20 Texting Phrases Every Parent Must Know

Teens Holding Cell Phones

According to a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center Publications the mobile phone is the preferred method of communication for teens. No real surprise.

However, it's stunning to read the following excerpts and information from the research, particularly that one in three teens sends more than 100 text messages a day - or 3,000 texts a month.

According to Pew, some 38% of teens were daily texters in February 2008, and that has risen to 54% of teens who use text daily in September 2009. Of the 75% of teens who own cell phones, 87% use text messaging at least occasionally. Among those teen texters:

-Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and as stated above, one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month.

-15% of teens who are texters send more than 200 texts a day, or more than 6,000 texts a month.

-Boys typically send and receive 30 texts a day; girls typically send and receive 80 messages per day.

-Teen texters ages 12-13 typically send and receive 20 texts a day, while 14-17 year-old texters typically send and receive 60 text messages a day. 

Given this hyper-communicative nature of teens with their mobile devices, here are the top-20 texts that every parent must know. Most of these were gleaned from a web site called techdictionary and are listed alphabetically. Be advised that some of these are graphic - but parents need to be aware.

1. ASL or ASLA - age, sex, location or age, sex, location, availability?
2. BEG or EG - big evil grin or evil grin
3. BOHICA - bend over here it comes again
4. BYOB - bring your own bottle/beer
5. ESAD - eat  s**t and die
6. FOAD - f*** off and die
7. GTFO - get the f*** out
8. GYPO - get your pants off
9. H4U - hot for you
10. KPC - keep parents clueless
11. LMIRL - let's meet in real life
12. MOS - mom over shoulder
13. MOTAS or MOTOS - member of the appropriate sex or opposite sex
14. POS - parent over shoulder
15. P911 - parent alert change subject
16. WTGP - want to go private
17. YIWGP - yes I will go private
18. 1174 - sender is a member of the 'nude club' willing to send photos 
19. 420 - do you have pot/want to get high?
20. 8 - request for oral sex

These are samples of the preferred dialect that teens are communicating with amongst themselves. If you care for your kids do the following:

1. Spot check their phone and restrict usage for every key stroke they try to delete before they give it to you
2. Take the phones and keep them in your room every night
3. Get a plan with a capped number of minutes and texts so your kids are more judicious in their usage

Question: What other tips do you have or other texting phrases to share? [please try to keep them as close to G-rated as possible]