Do you know what this means? “Hey GNG, WSG? NGL, some pizza would hit hard RN. FS.”
If you know exactly what that means, I’m guessing you might be under the age of 30, or perhaps you spend a lot of time on your phone with friends, on social media, or just generally chatting on the internet.
If you don’t know what that means, you may be shaking your head right now (or SMH, as the kids say) at the collapse of the English language and, possibly, society as you know it in general.
What that phrase says, in Proper English, is “Hey gang, what’s good? I’m not going to lie, some pizza would hit hard right now. For sure.”
The way I wrote it the first time uses some fairly common text/internet abbreviations, while also employing the speech patterns – “what’s good?” is in the neighbourhood of “how are you?” or “what are you doing?” – often employed by the younger set. The way I wrote it would also be considered pretty lame by a text savvy youngster, somewhat akin to a university professor reading Wu-Tang Clan lyrics. It’s just a little bit off. Modern texters, for instance, would never end a statement like that with a period (or use any punctuation, really). That makes you look like you’re either kind of lame or kind of angry (a dad, basically).
But don’t worry if those abbreviations have you mad ASL (which in this context is “mad as hell,” as opposed to “mad American Sign Language”). And I can imagine what mad sign language gesture you might be contemplating right now, if you’re confused by the abbreviations and have had just about enough of all this nonsense. You are not alone.
The abbreviations in the above example, you see, all come from a list recently sent out by unscramblerer.com of “Canada’s most searched text abbreviations 2025.” So it appears that many people are confused by some of these online shorthands, and they take to Google to find answers.
I found the list of the 30 most-searched abbreviations fascinating (you can see the full list at the bottom of this article), with some very common ones popping in – it’s my POV that you must be pretty daft not to know what ETA means. And if you don’t know FOMO, then you really are missing out.
But there were several more on the list that left me SMH. So I called in an expert, my 14-year-old son, to get his take on all these abbreviations. Are they legit? Do his friends use them? Are they cool? Here are some of the abbreviations from the list, along with my son’s interpretation of them:
WYF: I had no idea what this was, but my son knew immediately, correctly guessing “where are you from?”
WYLL: He knew this one instantly too. It’s “What you look like?” I guess when you’re encountering strangers online, you want to get some locational and descriptive information about them. Also, if these are super common questions in today’s internet world, remind me to never let my kids online again.
FOMO: My son, in fact, didn’t know this one. It’s “fear of missing out,” I told him. “Dad, I never have fear of missing out because I’m always in,” he said. Well congrats, cool guy.
FML: This is “f*** my life,” which also stumped my kid. “I don’t know this, because I live a happy life,” he said. :)
He did, however, immediately understand FFS, which is the tougher version of the old-timey “for Pete’s sake.”
There were also some abbreviations that he thought were really dumb.
IMO: In my opinion. “These days, you just say ‘TBH.’”
OTP: One true pairing. “OK bro,” he said, with the teenage dismissiveness that can be lethal in high doses.
PMO: Put me on. “That … no.”
HMU: Hit me up. “No.”
ISO: In search of. “That’s so dumb.”
FAFO: F*** around and find out. “That’s not tough.”
He also said some of the explanations were just plain wrong.
SB: The list said this meant “somebody.” Wrong, he said. Everyone knows SB is “Snap back…. Reply.”
TS: Talk soon. He was incredulous at this one. “Talk soon?!? That’s ridiculous. It means ‘this s***.’”
You can see, then, that these abbreviations are constantly evolving, which, to be fair, is true of any active language. Meanings change, languages evolve. That’s life.
My favourite on the list, and one I can’t see too many people guessing, is SNM. It’s “say no more,” and if that conjures for you a certain old Monty Python sketch (“know what I mean?”), then you’re probably a lot like me and you probably are OK enjoying language in all its quirks.
I’m NGL, this new look at language was quite fun. SNM.
Andy Prest is the editor of the North Shore News. His humour/lifestyle column runs biweekly.
Analysis of Google search data for 2025 reveals the most searched for text abbreviations in Canada. Source: unscramblerer.com
Most searched for text abbreviations in Canada:
1. WYF (39 000 searches) - Where are you from.
2. POV (37 000 searches) - Point of view.
3. FOMO (26 000 searches) - Fear of missing out.
4. IMO (24 000 searches)- In my opinion.
5. ICL (19 000 searches) - I Can't Lie.
6. WYLL (18 000 searches) - What you look like.
7. SMH (18 000 searches) - Shake my head.
8. OTP (17 000 searches) - One true pairing.
9. PMO (16 000 searches) - Put me on.
10. HMU (16 000 searches) - Hit me up.
11. ISO (15 000 searches) - In search of.
12. FAFO (13 000 searches) - F--- around and find out.
13. ETA (13 000 searches) - Estimated time of arrival.
14. WSG (11 000 searches) - What's good?
15. TBH (11 000 searches) - To be honest.
16. FML (8 000 searches) - F--- my life.
17. SB (8 000 searches) - Somebody.
18. WYS (8 000 searches) - Whatever you say.
19. ASL (7 000 searches) - As hell.
20. FFS (6 000 searches) - For f---'s sake.
21. SNM (6 000 searches) - Say no more.
22. SYBAU (6 000 searches) - Shut your b---- ass up.
23. NFS (6 000 searches) - New friends.
24. BTW (6 000 searches) - By the way.
25. IKR (6 000 searches) - I know, right?
26. GNG (6 000 searches)- Gang (close friends or family).
27. ATP (5 000 searches) - At this point.
28. TS (5 000 searches) - Talk soon.
29. NGL (5 000 searches) - Not gonna lie.
30. FS (5 000 searches) - For sure.
