OMG LOL I just saw 2 ppl get fraped* at the library! They didn’t log off properly smh. btw, I cba to Skype 2night, what about 2m? We need to talk about this Saturday asap.
Did you understand that?
OK, it's true that very few people send messages like the above example. However, when students come to Leeds, England on one of our immersion English courses they often use Whatsapp groups to share pictures of the activities they go on every afternoon with our teachers. With native English speakers in these groups they have to get used to quite a lot of text slang, and here are some of the most common:
OK, it's true that very few people send messages like the above example. However, when students come to Leeds, England on one of our immersion English courses they often use Whatsapp groups to share pictures of the activities they go on every afternoon with our teachers. With native English speakers in these groups they have to get used to quite a lot of text slang, and here are some of the most common:
LOL - ‘laugh out loud’. To describe something very funny. Often misunderstood as ‘lots of love’. To do something ‘out loud’ is the opposite of doing something silently, ie - ‘thinking out loud’ or ‘read this sentence out loud’.
To express laughter by text, we also use LMAO (Laughing My Arse Off) and ROFL (Rolling On the Floor Laughing). These can be used together if something is especially comical - ROFLMAO (Rolling On the Floor, Laughing My Arse Off).
"That's so funny, lol."
BTW - ‘By the way’. Another way of saying 'incidentally'. Used to introduce a new, less important topic.
"I've just had a baby! Btw, could you feed the cat?
CBA - ‘Can’t be arsed’. A slightly less polite way of saying that you can’t be bothered to do something, or you do not have the energy/interest to do something
"I really cba to feed the cat tonight."
OMG - ‘Oh my god’. Used to express surprise. See also - WTF (what the fuck), and SMH (Shaking My Head - used when something is just really stupid)
"The baby has two heads, OMG!"
ASAP - ‘As Soon As Possible’. Do something at the earliest available opportunity.
"Your baby has two heads?! I think you should speak to a doctor asap"
JK - ‘Just Kidding’. Telling the person you are speaking to that what you said was actually a joke.
"You're a complete idiot and I hate you. jk."
2m - ‘Tomorrow’. See also ‘2moro’. Numbers are often used with letters to make words shorter, for example - B4 (before), gr8 (great), m8 (mate).
"Hi m8, sorry I didn't message you b4, do you want to meet 2m?"
PPL - ‘people’. We often delete all vowels and consonants to make words shorter, for example - cn (can), shd (should).
"Cn you tell all the ppl at your wrk tht I will be late tonight."
C U - ‘see you’. Short for 'see you later'. We use letters for complete words, most commonly c (see), u (you) and b (be).
"I won't b late, c u in 5 minutes".
*to frape someone = to change someones Facebook profile to something amusing, without them knowing about it (a slightly controversial mixture of Facebook + rape).
To express laughter by text, we also use LMAO (Laughing My Arse Off) and ROFL (Rolling On the Floor Laughing). These can be used together if something is especially comical - ROFLMAO (Rolling On the Floor, Laughing My Arse Off).
"That's so funny, lol."
BTW - ‘By the way’. Another way of saying 'incidentally'. Used to introduce a new, less important topic.
"I've just had a baby! Btw, could you feed the cat?
CBA - ‘Can’t be arsed’. A slightly less polite way of saying that you can’t be bothered to do something, or you do not have the energy/interest to do something
"I really cba to feed the cat tonight."
OMG - ‘Oh my god’. Used to express surprise. See also - WTF (what the fuck), and SMH (Shaking My Head - used when something is just really stupid)
"The baby has two heads, OMG!"
ASAP - ‘As Soon As Possible’. Do something at the earliest available opportunity.
"Your baby has two heads?! I think you should speak to a doctor asap"
JK - ‘Just Kidding’. Telling the person you are speaking to that what you said was actually a joke.
"You're a complete idiot and I hate you. jk."
2m - ‘Tomorrow’. See also ‘2moro’. Numbers are often used with letters to make words shorter, for example - B4 (before), gr8 (great), m8 (mate).
"Hi m8, sorry I didn't message you b4, do you want to meet 2m?"
PPL - ‘people’. We often delete all vowels and consonants to make words shorter, for example - cn (can), shd (should).
"Cn you tell all the ppl at your wrk tht I will be late tonight."
C U - ‘see you’. Short for 'see you later'. We use letters for complete words, most commonly c (see), u (you) and b (be).
"I won't b late, c u in 5 minutes".
*to frape someone = to change someones Facebook profile to something amusing, without them knowing about it (a slightly controversial mixture of Facebook + rape).