Thursday, December 15, 2005

IM Language

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to IM. There I said it. Now that I have I can face it straight on and deal with it. I think it all started when I got married. I was far away from friends and family but was able to talk to them (for free) any time I wanted. But the illness only got worse when I started staying home with my baby. I'm home all day without anyone to talk to, phone calls can be expensive (especially long distance) so I started IMing my friends. In the past few years more friends have either had children so they're home, or have just become more computer savvy, because of this I can pretty much be talking to someone anytime during the day. The only thing that bugs my husband about this addiction is when he hops on the computer and is bombarded with IM messages from people who think its me. I think its funny. He'll let out a heavy sigh and come out and say "so and so wants to say Hi". Though I am addicted to it I haven't yet be completely engulfed by it.

There are many new words that have been created just for the IM world. A few I am familiar with a few I am not. I've never been one to use them much. I took a few typing classes in school, I have a tendancy to use full sentances, and full words, even if it doesn't save time. Though I do have to say that when the toddlers are helping me, I'm amazed anyone can understand what I'm writing. (Proud Mum you know what I mean, we have pefected the art of reading foreign symbols and knowing what the other one is writing.) And of course you gotta love the smileys, they are a complete language all on their own.

I would also like to report that yahoo and MSN are teaming up. Starting in the New Year, (exact date is still unknown) you can IM people from either messenger program. Yahoo Members will be able to IM MSN Members and vice versa. Even the smileys, and backgrounds and things can be shared.


Here are the few IM words I use.

BRB - Be Right Back
TTYL - Talk To You Later
TTFN - Ta Ta For Now
CU, C-Ya - See you Later
BTW - By The Way


Here are a few IM words I know but don't use.

LOL - Laugh Out Loud
ROFL - Roll on Floor Laughing (At least thats what I THINK it stands for)


I can't think of anymore right now. If I do I'll add them.
I would love to hear which ones you know of and/or use. I know the Today Show on NBC did a segment about this very thing a few weeks ago, but I missed it.


Posted by ABQ Mom :: 12/15/2005 12:01:00 PM :: 9 Comments:

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