There are various things that KMSL can be read to mean or written to mean. Some wanting to be rude can use KMSL to say ‘kiss my sweaty legs’. Where as someone trying to be sexy may use KMSL to mean ‘kiss my sexy lips’. However the most common use for the abbreviation KMSL is to say ‘kicking myself laughing’.
SMS language is a term for the abbreviations and slang most commonly used due to the necessary brevity of mobile phone text messaging, in particular the widespread SMS (short message service) communication protocol. SMS language is also common on the Internet, including in email and instant messaging. It can be likened to a rebus, using pictures and single letters or numbers to represent whole words e.g. "I <3 u" which uses the pictogram of a heart for love, and the letter u replaces you.
For words that have no common abbreviation, users most commonly remove the vowels from a word, and the reader is required to interpret a string of consonants by re-adding the vowels e.g. Dictionary becomes dctnry and keyboard becomes kybrd. The reader must interpret the abbreviated words depending on the context in which it is used, as there are many examples of words or phrases that use the same abbreviations e.g., lol could mean laugh out loud or lots of love, and cryn could mean crayon or cryin’(g). So if someone says ttyl, lol they probably mean talk to you later, lots of love not talk to you later, laugh out loud, and if someone says omg, lol they probably mean oh my god, laugh out loud not oh my god, lots of love. Context is key when interpreting text language, and it is precisely this shortfall that critics cite as a reason not to use it. Although the English language in general, like most other languages, has many words that have different meanings in different contexts. SMS language does not always obey or follow standard grammar, and additionally the words used are not usually found in standard dictionaries or recognized by language academies.
SMS language is a term for the abbreviations and slang most commonly used due to the necessary brevity of mobile phone text messaging, in particular the widespread SMS (short message service) communication protocol. SMS language is also common on the Internet, including in email and instant messaging. It can be likened to a rebus, using pictures and single letters or numbers to represent whole words e.g. "I <3 u" which uses the pictogram of a heart for love, and the letter u replaces you.
For words that have no common abbreviation, users most commonly remove the vowels from a word, and the reader is required to interpret a string of consonants by re-adding the vowels e.g. Dictionary becomes dctnry and keyboard becomes kybrd. The reader must interpret the abbreviated words depending on the context in which it is used, as there are many examples of words or phrases that use the same abbreviations e.g., lol could mean laugh out loud or lots of love, and cryn could mean crayon or cryin’(g). So if someone says ttyl, lol they probably mean talk to you later, lots of love not talk to you later, laugh out loud, and if someone says omg, lol they probably mean oh my god, laugh out loud not oh my god, lots of love. Context is key when interpreting text language, and it is precisely this shortfall that critics cite as a reason not to use it. Although the English language in general, like most other languages, has many words that have different meanings in different contexts. SMS language does not always obey or follow standard grammar, and additionally the words used are not usually found in standard dictionaries or recognized by language academies.
