By Frances Gallup of Geek Squad

Curious what your kids or friends are “texting” to each other at warp speed? As those little fingers type a million miles per minute on cell phones everywhere, it may be a good idea for you to brush up on your understanding of the wonderful world of text messaging. After my son received his first cell phone, I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out what terms like ROFL meant (Rolling On Floor Laughing). I had no choice but to educate myself – and fast! Not only were my kids using texting lingo that I couldn’t translate, my friends were starting to do the same. And as you may already know, its simply exhausting to smile and pretend you understand terms like “BRB” (Be Right Back) or “IDK” (I Don’t Know) when you don’t have a clue. After one too many awkward encounters with texting, I decided to brush up on my skills, and you can do the same.

Sites like Transl8it.com and UrbanDictionary.com allow you to enter the texting acronym and retrieve a definition. They also offer a “word of the day” email. This is a great idea for your ongoing texting education — its a hassle if you treat the language like a passing tourist would because its certainly here to stay. Now just a word of CAUTION: If you do opt to follow my lead and use these sites, be sure to clear out your web browser history. The sites do contain some controversial lingo that you won’t want your kids to see if they haven’t already learned it. Remember, these sites are tools to help you become aware of terms your children might be seeing or using.

In the meantime, I took the liberty of outlining the most commonly used texting terms below. Study up!

Texting 101 Quick Reference

Frances Gallup is the Deputy of Counter Intelligence for Geek Squad and MomCentral's "Techy." She is known as "mama" both at home and at work. She's a Deputy of Counter Intelligence for Geek Squad, which is a fancy title for someone that knows a whole lot about technology and fixing computers. At work, a staff of 12 people relies on Francis every day to solve tech challenges, but at home, two important people keep Francis busy -- Kyle, 15 and Randi, 19. Her sons have inspired Francis to be a tech warrior on behalf of all moms. Francis has a unique ability to understand the world of computers through the eyes of children and teens. She can tell you about the hottest Web sites your children might be frequenting such as "World of Warcraft" and "MySpace." She can share tricks of the trade such as:

· How to set your router to shut down at night so that your children can't get online past a certain hour.
· Best software available for keeping kids safe online
· How to translate teen texting lingo like "BRB" and "OMG." (If you are puzzled right now, see Francis' article on "Texting 101 for Moms.")
· What to do when the sippy cup runneth over onto your keyboard

And much, much more…
So, if you want to know anything when it comes to technology – go ahead, ask Francis, our "mama" techy.

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