Welcome to Gaia! ::

I usually stay away from using "txt talk," but that does not mean I have come to encounter many of these fiendish "words."
Here are but a few, among a million:

2 - Two, to, too
4 - Four, for
b4 - Before
there4 - therefore
8 - Eight, ate
gr8 - Great, grate
l8r - Later
FTW - For the win
FTL - For the lose
LOL - Laughing out loud, one of the most popular ones. I see it everywhere, even when nothing is humorous at the time!
BRB - Be right back
ROFL - Rolling on floor laughing
OMG - Oh my God/gosh
OMFG - Oh my ******** God/gosh - I hate this one
WTH - What the Hell/heck
WTF - What the ******** - Are
U - You
Y - Why
Wuz zat? - What's that?
WTHRU?? - Where the Hell/heck are you?
Soz - Sorry
Tomoz - Tomorrow

I guess I can stop there. I wince every time I type on of these "text talk" words and I feel like I am getting dumber each time too. I can understand why people use this chat speak language because they can type out a few letters to resemble a few words, thus it saves time. However, I think it should not be practiced. In a simple way to put it - it basically dumbs down the speaker.
*shudder* I hate chat speak, but it seems to be spreading immensely, even amidst school classes.

Here is an excerpt from and essay a 13 year old girl wrote:
"My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :- kids FTF. ILNY, it's a gr8 plc."
Translation: "My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York. It's a great place."

I dare not to rant here or further, for I will now end this post. Enjoy.

You can be my ******** idol for the next hour.

I got that in a random message. I felt like ripping out his pancreas through his throat.