Protecting children: How familiar are you with online ‘coded’ conversation?

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Acronyms of today have fast evolved from the ever popular OMG, (Oh my god) and LOL (Laughing out loud), with many people now employing a raft of new abbreviations for their social media conversations.

It makes sense when you think about it, many social media platforms used in this day and age are based on short and snappy communication, so why waste all our time typing out full words when we can speed up our discussions and use abbreviations? Whilst many choose to use this tactic everyday as a way to speed up communication with their friends and family, there are those who choose to do so as a way of enticing victims into 'coded' conversations, with not so innocent intent.

For example 'GNOC' (get naked on camera) and 'PAW' (parents are watching) are typical abbreviations used by many groomers and their victims when engaged in sexual and dangerous conversation. It's important to understand what these new-age abbreviations actually stand for, so that you can spot when a seemingly 'innocent' conversation isn't perhaps what it appears to be and prevent any risks from escalating.

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Below are some examples of today's new-age online abbreviations:

BRB - Be right back
WYRN - What’s your real name?
GTG - Got to go
AMA - Ask me anything
TTYS - Talk to you soon
LMK - Let me know
GNOC - Get naked on camera
WYCM - Will you call me?
PIR - Parent in room
99 - Parent gone

YOLO - You only live once
DM - Direct message
KPC - Keeping parents clueless
F2F - Face to face
WTTP - Want to trade pictures?
YIWGP - Yes I will go private
MLAS - My lips are sealed
PAW / 9 - Parents are watching
CU46 - See you for sex
TTYL - Talk to you later

TMI - Too much information
OMG - Oh my god
FOMO - Fear of missing out
ILY - I love you
FBO - Facebook official
LMIRL - Let’s meet in real life
OMW - On my way
TDTM - Talk dirty to me
WDUL - Where do you live?
ASL - Age/sex/location