by April J.

Created on: May 10, 2011   Last Updated: May 19, 2011

Have you just traded in your old bulky landline phone for that sleek, new cell phone, only to fire up the text messaging feature and receive a baffling barrage of acronyms from friends and family alike? You think to yourself "what is going on?!" Lol, brb, irl... what is this new language you have stumbled upon and how can you navigate it now that this new world of communication is at your fingertips?

Instant messaging acronyms came about because young people know that our time is valuable and want to maximize it by getting as much done as possible quickly... That, and typing long sentences on the tiny keyboards of phones can be time-consuming, especially for the fat-fingered among us... As well, texting, when it used to be charged by the character, could get expensive if one was too long-winded.

For these reasons, instant messaging has become riddled with acronyms that can be a bit daunting for the newbie. We will break some of these down into categories that correspond to what they are used for.

Location

Some instant messaging acronyms are used to quickly communicate location or time. For example, if you are messaging with someone on Facebook and need to step out to get your laundry, a quick BRB ("be right back") will suffice. This lets your messaging partner know that you have stepped away, so that they know that you are not snubbing them if you do not respond right away to their next message. Other location acronyms include IRL ("in real life"), GTG ("got to go"), L8R ("later"), TTYL ("talk to you later"), and ASAP ("as soon as possible").

Emotion

When messaging with someone, you typically cannot see or hear each other, which makes non-verbal communication impossible. Because of this, many acronyms have arisen that surround emotion and its expression. Many of these surround humor, for example LOL ("laughing out loud"), ROFL ("rolling on the floor laughing"), LMAO ("laughing my * off"), and other variations on these...

Handy short forms

Many acronyms are simply handy ways to shorten longer phrases, and common ones include IMHO ("in my humble opinion"), BTW ("by the way"), BFF ("best friends forever"), FWIW ("for what it's worth"), and – often found in more technical discussions – RTM ("read the manual").

Icons

Because, as mentioned above, non-verbal communication is pretty much impossible during online instant messaging, users have found their own ways to improvise and this often involves icons made up of punctuation. Some of the most common ones include the following:

The smiley face:

:)

The wink (to let someone know you are teasing them or joking):

;)

The heart (used to show that you love something or someone):

<3

And the frowning or sad face:

:(

Conclusion

These are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to instant messaging acronyms and emoticons, and more are constantly being incorporated just as others fall out of favor. Having a basic grasp of the more common ones can help you get started with instant messaging, without it feeling like an exercise in deciphering hieroglyphics. Happy messaging!

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