive list, but these terms rank among the most common. Understanding the basic approaches to word shortening just may help you decipher new and emerging terms as you come across them. Otherwise, try online dictionaries such as the NoSlang Internet Slang Translator or the Internet Abbreviation Dictionary.

:-) : A smile

?: Indicates confusion or the person has a question when posted alone

!: Indicates excitement when posted alone

<3: (shape of a heart) love

2: too or to

4: for

8: ate

A/S/L: Age / Sex / Location \

B: be

BFF: best friends forever

BF: boyfriend

BRB: be right back

BTW: by the way

C: see

CYA: see ya

CYA L8R: see ya later

GF: girlfriend

G2G: got to go

JK: just kidding

LOL: Laughing Out Loud

NM: never mind or not much

OMG: Oh My God

OTW: On The Way

POS: Parents Over Shoulder (generally used in kids' chat rooms to indicate when parents are watching)

R: are

ROFL: Rolling On Floor Laughing

TXT: Text

U: you

UR: you are or your

Y: yes