Inter-generational communication can be pretty tough — and thanks to the internet, the communication gap is wider than ever before. Between the slang and inside jokes you don’t understand the context of, it can feel like you’re speaking different languages. Oh, and here’s yet another texting trend you should know about: tone indicators.
Once you finally understand TikTok terms like “cheugy,” “skrr” or “boujee,” your kids or grandkids are slinging around 10 perplexing new terms. Oh, and don’t forget about the secret meanings behind certain emojis, which can look like hieroglyphs if you’re unprepared. Tap or click here to find out which emojis have shocking, X-rated meanings.
Luckily, tone indicators can help you better understand what young people mean online. You may start seeing them pop up in your kids’ social media feed, so here’s a simple guide to tone indicators. We’ll share some examples and explain why they’re surprisingly brilliant.
After this article, you’ll know how to decipher these strange codes
If you’re texting your kids or grandkids, you may notice slashes and letters. Say you send a text with a corny joke. A minute later, the notification bell rings and you see their response: “That was a terrible joke and you should be ashamed of yourself. /lh”
At first glance, you may wonder if the “/lh” is a typo.
No, it’s not some new type of emoticon. It actually stands for “light-hearted.” Thus, when someone uses /lh, it means they’re tipping you off that this message is meant in a loving, friendly way.
Lots of people use /lh when they’re poking fun at their friends and family. It’s meant to indicate good-natured ribbing. People use this tone indicator to make it clear that their message isn’t meant to insult the recipient.
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Tone indicators are a way to get rid of misunderstandings
We’ve all been there. You make a post online. Next thing you know, you’re getting all sorts of messages from people who misinterpreted it and made their own assumptions about what you meant.
That can be incredibly frustrating, especially when you spend a ton of time online. That’s why tone indicators are spiking in popularity. With a few strokes of your keyboard, you can reduce the possibility of miscommunication.
Basically, using a tone indicator is a quick and easy way to get one’s point across more clearly.
What are examples of tone indicators?
Now that you know why they’re appearing everywhere, let’s go into what they actually mean. Here are some of the most popular indicators, as well as what they stand for:
| Tone indicator | Meaning |
| /s | Sarcastic |
| /j | Joking |
| /f | Fake |
| /th | Threat |
| /srs | Serious |
| /lh | Lighthearted |
| /nsx | Nonsexual |
| /p | Platonic |
| /s | Sexual intent |
| /hyp | Hyperbole |
| /m | Metaphorically |
| /neg | Negative connotation |
| /hj | Half-jokingly |
| /nm | Not mad |
| /rh | Rhetorically |
| /r | Romantically |
| /pos | Positive |
| /gen | Genuine |
| /c | Copypasta (This means they’re posting a silly internet joke someone else made) |
| /ly | Lyrics |
| /neu | Neutral |
| /lu | A little upset |
| /t | Teasing |
| /ij | Inside joke |
| /cb | Clickbait |
As you can tell, most of them are pretty straightforward and almost every base is covered. More may pop up in the future, of course, since language is always evolving.
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Keep this in mind
The kids in your life most likely don’t know every single tone indicator on this list. Most people come into contact with them organically, through texts with their friends or posts they encounter online.
If you plan to start using tone indicators, make sure you aren’t going overboard. If you happen to memorize a few, don’t sprinkle them after every single message going forward. You might confuse people, thus destroying the whole point of using them in the first place.
If you plan to use these in the future, bookmark this page and share it with any other parents you know. Although tone indicators can be hard to grasp at first, they were created with positive intentions. The better we understand one another, the better our journey into the digital world can be.