Teenagers ‘using secret online language to deceive parents’
Can you crack their cryptic codes?
Teenagers are increasingly using a secret language on social networking sites like Facebook to stop parents from judging them by their social activities such as partying and drinking, a new study has found.
Instead of writing they are drunk, teens post "Getting MWI" -- or mad with it; being in a relationship is known as "taken" or "Ownageeee" and "Ridneck", a corruption of redneck, means to feel embarrassed, according to the study.
Meanwhile, girls posting "Legal" are indicating that they are above 16 and legally allowed to have sex, researchers have found.
Lead researcher Lisa Whittaker of Stirling University said that the slang had been created to keep their activities private, and cited the example of one girl who was sacked after bosses found pictures of her drinking on the website.
"Young people often distort the languages they use by making the pages difficult for those unfamiliar with the distortions and colloquialisms. The language used seems to go beyond abbreviations that are commonly used in text messaging, such as removing all the vowels.
"This is not just bad spelling, which would suggest literacy issues, but a deliberate attempt to creatively misspell words. The creation and use of their own social language may be a deliberate attempt to keep adults from understanding what is written on the page.
"By doing this they are able to communicate with their in-group and conceal the content from the out-group. This further adds to their online identity," 'The Daily Telegraph' quoted her as saying.
The researchers are to present their findings at a seminar at the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data and Methods in Cardiff next week.
Source: Indian Express
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