January 26

The texting thing has gotten way out of control. Does anyone know how to use a telephone anymore for anything other than texting? One of the top cell phone manufactures, LG, actually holds an annual competition that awards the fastest and most accurate texters scholarships for college. I saw a clip of it on the news a few months ago. There was a stage with about five to ten contestants (all tween girls, mind you) standing shoulder to shoulder with their heads facing down and their thumbs-a-blazin'. Yeah, that's the kind of thing I want to go to. I want to sit in a dark auditorium and watch ten-year-olds play with phones and then be rewarded for having the ability to say a whole lot of nothing without speaking a word.

Thousands upon thousands of texts are being sent and received every day. Entire conversations are being conducted through the means of acronyms and text lingo. LOL, J/K, and OMG are the terms that I am most familiar with, but apparently there are so many more that I wasn't even aware of. I recently did a search for the most popular text terms and the result was surprising. I found a list of the top 50 on a website called NetLingo.com. I knew what a few of the terms were, but overall, I don't think I would have had a clue what any of the meanings were if they were sent to my phone. MHOTY? I would have guessed that was some one's cute way of saying, "Mmm, Hottie" as in, "I think you're a stud, Brandon." Nope. It means, My Hat's Off To You. Number 23 on the top 50 according to NetLingo. MHOTY beat out OMG (Oh My God/Gosh), TLC (Tender Loving Care), and WTF (What The F**k).

Maybe the list wasn't in any particular order, but the fact is there are some really dumb acronyms that people use when texting. WEG is Wicket Evil Grin. I can't imagine ever being in a situation where I would feel it necessary to text WEG. I would really like to see someone with a wicked evil grin sending a text message because that would make for a hilarious image. Do people actually use these?!

The only text lingo I use isn't even on the list. I will occasionally spell out my laughter to let someone know that what I thought he or she had just sent was amusing. Ha ha. Only two short words. If I thought what he or she said/sent was really funny, then I might add an extra ha for a grand total of three. I will not, under any circumstance, use LOL. Laughing Out Loud. If you want to hear my infectious laugh, call me up and earn it.

The only other text lingo I ever use is J/K and I only use it in jest and mockery when I'm talking to someone in person. Having a face to face conversation and throwing in a "J/K" is ridiculous and funny. No one actually uses the two letters when they want to alert the listener that he or she is, in fact, just kidding but he/she doesn't have any problem at all sending that as a text message. I don't think anyone should send a text that he or she wouldn't say in person.

Another reason I hate text messaging so much is that people don't deem it necessary to use proper grammar. It even bothers me when someone sends me a text message where the first letter isn't capitalized. Maybe I'm being a little sensitive on the subject, but people have commented on my perfect texting form and I think more people should work on their own form.

Anyway, back to these acronyms. It's amazing to me where these terms come from. Who decided to send the first ROTFLMAO (Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off is by far my favorite one because of its length) and how did he or she get it to stick? Didn't that person have to send another text explaining what it meant? Wouldn't it have been faster and less complicated if he or she just said "I'm rolling on the floor laughing my ass off?" I can't wait for the next time I'm actually rolling on the floor in laughter just so I can audibly yell those eight letters. That's all I have for today, but here is a link to the list of the top 50 most popular text terms according to NetLingo. I'll TTYL and THX for reading.