The ACT™ Language
Kids use a language all their own. We call it ACT, which is short for, “Acronym, Chat, and Text”. Thankfully SmartParents automatically deciphers the ACT language for you, whether it’s from a Text Message, Gmail Chat, a Twitter Direct Message, a Facebook Status Update, or a plain old email. We include the meaning directly in the context it appears and alert you to especially troublesome terms. Did we mention that we even translate emoticons for you 
ACT™ grew out of the early days of chat rooms, instant messengers, and texting. The initial emphasis was on economy of effort - sending long messages on mobile phones with numeric keypads was an arduous and error prone task. By decreasing key presses people were able to increase the speed and accuracy of their responses.
Later, as social networks (and parental oversight) arose, kids began to alter the language and add terms whose meaning was purposefully obfuscated, keeping parents clueless (KPC) as to what was being said. The ACT™ language now contains thousands of terms... many of which convey meanings that should cause parental concern. Among the latest entrants is LKAH – Let’s Kill a Hobo. Nice kids.
Characteristics of the ACT language to be considered when translating:
- Highly acronymous
- Emphasis on economy of effort
- Messages are highly abbreviated
- Many terms have a purposefully obfuscated meaning
- Uses phonetic spelling of many terms
- Frequent use of pictographs (emoticons)
- Makes use of sound outs (L8 => Late)
- Makes use of look alikes (8oo8s => Boobs)
You can translate a conversation, chat transcript, email, or other correspondence by pasting the contents into the box below.
* This page and its technology are covered under our patent applications.