Today I made a valuable contribution to the English language. Not the English language as such, but I have changed the face of text speak.

The use of abbreviations in text messages is no longer required. When mobile phones first began what we used to call SMS messaging, there was a painfully small amount of characters in which to convey your news/arrangements/declaration of love or whatever. It made sense to shorten things down in those heady days of the late 1990s-early 2000s, so that I would very much enjoy the opportunity to partake of a beverage with you tonight at eight o'clock in the Bricklayer's Arms, I look forward to it, don't be late, became I wd lv 2 cu @8 in brix dnt b l8. This made sense in the olden days, but on a mobile phone nowadays, you could quite easily, should you ever feel the urge, type War And Peace as a text message and send it. People haven't realised this, and a certain section of society still text entire messages devoid of vowels to save time.

My biggest bugbear is the abbreviation 'lol'. Not specifically the use of it, but the fact that there was no official changeover in the meaning. In the days when text abbreviations was necessary, 'lol' stood for 'lots of love' and was used at the end of a text to someone you had 'lots of love' for. A message to my girlfriend for example would say Can't wait to see you tonight, lots of love, Steve, but would be shortened to Cnt w8 2 cu 2nite, lol, Steve. The change from 'lots of love' to 'laughing out loud' should have been heralded in with an official announcement, at the very least a full page advert in every newspaper, and a mention on the news. It would have been very awkward if I'd used it in the original context, while the recipient took it in the new context and would therefore think I was laughing at her. Out loud!

Although I have never been a user of 'lol', I can understand using it to convey amusement at a text for which a proper answer isn't really needed. I personally tend to text people back with a 'haha'. Another thing that I have started doing is softening text messages and comments with the 'colon,dash, bracket' smiley face :-) just in case a text isn't taken in the humour that I intended it to be taken.

A few days ago I wrote about how Facebook seems to be a step away from a visit from a priest to read it the last rites. There is one function within Facebook though, that I think should be adopted for wider use; the 'like' button. If someone comments on a status, or writes on your wall, and it doesn't require an answer as such but you want the sender to know that you've read it, you can simply 'like' it. This system would be perfect when receiving emails that don't need answering but do need acknowledging. You never know what to write as a reply to inane emails, but again you want that person to know you have at least read it, so you should be able to 'like', and everyone is happy.

I spotted today a tweet in which the author had used the abbreviations 'lol', 'rofl' and 'pmsl', all in the same tweet. How funny did she think she was being? To make things worse, she had used it to convey amusement at her own tweet. It was seeing all the abbreviations together, (there are additions available, so that 'rofl' can connect to the once popular 'lmao' to create 'roflmao', and then if you did piss yourself, you could be 'rofpmslmao' but it does get a bit ridiculous), that inspired me.

AAFL

It's all you need, it stands for 'All Abbreviations For Laughter' and you can use it to express your approval at someone's comedic skills. Basically, if you 'aafl', the recipient knows that you are indeed rofpmslmao at their hilarity.

If you are a parent, or you know someone who is, or if you are a cool kid, then please make them aware of the change in use. At least I've given warning, unlike that 'lol' idiot.