OMG! Some people have no idea what textspeak means. LOL.

Although texting and textspeak — a sort of texting shorthand — has been SOP (that’s standard operating procedure) for the lifetime of Archbishop Carroll students, it has not been so for many of the adults in the Carroll community.

Because the technology has been around for more than 20 years, most people know OMG means “oh, my God!” and LOL means “laugh out loud.” Still, young people use some shorthand — text speak — that isn’t as well known among older adults, Carroll teachers among them.

For example, Mr. Tim Magenta guessed ATM stood for “automatic transfer machine.” LOL.  It actually stands for “at the moment.”

Mr. Anthony Cimorelli guessed OOTD stood for “out of the desk,” which is not a bad guess for a teacher. In IRL, however, it stands for “outfit of the day.” (IRL stands for “in real life.”} 

Mr. Knowlton took a shot at OOTD, too. He came up with “out of the day.”   He also shared an acronym of his own.

“What does QYBA stand for?” he said, and then answered his own question: “Quit your bellyaching.”

Mrs. Loraine Carpenter was ROTM (right on the money) when she said IKR stands for “I know. Right?” 

Mr. Fryberger guessed OMW  stook for “Oh, my world.” He must have had history on his mind. It actually stands for “on my way.”

He tried to redeem himself by tackling DTS. He was close with his guess “down the street.” The correct answer is “down the shore.” 

The first text message — Merry Christmas — was sent in 1992, and the cell phone using public wasn’t able to text until 1993, and then only by using the numerical keypad and sending to people in one network. The technology didn’t become ubiquitous until the early 2000s — which was when Carroll’s students were born.