Master Text Abbreviations in One Day | Text My Main Number (2024)

There is an entire dictionary of acronyms being used as Text Abbreviations when alphanumerically conversing. If you’re one of the many people that “just don’t get it,” this article will help you master digital shorthand all in one day.

As common as it is to use slang, text abbreviations have becomethe internet-based form of shortening words when communicating via text messages, instantmessaging, and email. This SMS language became a feature during the rise ofsmartphone usage to simplify composing messages within the allotted characterlimits.

Internet-based communication is the most popular form of conversingnowadays and although text abbreviations were mostly used for mobile phonemessaging, it has now become common to use when writing emails and letters.

Before smartphones were “a thing” cellular phones didn’t have thescreen capacity to allow for long messages. When people were limited to send messagesof 160 characters or less, they started to get creative and used textabbreviations to get the most out of their restricted space.

Having the ability to shorten words and phrases became secondnature to cellphone users and by the time Millennials picked up on the lingo, thepopularity rose to an all-time high and an entire dictionary of acronyms wasborn.

History of Text Abbreviations

Remember when Generation X thought it was so cool to have a beeper/pager?It was the last item to put on before leaving your house and if you were ateenager, you made sure to place it somewhere visible on your body. You wantedeveryone to know you owned one and as soon as that device started beeping orvibrating, you instantly became a VIP. People were so excited to be paged andwould quickly run to a public phone to call whoever was paging them back.

Over time, companies who made pagers became creative and whatfirst started as a square black device, now came in different shapes, sizes,and colors. As the pager sizes increased, so did the screen space and you canbet that users became creative with what they can do with their limitedcharacters allowance by developing pager code.

Pager codes were the original text abbreviations and became very popularamongst friends in the teenage demographic who started off with discoveringthat when turning specific numbers upside down on your pager, it formed a word.Some examples of these pager/beeper codes formed words such as:

07734 (Hello)

143 (I love you) – While this one isn’t one to be read upsidedown, you were to add the number of letters in each word to decode it.

121 (I need to talk to you) – This abbreviated beeper code wascrafty because 1-2-1 means “we need to speak one-on-one.”

1134 2 09 (Go to hell)

911 (Emergency/Call me now)

14 (hi)

There were many more beeper codes developed over time and nowanyone who owned a pager was able to use what came across to be the modern-dayMorse code. This social habit of creating words and phrases out of numberslater translated into text abbreviations when cellphones hit the market.

Top 10 Text Abbreviations

WE HAVE ACTUAL LETTERS! That’s probably what ran across the mindsof the first cellphone consumers because now instead of trying to decodenumbers to figure out what words the sender was trying to send you, you werenow able to send a limited amount of words.

Even though the firstcellphone models were not the type of phones that people woulduse for texting, when the flip phones came around, texting started gainingpopularity. Before the first smartphone was designed, people would use their dialpad to enter letters on their cellphones to form words. While this method was abit carpal tunnel forward, the excitement of being able to send actual words spreadlike wildfire. But pressing numbers to get to the right letter apparently wastoo much of a hassle and so abbreviating words became a thing. While not allabbreviations are rated PG, below are the top 10 textabbreviations being used in messaging.

1. ROFL means Rolling on floor laughing.
2. STFU means Shut the *freak* up.
3. LMK means Let me know.
4. ILY means I love you.
5. YOLO means You only live once.
6. SMH means Shaking my head.
7. LMFAO means Laughing my freaking *a* off.
8. NVM means Never mind.
9. IKR means I know, right.
10. OFC means Of course.

Text Abbreviations Hit Social Media

With everyone being used to using text abbreviations to sendmessages with their mobile devices, it was only natural that this social lingowould carry over to social media. Twitter uses the “less is more” philosophywith its limited character space so people are forced to use acronyms forbrevity. Though Facebook and Instagram which are two other social mediaplatform giants, allow for more characters, using abbreviated words and phrasesis a huge time saver so text abbreviations are still commonly used there too.

Most Popular Text Abbreviations

You may or may not be a “texter” but if you own a mobile deviceand have 1 or more social media profiles, the text abbreviations listed belowmay come in handy. Here are the most popular acronyms beingused in today’s digital world.

We hope this history and guide of textabbreviations helps all the Baby Boomers and Generation X folks out there whofind themselves often Googling acronyms to understand the messages they receiveor see on social media. Being that SMS for business is also on the rise, it’s only wise that youbecome familiar with this modern-day language.