If You Can Read That, You Don't Need to Read This

By Karen E. Peterson

As the SMS craze moves into North America, a new vocubulary is springing up. Actually, it's a practical response to "texting" via mobile devices. Not only are the screens small, the keypad leaves a lot to be desired.

SMS shorthand is basically a mish-mash of old and new acronyms with a smattering of 21st century email "smiley faces."

While some may decry this new way of spelling as yet another sign of decay in the overall world of the written word, others, like Donna Jo Napoli, professor and chair of linguistics at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, see it as a "delight."

"It's wonderful that people are playing with words," she said.

For Napoli, the emergence of any new language is an opportunity for study. It's also a good sign that language isn't dead, but evolving. In this case, the evolution is global and cross-cultural.

That said, here are some of the most common SMS acronyms:

2 – To, Too, Two
3some – Three some
4 – For, Four
AFAIK – As far as I know
ASAP – As soon as possible
B4 – Before
BAM – By all means
BAU –Business as usual
BCNU – Be seeing you
BD – Brain-dead
BTDT – Been there, done that
BTW – By the way
CDIH – Cold day in hell
CID – Consider it done
CLD – Calling long distance
CUL8R – See you later
DLT – Disregard last
transmission
EMYL – Email you later
FBTW – From bad to worse
FIM – Foot in mouth
F2F – Face to face
FO – Far out!
FTBOMH – From the bottom of my heart
FWFN – Farewell for now
FYA – For your amusement
FYI – For your information
FWIW – For what it's worth
GAL – Get a life
GMAB – Give me a break!
GR8 – Great
H8 – Hate
HAND – Have a nice day
HAY – How are you?
ILBL8 – I'll be late
IMHO – In my humble opinion
IMO – In my opinion
KISS – Keep it simple, stupid
KIT – Keep in touch
KUTGW – Keep up the good work
KWIM – Know what I mean?
L8R – Later
LCD – Lowest common denominator
LMK – Let me know
LMOOI – Leave me out of it
LOL – Laughing out loud
MSG – Message
MYOB – Mind your own business
NA – Not available
NAP – Not a problem
NBC – New billing cycle
NR – Not received
NRN – No reply necessary
OBTW – Oh, by the way
OIC – Oh, I see
OMG – Oh, my God
OOL – Out of luck
PCM – Please call me
PW – Password
R – Are
ROFL – Rolling on floor laughing
RUF2T – Are you free to talk?
RUOK – Are you OK?
THX – Thanks
TIA – Thanks in advance
TNX – Thanks
TOY – Thinking of you
TTYL – Talk to you later
U – You
WHFO – When hell freezes over
WRT – With respect to
WTG – Way to go!
XLNT – Excellent
YHTBT – You had to be there
ZP – Zero perspiration (no sweat)