Texting Abbreviations Grandkids Use (and What They Mean)

A text arrives from your grandchild: “omw! running l8, lol my mom is being extra rn.” You can tell something is happening, but the shorthand reads like a different language.

You are not behind because you missed a class on this. Texting shorthand grew up on tiny phone keyboards, back when every extra letter cost time. It stuck around because it is fast, and now it shows up in texts from kids, grandkids, and even coworkers.

This guide walks through the texting abbreviations and emoji your grandkids use most, in plain English. No quiz, nothing to memorize, just a page you can come back to whenever a text stumps you.

What Do OMW, LOL, and IDK Actually Mean in a Text?

OMW means “on my way,” LOL means “laughing out loud,” and IDK means “I don’t know,” and most other texting abbreviations follow that same pattern: the first letters of a common phrase, strung together to save time. Think of them less like a secret code and more like shorthand notes you might scribble on a grocery list. The person typing is not trying to leave you out. They are typing the way they always type, the same way you might say “ASAP” out loud without thinking about it.

Merriam-Webster lists LOL simply as an abbreviation for “laughing out loud” or “laugh out loud,” which is a useful reminder that these shortcuts have become ordinary enough to sit in a dictionary next to any other word.

Common texting abbreviations

Here are the ones that show up most often in everyday family texts.

You will rarely see all of these in one text. Most people lean on two or three favorites, so once you learn the handful your own grandchild uses, the rest tend to fall into place.

Emoji Basics: What the Little Pictures Mean

Emoji are small pictures, like a thumbs up or a laughing face, that people add to texts to show feeling or tone, since typed words alone can be hard to read as friendly or joking. A plain text that says “fine” can sound flat or even annoyed. Add a smiling face and it reads as warm instead. That is really all emoji are doing: filling in the tone of voice a text cannot carry on its own.

Emoji you will see most often

A couple of these are worth a second look, because they trip people up. The face with tears of joy is so common that it was named Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year in 2015, according to Emojipedia, and it almost always means something struck the sender as funny, not sad. The loudly crying face works the same way. It usually means “I’m laughing so hard I’m crying,” even though the face looks like it is sobbing.

The thumbs up can also mean more than one thing depending on who sends it. Dictionary.com notes that while a thumbs up generally signals approval or agreement in Western texting, the same hand gesture is read as rude in a few cultures, including parts of the Middle East. Within an ordinary family text thread, though, it almost always just means “okay” or “got it,” sent quickly instead of typing out a full reply.

How to Reply Without Feeling Lost

You do not need to master every abbreviation to keep up. A few habits make replying much easier.

1. Read for the gist first. You rarely need every word. “omw, b there in 5” tells you the important part (they are coming) even if a letter or two is unfamiliar.
2. Keep your own replies simple. Full sentences are completely fine. Nobody expects you to start texting in shorthand, and most grandkids will not mind either way.
3. Ask your phone if you get stuck. Many phones let you ask a voice assistant to explain a term without leaving the conversation.
4. Bookmark this page. Coming back to a saved list is faster than trying to remember a dozen new terms at once.

According to Pew Research Center’s Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024 report, nearly half of teens say they are online almost constantly, up sharply from about a decade earlier. That constant back and forth is exactly why shorthand caught on among younger texters in the first place: when you are sending dozens of quick messages a day, every saved letter adds up. It is not a sign that anyone is being lazy or careless with you specifically. It is just how fast, casual conversation looks on a phone now.

If texts from your grandkids are hard to read because the letters feel too small, that is a separate, easy fix. Our guide on six iPhone settings that make text bigger walks through it step by step, so shorthand is not competing with tiny type at the same time.

When Shorthand Could Be a Scam, Not Just Slang

Scammers have learned that casual shorthand can make a message feel more believable, since it mimics how a real grandchild might actually type. That is one more reason it helps to know what normal, everyday shorthand looks like: it makes anything unusual stand out faster.

If a text arrives from a number you do not recognize and it is not clear who it is from, it is worth checking your settings before assuming the worst. Our guide to the iPhone’s Unknown Senders filter explains where messages from new contacts can end up, and how to make sure a real text from a grandchild’s new number does not get buried.

Where to go from here

Texting shorthand is just one small piece of staying connected with family on a phone. If you would rather see faces than read texts, our guide on video calling your grandkids is a good next stop.

For more everyday iPhone help like this, in the same plain-English style, our book Your iPhone covers texting, calls, photos, and the settings that make a phone easier to use day to day.