How to Understand Tween Speak

Want to know what it is that your kids are texting to each other? Who exactly is their BFF? Arm yourself with the tools to understand your tween and fight back in their own language! You too can be totally 'tope'!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Time to read this article
• Access to the internet (for further research)

1. 
    
   Teen or 'tween' speak is constantly evolving

   Words and language are constantly evolving. Most of these evolutions take place over long periods of time, but the technology of cell phones and texting has certainly sped that up where children are concerned! Any parents trying to decipher their teens texts, emails, and instant messages may have a difficult time understanding exactly what is going on. I will break just a few basic phrases down into broad categories and give you the tools to continue researching on your own.

2. Words for People
   
   BF - Best Friend/Boy Friend
   BF4L - Best Friends For Life
   BFF - Best Friend Forever
   Brah - Girl version of 'Bro'; equivalent of Dude/Friend
   G - Friend
   GF - Girl Friend
   Home boy - friend
   Home girl - friend
   Home skillet - friend
   MOS/DOS/POS - Mom/Dad/Parent Over Shoulder

3. 
    

   Word for Actions
   
   Hooked up - Got together, romantically speaking
   Tripping - Acting out of the ordinary

4. Words for Things
   
   Cheddar - Money
   Ride - Car/Transportation

5. Words for Emotions and Adjectives
   
   Crunk - Awesome
   Emo - Emotional (dramatic/depressed)
   Off the Chain - Awesome

6. 
    
   Many tween words are abbrieviations for phrases

   Exclamations and Expressions
   
   Chillax! - Combination of Chill and Relax
   IDK - I Don't Know
   LOL - Laugh out Loud
   My bad - My mistake
   MOE - Money over everything
   OMG - Oh My God
   ROTF - Rolling on the Floor
   ROTFL - Rolling on the Floor Laughing
   Tight! - Cool
   WTH - What the hell
   WTF - What the F(bad word)

Tips & Warnings

• These words are going to vary regionally and even from school to school; these are merely a list of what my students told me they use in Central Texas.
• When in doubt, Google it! Somebody, somewhere has it on a blog. Use contextual clues.
• Knowing what your child is saying is important. Yes, children should have a level of privacy and independence, but they should also be kept safe. When they start speaking in a different 'language', make an effort to understand!

Resources

• Urban Dictionary - A wiki-type site where teens and adults post slang words and their regional definitions

[cdclocks]

on 6/17/2009 Ha! Crunk is also a really bad grammatical misrepresentation of what you did to the car. ...oooh...and readers beware of the Urban Dictionary. You may learn more than you really wanted to know. ;-) ...fun article!

[sallyemaycreate]

on 6/6/2009 GREAT Article... good advice! 5*

[Marilynda]

on 6/5/2009 Now my grandkids make sense. For awile I thought they were speaking an alien language. Thanks for clearing up the tween speak! 5*

[buckweber]

on 6/2/2009 Crunk around here means "crazy-drunk." Thanks for the off the chain article on How to Understand Tween Speak. 5*

[violet4me]

on 6/1/2009 Great article! I only knew 2 of the tween terms listed. Thanks for the education!