We all know that teenagers can be pretty secretive — especially through technology and social media. But many teens are taking that to a whole new level, engaging in sexually-charged conversations and sharing naked photos. This sort of social media sexting could land them in jail.
Huntsville-based prosecutor Gabrielle Helix says it’s not the first time it’s happened here in the valley, and it won’t be the last.
However, many valley parents don’t have a clue how easy it is to be promiscuous.
In fact, code lingo and sex apps are hot topics for teens right now; just ask a few candid teens, and you’ll crack their codes.
“Everybody (uses those),” said 18-year-old Franklin Banks. “Most people try not to, but unfortunately they have to use them.”
Banks and his teenage peers tell me parents would probably be surprised to find out what teens are really saying via text.
“We use it everyday,” said Banks. “We use it most the time with your friends. Parents walk up, you switch straight to code lingo.”
If you’re not familiar with code lingo, it’s a mixture of acronyms — some of which include: ASL, which stands for age, sex, location, WTTP, which stands for want to trade pictures, and MOS, which stands for Mom over shoulder.
“If your child is texting ‘banana MOS,’ you know, what is that? What’s that mean? If they can’t explain it, and you think ‘this is weird,’ just keep looking in their phones,” said prosecutor Gabrielle Helix.
Helix is swamped with sex cases that start with teen secrecy. She says most teens don’t realize their behavior may cost them their freedom.
“If you do anything in secret, let’s consider it not good,” said Helix.
Helix urges parents to investigate beyond the surface, and make sure their teens are not distributing or possessing porn.
“I think you’re doing your child a disservice by not checking in on them and being aware and taking some steps to engage your child, talk to your child about this,” said Helix.
Helix says it all starts with an open dialogue.
“(You should talk about) what is love, what is true love, what’s appropriate, what’s not.,” said Helix. “They’ve had sex, but they don’t know the names of their body parts. If you can’t name it, you can’t protect it.”
If you’re shocked to learn there are apps out there such as anti-chat, dirty talk, kik, and oovoo, and that they can be used for sex, apparently you’re not alone.
“These are very shocking. I’m going to go get her phone again I think,” said parent Clay Coleman. “It’s definitely surprising for sure.
Marie Arighi had a similar reaction. The mother of two says she’s never heard of these secret tools teens use.
Kids usually use these text abbreviations when they want to alert their friends that parents are nearby or when they have something to hide:
9 and CD9 both stand for “Code 9”, which means parents are nearby
99 means, “Parents are gone”
KPC stands for “Keeping Parents Clueless”
MOS stands for “Mom Over Shoulder”
P911 is a “Parent Alert” or “Parent Emergency”
PAL stands for “Parents Are Listening”
PAW and PRW both stand for “Parents Are Watching”
PIR stands for “Parents In Room”
POS stands for “Parents Over Shoulder”
Text slang about exchanging personal information:
Kids use certain acronyms to request or offer private personal information to one another. This is a particularly unsafe, as predators pretending to be a child’s peer can use this approach to obtain information from the child that can be used against them while keeping the request hidden from parents. If you see these abbreviations on your child’s phone, be aware that your child’s safety could be at risk and make sure to discuss online safety rules:
ASL(R/P) stands for “Age, Sex, Location” (“Race/Picture”), requesting identifying personal data
ADR is short for “address”
AEAP and ALAP stand for “As Early As Possible” and “As Late As Possible”
F2F stands for “Face to Face”, offering to video chat or meet in person
LMIRL stands for “Let’s Meet In Real Life”
NAZ stands for “Name, Address, Zip”
MOOS and MOSS stand for “Member Of the Opposite Sex” and “Member Of the Same Sex”, referring to a person’s sexual orientation
SorG is another common way to ask someone’s sexual orientation, “Straight or Gay”
MorF and RUMorF both stand for “Male Or Female” and “Are You Male Or Female”
RU/18 is asking, “Are you 18?”
SMEM and SMIM stand for, respectively, “Send Me an Email” and “Send Me an Instant Message”
SO stands for “Significant Other”
S2R means “Send to Receive” (This normally refers to sending pictures)
SWDYT stands for, “So What Do You Think?”
WUF means, “Where are you from?”
WYCM is asking, “Will you call me?”
WYRN is asking, “What’s your real name?”
WTTP stands for, “Want To Trade Pictures?”
GNOC-Get on Camera
TDTM-Talk dirty to me
Here’s text slang about romantic, sexual, illegal and illicit activity:
If you see any of the shorthand in this section on your child’s phone, it might be time to impose some new restrictions, as these codes involve communications of romantic, sexual affection or illegal activity, such as drug use.
143, 459 and ILU all mean, “I love you”
1174 is an invitation to meet at a particular place, often for a wild party
2nite means, “tonight”
420 refers to marijuana.
53X is code for “sex”
8 is code for oral sex
AMEZRU translates to, “I am easy, are you?” referring to one’s sexual promiscuity
Banana means, “penis”
BF and GF mean “boyfriend” and “girlfriend”
Broken means the sender is hung over from being drunk
BRT stands for, “Be Right There”
CU46 translates to, “See you for sex”
DOC stands for “Drug Of Choice”
FAH stands for “F***ing A Hottie”
GNOC stands for “Get Naked On Cam” referring to a live webcam
GYPO stands for “Get Your Pants Off”
I&I stands for “Intercourse & Inebriation”
IWSN stands for “I Want Sex Now”
J/O means, “Jerking Off”, which refers to masturbation
KFY and K4Y both mean “Kiss For You”
Kitty refers to the vagina
KOTL stands for “Kiss On The Lips”
LH6 translates to, “Let’s have sex”
MPFB stands for, “My Personal F*** Buddy”
NALOPKT stands for, “Not A Lot Of People Know That”
NIFOC stands for “Nude In Front Of the Computer”
OLL is, “Online Love”
PRON is an intentional misspelling of the word “porn” in reference to pornography
Q2C means, “Quick to c*m”, insulting a person’s sexual prowess by accusing them of having premature ejaculation
RUH means “Are you horny?”
SUGARPIC refers to a suggestive or erotic photograph
TDTM stands for “Talk Dirty To Me”
THOT stands for “That hoe over there,” the term “hoe” being slang for “whore”
TWD stands for “Texting While Driving”
WTF stands for, “What The F***?”
Zerg is code meaning, “to gang up on someone”
- Secret Calculator
- Kik
- Snapchat
- idelete
- Dirty Talking
- Bumble
- Musicly
- Fleshlight Launch Pad*
*Apparently comes with a stimulation attachment via mail
Good Apps
- Zip It – helps detour teens from secret promiscuity, making it ‘uncool’
