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Say what? Find out what your tweens and teens are really saying over text and social media with this list of common texting acronyms and slang every parent should know.
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Back when SMS messaging meant typing messages by repeatedly hitting the numeric keyboard with my thumb—before the QWERTY keyboard days—I learned to shorten my words by eliminating vowels. Then I replaced the correct spelling with shorthand. “See you later” became “cu l8r.” It wasn’t hard to figure out.
Chat rooms appeared, then instant messaging, live gaming, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord—the list goes on and on—and I discovered I wasn’t the only one taking text shortcuts. Early app iterations limited the number of characters users could type at one time. Twitter today, for example, caps tweets at 280 characters.
A lot of the time I had no idea what most younger people were typing. afk—was that a swear word? brb—did someone burp? (The answer to both of those questions is no.) Worse, just when I caught up on the newest lingo, meme culture stepped in, and teens and tweens added their own slang and layers of meaning to what were, by then, fairly common internet text acronyms.
Just try to figure out this text from a 10-year-old to their mom, for example: “Ngl that song is so sus no cap smh.” Sus no cap? I had to ask my kids what it meant. The text translates to: “Not gonna lie, that song is so suspicious no lie shaking my head.” Yeah, so now I need a translation for the translation because I’m still not sure what any of that means, which I guess is not surprising.
Truth is, I’m never going to understand everything that millennials or Gen Zers are saying. Just as body language and facial expressions can alter spoken words, context is crucial for today’s teenage slang, and I need to remember that their references and touchstones are different from mine.
The good news is that many text abbreviations and text acronyms are now so common and universal that their meaning is not hard to figure out. And we can help you! Parents, bookmark this page, share it and use it as a reference, because here’s a list that you will absolutely want to come back to when you need it most.
Note that all of these texts can be in either CAPS or lowercase letters, but teens and tweens now typically opt for lowercase UNLESS THEY’RE SHOUTING. Also, they’re usually in normal font, not bold.
143 — I love you (derives from the number of letters used to spell each word)
bae — before anyone else (refers to a favorite person), also a shortened form of babe or baby
curve (someone) — reject their romantic interest or advances in a subtle or kind way
fimh — forever in my heart
ghost — when someone disappears, stops calling, stops texting
wywh — wish you were here
rofl — rolling on the floor laughing
lmao — laughing my a** off
tntl — trying not to laugh
aymm — are you my mother?
cwot — complete waste of time
dead — I think this is hilarious
gmta — great minds think alike
idc — I don’t care
ifyp — I feel your pain
low-key — modest, not showy (adjective)
mood — I feel the same way, relatable feeling
o7 — salute (emoticon, paying respect)
omdb — over my dead body
qq or q_q — crying (emoticon)
smh — shaking my head (meaning, that’s so dumb)
ssdd — same stuff, different day
sus — suspicious / suspect / questionable / dishonest
afaik — as far as I know
fwiw — for what it’s worth
icymi — in case you missed it
idk — I don’t know
ifykyk — if you know you know
imho — in my humble opinion
jsyk — just so you know
nsfw — not suitable for work (signals nudity, violence or other potentially offensive material)
rbtl — read between the lines
tldr or tl;dr — too long (lazy) didn’t read
tw — trigger warning (indicates content that can possibly cause emotional harm)
ygtr — you got that right
ymmv — your mileage (experience) may vary
Warnings about parents being nearby
aitr — adult in the room
m/pos — mother/parent over shoulder
pir — parent in the room
g2g or gtg — got to go
spill the tea — tell me the gossip
ttyl — talk to you later
yktv — you know the vibe
Signaling humor or sarcasm (followed by a situation, a gif or a meme)
hifw — how I feel when
Go for it! Your text messages to your kids may be cringe-worthy sometimes, but at least they’ll know you’re curious about what’s important to them and that you’ve made an effort to learn. Most of all, remember that when you’re staring at your own screen it can be hard to figure out what your kids are really saying—so do check-ins and keep talking to each other, because although texting is entertaining, spending time with your kids irl is more fun.
Smart Family helps you set your kids’ data limits and make sure they’re texting and chatting with the contacts you’ve approved. Try Premium on us for 30 days.
George Anthony Kulz is a husband and father of four children. By day, he works as a software engineer at a university. By night, he writes fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. He is also an editor at Your Teen for Parents magazine.
The author has been compensated by Verizon for this article.