SMS lngwij

"txt" redirects here. For the filename extension, see .txt. Also, for the messaging standard see Short Message Service.
SMS language (also known as chatspeak, txt, txtspk, texting language or txt talk) is the English language slang used in mobile phone SMS. It is an abbreviated form of English derived from rebus, a writing system popular with Benjamin Franklin.It is similar to leet and AOL speak. With predictive text input increasingly being used, it is becoming less common.

It evolved from the shorthand used in Internet chatrooms to accommodate the small number of characters allowed (early SMS permitted only 160 characters), and as a convenient language for the small keyboards on mobile phones.

The objective of txt is to use the least the number of characters needed to put across a comprehensible message. Therefore, punctuation and grammar are largely ignored.

txt devices

---

Single letters can replace words. For instance:

be becomes b
see becomes c
are becomes r
you becomes u
why becomes y
Single digits can replace words. For instance:

ate or eight becomes 8
for or four becomes 4
to or too become 2
Individual syllables can be replaced with a single letter or digit. For instance:

ate becomes 8, so:
activate becomes activ8
great becomes gr8
mate becomes m8
later becomes l8r
plate becomes pl8
be becomes b
for or Fore becomes 4, so:
before becomes (combining both of the above) b4
therefore becomes there4
More miscellaneous adaptations of characters include:

ss being replaced with $
oo being replaced with %
Combinations of the above can be used to shorten single or multiple words. For instance:

your and you are both become ur
Other transcriptions of slang or dialect terms can be used if shorter than the original words, as in cos (which has fewer letters than because.)

Vowels are removed from a word such that the sequence of consonants remain and the word is still recognisable.

For instance, between becomes btwn.
Whole words may be omitted, especially articles.

'orr' can be replaced with the abbreviation 'oz'

Hence Sorry becomes Soz, and Tomorrow becomes Tomoz (which can be further abbreviated to 2moz.)
'Sorry I forgot to phone you. I will see you tomorrow' becomes soz i 4gt 2 fon u.i c u 2moz
Punctuation is limited: only full-stops and exclamation marks are ever used in general. After a full stop, a space and capital letter is often omitted.

Some abbreviations used have "/" to signify abridgement, such as "w/" for "with", and "s/t" for "something".

Examples

---

Combining the above "techniques" can shorten whole sentences. Examples are as follows:

Short messages can be made shorter still.

Are you going to the pub tonight? becomes ru goin pub 2nyt
Longer messages may also be considerably shortened. A typical text message might read:

hi m8 u k?-sry i 4gt 2 cal u lst nyt-y dnt we go c film 2moz (60 characters)
Into standard English, it is translated as follows:

Hi mate. Are you okay? I am sorry that I forgot to call you last night. Why don't we go and see a film tomorrow? (120 characters)



External links
transl8it
Netlingo