Text Speak

Recently I found an online Bingo game I wanted to play. There isn't any wagering involved, it's just fun to play occasionally. There are other people playing, and there is a chat box for players to talk with each other. I quickly found that I was playing with a bunch of old ladies. They all have online screen names like Granny66, or Oldielocks, or Bingobabe. I guess they all play a lot, and know each other fairly well, so call each other by their real names. I noticed right off that they often ask each other to pray for them or their relatives, and they ask each other about their surgeries and such. The interesting thing is that although they often talk to each other, sometimes they talk in text speak.

I must say right off that I don't text. I don't even like to talk on the phone, so I don't own a cell phone. But I am a fairly good and fast typist, so I really dislike text speak because I would rather just type the words all out. But because I don't text, I'm not familiar with text language. At first the text speak of the game was fairly simple for me to follow. I understood when they would say, "W2g", (way to go) or "gg" (good game), or even "gl" (good luck). "Ty" (thank you) was pretty easy too. I already knew "lol" (laugh out loud), "rofl" (roll on the floor laughing) and "lmao" (laugh my a** off). But then they started getting a little more complicated.

I was first thrown for a loop when one person said, "WDW". Someone else, who also doesn't text, asked what that meant. I typed in, "Maybe she meant to spell Wow". I know I couldn't actually hear this through the typed word, but when she answered "Well done winners" I was sure there was a sort of "Duh..." tone to it. The next one that stumped me was when they would say "Gl mf". I"m really not a swearing person, but I thought they were cussing at each other. But then I figured out "mf" meant My friend. Just when I figured out what "mf" meant, someone said, "Hagn mfs". I was quite proud of myself when I finally figured out that meant, "Have a good night my friends". So it followed that when someone said, "Hage mfs"...I knew that meant "Have a good evening my friends."

I still haven't figured out why they can talk for 10 minutes about their quilting projects, but then revert back to text speak. I don't think I will ever convert though. As long as my fingers work, and my brain works, I would rather just type it out. Hmmm....wait....they are old..... Maybe I should reserve judgement until I'm their age.