No matter where you hail from, you've probably had plenty of experience communicating via text, e-mail, and/or instant message. The fast-paced nature of these technological media often makes it necessary to abbreviate certain commonly used words and phrases. This can get a little confusingespecially if English is not your first language. Take a look at one example of a text conversation that might take place between two students on a U.S. campus:
Joe: sup 2nite?
Amy: movies w/ my gf
Joe: fb l8r?
Amy: dunno
Joe: k, b4n
Translated to everyday language, that same conversation would look like this:
Joe: What's up tonight?
Amy: I'm going to the movies with my girlfriend.
Joe: Will you be on Facebook later?
Amy: I don't know.
Joe: OK, bye for now.
Use the following glossary to familiarize yourself with some of the most common words and phrases used in casual digital communication. Some of them might seem a little silly, but understanding the lingo will help you to communicate more smoothly with your new American classmates.
<3 Heart or love
20 Location
2moro - Tomorrow
2nite Tonight
ab/abt About
aka Also known as
b - Be
b4n/bfn Bye for now
bc Because
bf Boyfriend
bff Best friends forever
brb Be right back
btw By the way or between
cu See you
def Definitely
ditto Same here
dunno (or idk) I don't know
fb - Facebook
gf Girlfriend
gonna Going to
gotta Got to
gr8 Great
h/o Hold on
huh? What?
idts I don't think so
imo/imho In my (humble) opinion
jk Just kidding
k Okay
kewl cool
l8r - Later
lol Laughing out loud
meh Who cares?/whatever
msg Message
mtf More to follow
nbd No big deal
nm Never mind
noyb None of your business
np No problem
nth Nothing
otl Out to lunch
peeps/ppl People
pls/plz Please
pov Point of view
r Are
ru? Are you?
sok It's OK
srsly Seriously
sup? What's up?
tc Take care
thot Thought
thx - Thanks
tmi Too much information
ttyl Talk to you later
u You
ur You are, your
vm Voicemail
w/ - With
w/o - Without
wanna Want to
wknd - Weekend
wot What
xo Kiss and hug