Now ur talkin

Even before my first cell phone, I remember going into chat rooms online. I was always afraid to post, so I would just sit there and read other people's conversations. Then, it happened. Someone called me out and asked a/s/l? I sat there starring at my screen. I had no idea what had just been asked of me. So, at the risk of sounding like an idiot. . . I asked. The other person must have thought I had been living under a rock! At least they didn't know me and I could always just create another screen name. They responded back with age/sex/location. This was the first encounter that I had with the shorthand internet lingo that was being used. All of a sudden, I realized that there was a whole plethora of words out there that were being used only in chat rooms and on AIM. There were things like lol, brb, g2g, a/s/l, b4 n, and a few others that were commonly used. Now, you almost need to have a chat room dictionary next to you. There are hundreds of abbreviations that are being used. You can find a list of some of the more popular ones at http://www.muller-godschalk.com/acronyms.html. This list also includes some abbreviations that are used for other forms of communication and not just in chat rooms and for instant messaging. Now that you know some of the popular abbreviations being used, try and incorporate some of them in your online communication.