Parenting can be stressful. Things advance at a rapid pace and suddenly you have an entire generation of culture between you and your teen.

What you thought was cool is now old and lame and what you think is incomprehensible gibberish is now cool and current. You didn’t grow up with texting like how they’ve grown up with texting and the constant evolution of the English language can leave your head spinning with phrases like “Bae” and “TTYL”. You see a string of emojis in your teen’s text and you scratch you head, wondering when society went back to using hieroglyphics.

It’s important to know what lingo youths are using today, given the potential dangers they face online – like sexual grooming and cyberbullying. Here’s a guide to Internet Lingo for parents:

Acronyms

4YEO – For your eyes only
99 – Parents are gone
AFK – Away from keyboard
AMA – Ask me anything
ASL – Age/Sex/Location
BAE – Before anyone else
BMF – Bad motherfucker
BRB – Be right back
BTW – By the way
CTN – Can’t talk now
CUS – See you soon
DM – Direct message
F2F – Face to face
FAP – Masterbate
FFS – For f*** sake
FML – F*** my life
FWB – Friends with benefits
G2G – Got to go
GNOC – Get naked on cam
GTFO – Get the f*** out
IDC – I don’t care
IDK – I don’t know
ILY/ILYSM – I love you/I love you so much
IRL – In real life
IWSN – I want sex now
KMS – Kill myself
KPC – Keep parents clueless
LH6 – Let’s have sex
LHU – Let’s hook up
MPFB – My personal f*** buddy
NSFW – Not safe for work
OTF – Off the hook
PAL – Parents are listening
PBB – Parents behind back
PHAT – Pretty hot and tempting
QT – Cutie
RUH – Are you horny?
SMD – Suck my d***
TAW – Teachers are watching
TTYL – Talk to you later
WTF – What the f***
WYD – What are you doing?
WYM – What do you mean?
WYRM – What’s your real name?

Phrases

Lit, fire – Something is amazing ie, That song is lit
Thot – Whore/Slut/Those hoes over there ie, She’s a thot
Thirsty – To desperately be attracted to something ie, He’s thirsty for Susan
Fam – Close friends

Emojis

– Sweat droplets: sex/orgasim

– Eggplant: phallus

– Cherry: breasts

– Tongue: oral sex

– Cat face: female genitalia

– Fire: someone is attractive

If you’re ever in doubt about what internet lingo your teen is using. Don’t be afraid to have a respectful conversation with them about what is and isn’t appropriate language for their age.