textspeak

American  

[tekst-speek] / ˈtɛkstˌspik /

noun

Digital Technology.

1. a form of written language as used in text messages and other digital communications, characterized by many abbreviations and typically not following standard grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style.

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Etymology

Origin of textspeak

text (message) + -speak

Example Sentences

Even in longhand, he wrote in his signature style, an idiosyncratic precursor of textspeak that he’d perfected back in the eighties: “Eye” for “I,” “U” for “you,” “R” for “are.”

From The New Yorker • Sep. 2, 2019

Procter & Gamble, the household products company, has applied to trademark acronyms common in textspeak including “LOL” and “WTF”.

From The Guardian • Aug. 24, 2018

Before long, the poster boy for “Tory modernization”—and, it emerged, a passionate user of the textspeak “LOL,” which he used to mean “lots of love”—was twitting away himself.

From The New Yorker • Jul. 14, 2016

People know when textspeak is appropriate and when it isn't.

From Time • Apr. 25, 2013

I was tempted to construct this piece in textspeak, Tweet abbreviations or increasingly abusive one-liners to demonstrate the level of wit the internet has facilitated – one that is frighteningly easily to mimic and perpetuate.

From The Guardian • Aug. 14, 2010