Do U nEd txt hlp?

Thu May 24, 2007 9:04PM EDT

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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?  

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  • 46 Posted by christianchickn on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:24PM EDT Report Abuse

    I am a college student and I text but I don't do a lot of abbreviating. I hate it when people abbreviate b/c I don't know what they're saying and I have to txt back to them and ask them.

  • 47 Posted by thecatch22 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:03PM EDT Report Abuse

    Wow, this article is pretty off-base. I'm 15 and I know from experiece that nobody really texts like that. It gets a bit annoying that adults assume teens 'talk in a different language' and are almost a different species!

  • 48 Posted by bedelia59 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:04PM EDT Report Abuse

    flawedperfection123, Do you realize that the "cool way" is to spell the word correctly to begin with....duhhh ?????????????

  • 49 Posted by fnmcolin on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:01PM EDT Report Abuse

    ok ive never seen f turn into friends or sAN to saying other words you is crazy 0_____________________________________'

  • 50 Posted by sarag505 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:04PM EDT Report Abuse

    I don't think anyone really texts like that unless they are a) too lazy or b) ten years old. Most people I know (and text), don't use that much of an abbreviation. Just learn how to use predicative text and it will eliminate the confusing abbreviations (whr do U wnt t MEt 2nt....huh?!) and save you texting time.

  • 51 Posted by cervesa11 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:21PM EDT Report Abuse

    these things are retarded, i dont know anyone who texts like that, that would take up so much more time and energy then to just text out the word

  • 52 Posted by chloekitty22 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:23PM EDT Report Abuse

    wow, ok, i've been reading all these comments and i dunno. i am a really great typist so when i IM it's easier for me to just spell things out. i usually leave out the ' in things so it becomes "dont" or something. and i hardly capitalize, but thats just cause its an IM. i have unlimited texting, so im not worried about the space i take up. i use the t9 predictive text, so i have to spell things right or it doesnt recognize the word. it does know things like, "ttyl" and "brb" you can only add so many of your own words. but none of my friends abbreviate that much, "u" is common. which is actually easier than "you" in a text. things like "tmw" instead of tomorrow. i understand, but its like that one commercial where the mom is like "idk, my bff jill? snbd!" like, i dont get half of what she is saying. i think snbd is so not a big deal... idk is i dont know, bff best friend forever... but really. AND the mom totally knew what she was saying because as the girl walks away the mom yells back "it is sbd!" i guess this is all just kind of lame, i dont know why on earth there are text translating websites. if you need to translate your words into a text lingo in order to text, that probably means you dont understand what you are saying, how useless is that? use the words you know and you wouldnt have a problem. my mom doesnt know how to text so she communicates in happy faces. "can i go to the movies?" ":)" lol. thats what they look like. its not rocket science. i do hate the numbers and when people tYpE lIkE thIs. that takes up so much more time. //which letters should i capitalize to make this sentence look cool?// no one i know talks like "do U nEd txt hlp" so, no, i dont need text help, and neither do my parents.

  • 53 Posted by emannuel93 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:54PM EDT Report Abuse

    its more like all teens want to do is type it faster. try to make a word shorter without taking out the meaning. trust me i would know. cuz i am a teen.

  • 54 Posted by awassabee on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:00PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is so stupid. Why can't they just take that extra second or two to type in proper english? They are not even lazy because it actually takes more time to type some of these strange words, like if you want to captalize a letter it takes longer than to just type in two letters. Anyways, it just sounds stupid to me.

  • 55 Posted by sailor_moon_usagi_4_ever on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:00PM EDT Report Abuse

    wtf? lol.im 18 and i text. i have OCD texing =p these website are soo wrong. and kids today don't text like that... it annoyed me so much when kids text like all "ghetto" like "dat" or "2" for too. its like u can just type out the whole word out... but yeah i text because you can only type so many characters when ur texting...so you find any way to abbreviate it so you can say whatever you want in just one text then sending 3 billion of them or u can at least call them so u know what there saying... lol. its as easy as that.. this websites are pointless. why not just ask ur kids and call them up or kids write out the whole word so ur parents can understand...

  • 56 Posted by lokintmirr on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:56PM EDT Report Abuse

    Lana is right. I also typer correctly when texting. I've been in school these last 11 years learning how to spell correctly so why shorten the words to these idiotic lingo's? I just find them a waste of time and so do my friends.

  • 57 Posted by doin12volt on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:46PM EDT Report Abuse

    Ahhh, I believe a bit more chlorine in the human gene pool would be helpful. I cannot believe that people are so darn lazy that they have to type anything like that, not to mention, 99% of the "teens" out there hate this too. I believe that this kind of typing is either done by someone with EXTREMELY LIMITED character space, or someone INCREDIBLY IGNORANT.

  • 58 Posted by maiashimera on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:03PM EDT Report Abuse

    i tp like dat 24/7 2 my bfs. y is there smthng rong widit?

  • 61 Posted by lokisk2002 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:56PM EDT Report Abuse

    I M sry I jst lrnd email (I am sorry I just learned email). I do not have a handle on texting yet, but given the number of keys I have to push to get one single word, I will learn. Ev

  • 62 Posted by him_jbg on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    -this is 4 imtehd00dlawl and other people who r really retarded and think txting this way is meaningless and just meant 2 b cool ok 1st of all its not cuz it makes us teens "cool" or watever but there r 3 main reasons we write this way -character counts...every message sent has a maximum character count, so txting wit fewer letters helps us save characters and fit wat we want 2 say in 1 txt -speed..ur wrong about da whole "2" thing for example writing tonight would take alot of key presses using "abc" text input but using "iTAP" or something similar has a memory bank which basically has a word bank 4 every possible letter combination and wit iTAP u only need 2 press one number 4 any 3 or more letters assinged to that number so for ex. 2644 and up key(2 chose da possbile word) writes 2night (which is way faster than the 15-20 key presses using "abc" and writing tonight) -privacy...people mainly adults/parents might look 2 c wat ur writing and will sometimes have a hard time understanding wat ur txting about(not really a reason i write this way but others i kno do) well sorry for the long post but ignorance sometimes annoys me. so just 2 help u out in da future dont try 2 insult people when u dont even know the subject ur talking about

  • 63 Posted by acolyte_garou on Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:20PM EDT Report Abuse

    I haven't seen texting like that since before they added the predictive texting to phones. back 10 years or so ago most phones didn't have that and texting was a bit harder and for the sake of speed yea we would use abreviations. Exaple, "The" hit 8 once 4 twice and then 3 twice five button presses, "da" 2 once and 3 once to button presses. It was faster and less chance you would get caught in class. Ten years ago I was 15, anyone that is a teenager now was more concerned about saturday morning cartoons than texting and my Dads first cell phone was a brick. We "teenagers" at the time called those "Zack Morris phones". Thats back when a cell phone was still analog. Who ever wrote this article needs to get with the times.

  • 64 Posted by linaruk on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:52PM EDT Report Abuse

    thank you so much for uncovering the language of elite degenerates and online criminals, normal full time job having people don't care. BUT, just so you don't feel un appreciated I like those websites you showed me, they're useful none the less. U should watch the movie hackers to get a better idea of who might need this, its entertaining to watch when you're supposed to be doing homework. On the other hand.... if you're about to have your hand chopped off by that guy from YAN CAN COOK, then maybe some abbreviation is going to occur, but its more likely that you'll get your hand chopped off before you send the text. Farewell to all.

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