Online Lingo

When 13-year-old Sonia Kikeri instant messages with her friends, sometimes she warns them, “P-O-S,” parent over shoulder. Sonia says, “When my friends are talking about personal stuff with me, I don’t want my parents to find out…I don’t want my parents looking and being like, ‘Really? Is that what happens in your school?’ And if we’re joking around, I don’t want them to take it seriously.”

Kids have a code, an acronym, for almost every expression. Sonia says, “There’s LMHO, laughing my head off. There’s be right back, BRB, be back later, BBL, and there’s a ton of others.”

Her mom, Roopa Bhandari says, “They do it so fast, that lingo goes by so fast you don’t know what they are saying. She’s got three people on here right now. I mean, I couldn’t tell you how she’s keeping up those conversations.”

In code, kids could be spreading hurtful gossip, or talking to friends about sex. Internet predators also know the code. Special Agent Bobby Stanley with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation says, “Usually the first or second question, they are asking A-S-L. A-S-L stands for age, sex, location.”

So how can parents overcome this language barrier and keep kids out of trouble? Sue Dowling, the Internet Safety Coordinator for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation says, “If they are there looking and watching what the children are saying and don’t understand something, ask the child. ‘What does that mean?’” She says if you ask…most often kids will tell you.

Internet safety websites like teenangels.org give parents the meanings to thousands of acronyms. Experts say you can’t learn every acronym, but you can keep an eye on your kids when they’re online. Ask questions, and most importantly, find out who they’re talking to.

Pig Latin is referred to as a dead language, but many parents may believe it has been resurrected when they read through some of the e-mails or Instant Messages their child sends or receives. This is due to a new language that has developed during the rise of the Internet – computer slang. Unlike other languages, however, this one is not spoken. And refusing to learn it may have dangerous consequences for your family and your child. A mother recently discovered her 14-year-old daughter was having an Internet affair with a 35-year-old man, even though the family computer was placed in the living room and the mother made occasional glances over her daughter’s shoulder. How did this happen? Through the use of cryptic cyber-language, the daughter was able to communicate openly to the man without worrying about her mother looking at the messages. It wasn’t until the mother took the computer to an Internet-savvy police officer that the true extent of the affair came to light.

Experts at Microsoft have developed a list of tips for parents trying to navigate their way through “leetspeek,” or “leet” for short, which is one of the many nicknames for Intenet slang. Consider the following:

• Numbers are often used as letters. The term “leet” could be written as “1337,” with “1” replacing the letter L, “3” posing as a backwards letter E, and “7” resembling the letter T. Others include “8” replacing the letter B, “9” used as a G, “0” (zero) in lieu of O, and so on.
• Non-alphabet characters can be used to replace the letters they resemble. For example, “5” or even “$” can replace the letter S. Applying this style, the word “leetspeek” can be written as “133t5p33k” or even “!337$p34k,” with “4” replacing the letter A.
• Letters can be substituted for other letters that may sound alike. Using “Z” for a final letter S, and “X” for words ending in the letters C or K is common. For example, leetspeekers might refer to their computer “5x1llz” (skills).
• Rules of grammar are rarely obeyed. Some leetspeekers will capitalize every letter except for vowels (LiKe THiS) and otherwise reject conventional English style and grammar, or drop vowels from words (such as converting very to “vry”).
• Mistakes are often left uncorrected. Common typing misspellings (typos), such as “teh” instead of the, are left uncorrected and may be adopted to replace the correct spelling altogether.
• Non-alphanumeric characters may be combined to form letters. For example, using slashes to create “//” can substitute for the letter M, and two pipes combined with a hyphen to form “|-|” is often used in place of the letter H. Thus, the word ham could be written as “|-|4//.”
• The suffix “0rz” is often appended to words for emphasis or to make them plural. For example, “h4xx0rz,” “sk1llz0rz,” and “pwnz0rz,” are plural or emphasized versions (or both) of hacks, skills, and owns.

In addition to the suggestions above, experts at NetLingo have developed an extensive list of common Internet slang. Some of the more prevalent – and possibly more dangerous – Internet terms are listed below:

• 2NITE – Tonight
• A/S/L or ASL – Age/Sex/Location
• ADR – Address
• AEAP – As Early As Possible
• ALAP – As Late As Possible
• BRT – Be Right There
• CWYL – Chat With You Later
• CYT or SYT – See You Tomorrow
• EOD – End Of Day
• F2F – Face To Face
• FOAF – Friend Of A Friend
• HAK – Hugs And Kisses
• I 1-D-R – I Wonder
• ILU or ILY – I Love You
• KFY – Kiss For Your
• KOTL – Kiss On The Lips
• L8R – Later
• LD – Long Distance
• LMK – Let Me Know
• MOOS – Member(s) Of the Opposite Sex
• MorF – Male or Female
• MOSS or MOTSS – Member(s) Of The Same Sex
• MOTAS – Member(s) Of The Appropriate Sex
• MWBRL – More Will Be Revealed Later
• NALOPKT – Not A Lot Of People Know That
• NAZ – Name, Address, Zip
• N-A-Y-L – In A While
• NCG – New College Graduate
• OLL – Online Love
• OTP – On The Phone
• POS – Parent Over Shoulder
• QT – Cutie
• RN – Right Now
• RSN – Real Soon Now
• RU – Are You … (For instance, RUMORF means “Are You Male or Female” and RUUP4IT means “Are You Up For It”)
• SMIM – Send Me and Instant Message
• SMEM – Send Me an E-Mail
• SO – Significant Other
• SorG – Straight or Gay
• STYS – Speak To You Soon
• TDTM – Talk Dirty To Me
• TIAIL – Think I Am In Love
• TOM – Tomorrow
• TPTB – The Powers That Be
• U-R – You Are …
• WFM – Works For Me
• WTB – Want To Buy
• WUF – Where Are You From?
• WYCM – Will You Call Me?
• WTRN – What’s Your Real Name?

MSNBC
NetLingo
Teen Angels