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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  • 7 Posted by harveys4him5@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:17PM EDT Report Abuse

    Well i'm a teen and most of what you said were abbreviations aren't what we teens really use!!! what you thought were abbreviations i couldn't even understand!! us (teens) are able to understand what we type or write and most of adults are too unless they get too complicated, but otherwise the lingo we use is pretty much easy!!

  • 8 Posted by lewis_52mlb on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    lana8291, THANK YOU! Being 19 myself, I hate it when teens type such things as 'da'. It is like, can you not type out one more letter and have it be correctly put as 'The'? That goodness my friends do not type like that, or I would refer them back to High School.

  • 9 Posted by sum12play on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:47PM EDT Report Abuse

    The downfall of written language. People do not know how to spell anymore and so they appear stupid.

  • 10 Posted by sum12play on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:47PM EDT Report Abuse

    The downfall of written language. People do not know how to spell anymore and so they appear stupid.

  • 11 Posted by bulbnovice on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:15PM EDT Report Abuse

    lana8291 is right on. a lot of the examples in the article seem to be about chat (where you have a full keyboard) rather than txt

  • 12 Posted by lexisg@ameritech.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    Well I am a kid and I think that people should NOT use this.....way of typeing because I think it makes you think in text as well as talk in text. It happened to a friend of mine

  • 13 Posted by juan_youngblood on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:43PM EDT Report Abuse

    THIS SUCKS MORE PARENTAL MONTORING. IF YOU HAVE TO GO THIS FAR YOU SHOULD AHVE DONE A BETTER JOB AT RISING YOUR KIDS!

  • 14 Posted by mindfreak14 on Wed Jul 25, 2007 8:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    this article is so stupid. parents are going to waste their time and go on a website to see wat their kids meant?! just ASK UR KID!!!!!!!!! DUH!! and not all kids write like that in texts... i g2g. ill ttyl! lol

  • 15 Posted by cali209ryders on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:16PM EDT Report Abuse

    I`am a teen too, and I get so annoyed when people type like that. The teens who type like that are really dumb, usually.

  • 16 Posted by flawedperfection123 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:00PM EDT Report Abuse

    h3llo evre1 can u undera&nd wht th heck im sAYn? or do u nED HLp? Use th wbste 2 trnsl8e ths "lingo" in2 englsh.... or better yet take an extra 30 seconds on your cell phone to type words out. just because many electronics come from Japan doesnt mean you have to speak japanese. besides who uses that many abbreviations anyway? It probably takes more time to think of another cool way you can abbreviate a word then it does to spell the one everyone can understand

  • 17 Posted by armonbrks on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:57PM EDT Report Abuse

    Lana8291 I completely agree. I hate people who use U, 2, 4 or any other abbreviation where you could type out the whole word just by pressing one more button. It's stupid and lazy. Also harveys4him5@sbcglobal.net you sound like a complete dork. OMG we teens dont act like that!!! Could still just be me but no one will ever need more than one exclamation point in any sentence. And technically you didn't need any. Also "the mom", people type similarly to this but rarely to this extreme. What we teens do use is fairly simple to figure out.

  • 18 Posted by clarawasserstein on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:26PM EDT Report Abuse

    I think that the phones with keyboards on them are alot faster - also, I am in love with a man named Johnny Depp. I have news - WE R GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dont believe any rumors you hear out there.

  • 19 Posted by hockeyguy92107 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    This clearly shows that the teens of today are lazy and uneducated, it also shows they will not make it in the future without a solid knowledge of Engilsh. Texting was made up by drug dealers to hide their drug deals....Parents, if your kids are texting, they may be dealing drugs behind your backs...I would not allow my children to use it as a form of commnication..

  • 20 Posted by rasberriesxo on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    seriously... no one talks like that. all teens hate it when other teens talk like that. yah we have codes and stuff but thats because typing out certain things takes forever. have of that writing isnt time saving... its just confusing. we have more common sense than that.

  • 21 Posted by bstpet313fufu on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:14PM EDT Report Abuse

    so do u all no hw 2 txt messg nw? cuz im only gonna type ths way nw. so.. can u translt ths nw? hw bout nw? nw? well gtg c u l8r bye ttyl

  • 22 Posted by aaclark78 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:43PM EDT Report Abuse

    I type like that...and it is because you can only type so many characters in a text...so you find any way to abbreviate it so you can write everything that you want to say in ONE text

  • 23 Posted by strmcliffae46 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    i agree with lana8291. it's easier for me to type out the whole word. i just think that texting like that is so stupid. i want people to actually understand what I'm trying to say to them.

  • 24 Posted by milly1319 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:20PM EDT Report Abuse

    okay so uhm yeah, teens now usually don't type like that anymore... you dont need to crack the code to know what they're saying. i would know cause i'm a 15 year old teen myself and now everyone (as in teens) gets annoyed "wh3n p30pl3 typ3 LiKE dis."

  • 25 Posted by nashniki on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:33PM EDT Report Abuse

    I am afraid that it shows how lazy this generation has become. It drives me crazy when my younger boss changes a letter with correct grammar and puncuation to one without. Whether e-mail or text I try to type correctly. Also reminds me of trying to figure out what personalized license plates are saying.

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