Do You Know What Your Kids Are Texting?
At the risk of sounding old, I will admit that I don’t even understand why kids text each other all the time. It seems like a waste of time that accomplishes little more than to give one the appearance of being popular and in demand.
Looking important may be part of the appeal, but teens also like the ability to communicate with each other anytime, anywhere. But the acronyms and slang terms they use when texting aren’t designed just to save time and keystrokes. They are also meant to keep parents from knowing exactly what they are talking about.
Enter Ryan Jones, software engineer and translator of the teen texting language. In 2005, he created noslang, a site where Internet slang and acronyms are translated into plain English. Type in your query, click the button and the true meaning is revealed.
But for Jones, what started out as a fun little hobby has turned into something more. He has now made it his mission to help parents detect when their kids are texting about the two things they worry about most: Sex and drugs.
“Whether you’re a parent, teacher, law enforcement officer or simply a concerned friend — it’s important to stay up to date on the latest drug-related slang terms.”
His site, however, is not comprehensive. He says that some of the texting slang he comes across is so disgusting that he can’t bring himself to include it in his online dictionary. Nevertheless, parents are happy for the information he does include. He says he gets thank you letters on a regular basis from parents grateful for the the education. He also gets the occasional hate letter from teens who are angry that their code has been broken.
My kid is a little too young to be into the whole texting thing. She has a cell phone, but she rarely uses it for more than calling me to check in when she’s reached her friend’s house or to let me know when she’s on her way home. But as more and more of her peers get cell phones themselves, I know that the texting will begin. And I have every intention of regularly checking her texts and won’t hesitate to refer back to noslang – or any of the other online text translators – if needed.
If you are in need of a little text-education and you can’t find what you are looking for at noslang, check out Teen Chat Decoder, NetSmartz411 or 1337Talk. Or visit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Parents. The Anti-Drug, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America or the Office of National Drug Control Policy for lists of popular street terms and slang.
Image: Zawezome/Flickr
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Too bad all these translators only go one-way, from slang to plain. If it went the other way, we could post all our comments in leetspeak, which would allow us to make novice mistakes and expose ourselves as total dorks, which I think is a parental imperative.
My kids love to text that’s why I have the unlimited text plan on their parental controlled kajeet cell phones. I pay only $14.99 for it and have piece of mind that I can control who is texting them and when. (among other things) Use a coupon I found for 15% off any kajeet phone: Promo code 1115
I read the CNN article last night. The “real” |337 message was laughable. Texting teens use all sorts of codes to talk to each other, but the are not using proper grammar and spelling — and that whole thing was spelled perfectly once you translate the characters back to letters. The apostrophe in “I’d” was not only present, but correctly placed for Pete’s sake. When a 40-year-old housewife is cringing at the Man’s attempt at being hip and with it, the whole article loses its credibility. Too bad, because parents really should be up on what the kiddos are talking about.
How is Jones providing a useful service if he won’t include the “disgusting” codes? Aren’t those the ones you’d be most concerned about understanding?
I’m interested in the disgusting codes, and I don’t even have text-age kids.
[...] Do You Know What Your Kids Are Texting? [...]
We’re mean. We blocked texting on our kids’ phones. They can talk about sex and drugs the old fashioned way, I guess.
Understanding slang terms, fair enough, but the thing that is being neglected in the discussion is HOW parents are seeing these slang terms in the first place. Are they reading their kids’ texts when their kid puts their phone down for a few minutes? To me that kind of crosses a line, privacy wise. I mean, kids don’t get to listen in to “adult” discussions, just because you’ve not been alive as long doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get as much privacy as those who have. Texting isn’t some secret morse-like code that young people are all in on, it’s not the means of communication for a seedy black market of drugs and sex. Most of the time all they’re doing is speaking about what they’re up to, or gossiping about who kissed who etc. And what exactly do you think stopping kids being able to text about sex and drugs will do anyway? Its not like they can’t just speak about it in person.
Every social group has its own “language” in some respects. Families have strong local dialects, inside jokes, all that kind of thing that could make an outsider not understand a word a mother and daughter said to each other. Adults have euphimisms, and a “code” they use to stop children understanding what they’re speaking about. This isn’t a singular phenomenon. Kids are gonna talk about sex, and I wouldn’t jump to drugs, but probably alcohol, whether they’re texting about it, or emailing, or facebook, or sending notes by carrier pigeon. Instead of trying to STOP them, why don’t the PARENTS be open with their kids and try speaking to them themselves about it?
Thanks for the write up. Most of the stuff I “reject” goes to the rejected terms list on the site. It can be browsed at will. The stuff that doesn’t make it there isn’t rejected simply for being too vulgar, it’s because it most likely doesn’t make sense.
The method I use is simple. When somebody submits a new term I ask the following:
1.) does it make sense and is it spelled correctly? (I don’t edit)
2.) Can I find it on the web if I Google it?
3.) Is there a more common meaning for this term?
If it passes those, it gets added. If it fails one of them, it gets rejected. If it fails multiple, it doesn’t end up on the site.
Almost forgot. @bob -The reverse translator does exist. Check out http://tiny.tw