Release date 12 July 2001

Concise Oxford Dictionary

Text Messages go Mainstream

Political parties used them to encourage their supporters to vote, they have started revolutions, they have saved lives and now text messages are entering THE authority on the English language. The revised edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary will be the first mainstream dictionary to include text message abbreviations and emoticons.

WERV U BIN? PPL R starting to use SMS abbreviations all the time, OTOH not everyone understands what BCNU means. 2 SIT W/ SOM1 by MOB or email, SMS abbreviations R GR8. IOW, JIC SOM1 sends U a MSG like this, U need a COD 2 decipher it. HTH :-) (translation below!)

A new form of language is sweeping across Britain. The rapidly expanding use of text messages, with over one million messages being sent every hour, has led to the inclusion of a list of SMS abbreviations in the dictionary. Judy Pearsall, Publishing Manager for English Dictionaries, said "In Oxford Dictionaries we have been monitoring the phenomenal growth of text messaging with great attention: its influence is now such that we felt it was time to treat is as an integral part of English.

For a full list of new words entering the Concise Oxford Dictionary click on the link.

Text translation
Where have you been? People are starting to use SMS abbreviations all the time, on the other hand not everyone understands what 'be seeing you' means. To stay in touch with someone by mobile or email SMS abbreviations are great. In other words, just in case someone sends you a message like this, you need a Concise Oxford Dictionary to decipher it. Hope this helps.

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