Do U nEd txt hlp?

wnt 2 knO wot yor kds R sAN wen dey txt U o f?

That would be: Want to know what your kids are saying when they text you or friends?

A friend of mine remembers the first note her daughter left her in text speak before they started texting each other on cell phones. She didn't know what it said, so she had no idea she was at a friend's house nearby. Now, she's a pro, texting with the best of teen texters. But if you're a neophyte text-message receiver and sender, here's a quick reminder that there is some decoding help available on the web.

First, you can find a lengthy list of common text abbreviations at techdictionary.com. Better yet, if you're stumped about what a text message says or want to figure out how to translate grammatical English phrases into text-speak, there are some web-based translating tools:

Transl8it - Type in your text, emoticons, slang, and hit transl8it to convert it to regular English. Or vice versa. You can translate from lingo to English or English to lingo. Where do you want to meet tonight? converts to, whr do U wnt 2 MEt 2nt?

Lingo2word -- Has a nice feature that allows you to hover over the text-message translation words with your cursor to see what they mean.

Noslang.com translates slang into English only.

We won't get into what this all means for the language right now. In the short term, at least, it will help you communicate with your teen on the fly. Personally, I have a hard time shortening words, but that's because I've spent lots of years making sure my words are correctly spelled and my punctuation is in the right place. Have your kids gotten you into texting mode?