Ever tried texting on a flip phone?
this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
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Yes in 1993.
I believe that's the origin of the current trend. Typing on a T9 keypad.
There was a parallel '733t sp34k' trend on bulletin boards around the same time.
I imagine that they merged to some degree.
1337
Bah! I knew it didn't look right when I wrote it.
I'm no Sherlock Holmes, but I deduce that's a lie. 🤔
Smartphones have been a thing since at least 2006 (actually earlier), and commonplace since at least 2010.
I haven't seen a T9 phone since then.
Very true, but it bled into society. Gamers realized it was easier to OMW and LFG while their hands were busy, and we even started saying BRB and OMG in conversation. They aren't abbreviations anymore, they're synonyms.
I had a T9 into at least 2012. I definitely had a smart phone (kinda) in 2014. The exact transition is lost to memory. I used to text the bus system to find out if my bus was on time.
What specifically do you mean? If you are asking about you = u, to = 2, OK = k, and such, it's text speak - faster to type and can fit more in 140 characters (SMS character limit IIRC)
But I agree that there is no reason to use those, especially on non-mobile devices.
Maybe before about 2008 when smartphones became ubiquitous.
To see it today is annoying, especially since auto correct wants to make it "you".
I get that it seems ridiculous to you, but shit like that is how languages evolve, regardless of its perceived impropriety. English is littered with things that were once considered improper, and back then, just like today, there were people complaining that "proper grammar" was being lost, people are being lazy, etc.
Being a hard ass about grammar and proper pronunciation isn't going to make you any friends (besides to other pedants). People learn as much as they care to learn, and nobody likes being corrected. I tell you this not because its related to the post, but as a former pedant who realized how lame it is after watching "The Professor and the Madman".
Anyway, my 2¢...
Fun Fact:
I just found out you can type
these letters: "wbzdnzjsm"
and get:
"我不知道你在讲什么" ("I have no clue what you're talking about")
because all you need to type is the first letter of the pinyin
from "wo bu zhi dao ni zai jiang shen me"
Alright boys, pack it up, the language debate has ended, apparantly Chinese has won...
(kidding... unless... 🤔)
Usually clumsy attempts at looking smart
If there is an unexplained abbreviation in a post or reply I usually just stop reading it, downvote, and move on. In other word, ITIAUAIAPORIUJSRIDAMO.
abbreviations can be visual-flags, for the reader of the item.
Makes finding key-passages quicker for them.
_ /\ _