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Abbreviations and emoticons used in SMS, email and online chat by English writers

A few days ago, when we celebrated World Internet Day, we learned a lot of technical English terms referring to the Internet and quickly commented on abbreviations and emoticons used in Email, SMS* and chatrooms. Today we are going to present a more comprehensive list of these abbreviations and emoticons, their uses and prejudices regarding the use of this language. Before that, see if you are able to decipher this message found on an American's cell phone:

C U I’LL TXT U L8R: -)

Why use Abbreviations and Emoticons?

Those who use the Internet in cybercafés write abbreviations in chat rooms to speed up the exchange of messages, as they know that the computer closes the programs when the contracted time expires. And those who send texts via cell phone use abbreviations because the alphanumeric keyboard is complex to operate and SMS accepts few characters. To overcome these restrictions, people all over the world started to create abbreviations to express, in a short time, their desires in chat rooms, SMS and Email. See this text in Portuguese from the Internet:

VC EH D+ I'M INTO VC BJS

Prejudices against Abbreviations and Emoticons

There are Portuguese teachers who are against this type of abbreviations. They claim that students do not learn to write correctly. For example: a person who always writes D + may be in doubt when he needs to write in full in an essay: too many or too much ? I personally disagree with these professionals. The student has to understand that there are different forms of language: one for formal texts, in which he must write too much ; and another that accepts less legal forms such as informal messages exchanged between friends in which the student can write D +. The student has to learn all possible forms of language and know when to use them. And using Internet slang and abbreviations in formal texts doesn't sit well. This can fail your essay in the entrance exam. Using formal language in a circle of friends destroys the naturalness of dialogue and pushes friends away.

English Abbreviations in SMS and Internet

It is obvious that English-speaking natives also suffer from the same restrictions of time in cybercafés and limited space in cellphone text messages. Therefore, they created a series of abbreviations to facilitate communication. See English abbreviations used in SMS, Email and Chatroom:

@ at 2 to, too 2DAY today 2MORO tomorrow 2NITE tonight 3SUM threesome 4 for AFAIK as far as I know AFK away from the keyboard ASL age, sex, location ATB all the best B be B4 before BAK back at the keyboard BBL be back late(r) BCNU be seeing you BFN bye for now BRB be right back BTW by the way C see CUL8R see you later F2F face to face F2T free to talk FWIW for what it”s worth FYI for your information GAL get a life GR8 great H8 hate HAND have a nice day HSIK how should I know? HTH hope this helps IANAL I am not a lawyer, but – (as a disclaimer) IMHO in my humble opinion IMO in my opinion IOW in other words JIC just in case

JK just kidding KIT keep in touch KWIM know what I mean L8R later LOL lots of luck / laughing out loud MOB mobile MSG message MYOB mind your own business NE1 anyone NO1 no one NOYB none of your business OIC oh I see OTOH on the other hand PCM please call me PLS please PPL people R are ROTF(L) rolling on the floor (laughing) RUOK are you okay? SIT stay in touch SOM1 someone SPK speak TTYL talk to you later TX thanks TXT text U you W/ with WAN2 want to WKND weekend WU what’s up? X kiss XLNT excellent XOXOX hugs and kisses YMMV your mileage may vary (i.e. your experience may differ) YR your