Kid Chat Acronyms

[Annie]

Well Jeff just has the baby, ah but his step daughter! I've been running through some of the education sites today, came across this post that I thought some of you might like. I can remember more than one wicked argument with my jr. high/high school kids over 'acronyms' and what they meant. Of course, when 'less than I wanted to know' was all I was getting, they were banned from computer for a time. Still and all, forewarned is forearmed. Links at site:

http://janetryoung.blogspot.com/2005/12/teacher-parents-primer-to-computer.html

A Teacher & Parent's Primer to Computer Slang and Monitoring Children on the Internet

Looking over my friend's child's shoulder while she chatted via Instant Messenger, I realized how out of touch I really am. I thought I was hep, cool, hip, with it, and had it together with the online stuff. After all I can whip up a web site in ten minutes flat with word pad, run a search engine, own my own business, ran a computer lab and have been coding since the Vic 20 landed. So you can imagine my surprise at finding out that I had practically no idea of what the shorthand (acronyms) she was typing in the chat box were! After a little surfing on my own, I understood that this 8 year olds chat was quite benign, but it did spark a wake up call.


How could I, the bit and byte diva, get lost in cyber translation? Well, to my defense, there were no chat clients in my school lab, and I actually chat (and rarely at that) mostly in standard English, with adults who also chat in kind. My cyber-chat acronym list consists mainly of:

BYB = Be right back
BTW = By the way
BBI5 = Be back in 5 minutes

So here's the question parents-

Do you have any idea of what your kids are talking about online?

I mentioned in a previous post about the problem of online predators and the importance of monitoring your children no matter how smart or advanced they are. Emotionally, even the most brilliant 13 year old is still emotionally just a 13 year old!

My children are grown up and I do not have grandchildren. However, there are places to go online that can help all of us un-cool folks catch up on the current chat lingo, cyber-speak for your newbies.

It is a real eye opener to read these web pages. Have you ever seen any of these? Some are obvious but some require some prior knowledge, as the educators say, to derive meanings:

AITR


=


adult in the room


- What don't they want you to know?

A/S/L


=


age, sex, location


- Sexual reference

PLOS


=


parents looking over shoulder


- What don't they want you to know?

PHAT


=


pretty hot and tempting


- Sexual reference

E or X

=


ecstasy


- Drug reference

420

=


to smoke pot


- Drug reference

HI-5

=


H.I.V


- Sexual reference

METH

=


crystal methamphetamine


- Drug reference

NINE

=


nine millimeter


- Weapons reference

8 ball

=


eight ball


- Drug reference: an eighth of an ounce


Surf over to these sites for a walk on the other site of the monitor!


* The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Campaign: HDOP: Help Stop Online Predators, and NetSmartz. Explore their Teen component. These are great resources!

* A parent's primer to computer slang

* eMail and Chat Acronyms

* Chat-O-Rama

* Welcome to the World of Acronyms

* Ben's Incredible Big List of Initialisms and Acronyms (BIBLIA)

We tend to think that just because our kids speak well and have a good vocabulary that they are grown up. Wrong. As a parent it is your obligation to make good use of parental monitoring software. Some come free as included components of an Internet Access package and some as stand alone programs. Make sure you do not overlook or underestimate the value of the old fashioned keep an eye opened, and talk to your child. The last is not high tech, but is the a time tested method of parental intervention.

 

[dmp]

brb = be right back...not byb.

 

[Annie]

brb = be right back...not byb.

LOL So a typo. Still and all, these change way too quick. I've heard that even 9-10 year olds can be sounding pretty old via chat. I'd want to know.