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ENGLISCH/756: Brainteasers (172) · Text lingo (SB)


B R A I N T E A S E R S - Acronyms or text messages (medium)


Quizzes and puzzles for learners of English

172 Text lingo



Short text messages (SMS) have become a major form of communication in Europe and Asia, especially among young people. SMS has had several social and political impacts: in the UK new forms of bullying have emerged (e.g. happy slapping); in Germany, it is used to organize mass parties. In 2001, text messaging helped bring down the Philippines President, Joseph Estrada; in 2005, it helped mobilize participants in the "Orange revolution" in the Ukraine, and massive anti-Syrian protests in Lebanon after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Experts think the rapid development of the text messaging language and new technologies of communication will change the English language and reduce it to a method for exchanging a maximum of information within a minimum of time. Specially young people are very inventive to create new acronyms. A lot of this so-called text lingo is already recorded in the lexical corpus. But the global anxiety about the influence of text messaging on the language of young people may prove to be a nine days' wonder.

Here are some examples of English text lingo. Try to match the text message with its "translation" in real English and find out how good your text lingo really is:


TEXT

 1 "CG"
 2 "ASAP"
 3 "CG"
 4 "BB"
 5 "AFAIK"
 6 "GN8"
 7 "4"
 8 "F2F"
 9 "LOL"
10 "ROFL"
11 "C U L8R M8"
12 "B4"
13 "W8 4 ME, I'M L8, SOZ"
14 "KIT"
15 "RUOK?"
16 "LUWAMH"
17 "HAND"
18 "Zzzzzzzzz"
19 "KOTL"
20 "TMB"
21 "0 ME"
22 "EZ"
23 "C U 2NITE O 2MORO"


TRANSLATIONS

a "Love you with all my heart"
b "Boring"
c "Text me back"
d "Have a nice day"
e "See you later mate"
f "As soon as possible"
g "Keep in touch"
h "Rolling on the floor laughing"
i "Easy"
j "Be back"
k "Are you okay?"
l "Congratulations"
m "Wait for me, I'm late, sorry"
n "As far as I know"
o "See you tonight or tomorrow"
p "Good night"
q "By the way"
r "For"
s "Before"
t "Face to face"
u "Ring me"
v "Laughing out loud"
w "Kiss on the lips"



*


Congratulations, you got the right answers to
Brainteasers 171 - Junk food

And here they are:

1. Finish the proverb: One man's MEAT is another man's poison.

a) meat - Correct. b) nourishment is not the right answer c) victuals is an old fashioned word but wrong in this context. d) grub is slang. Wrong e) fodder is food for cattle and horses, never for humans. Wrong.


2. In British English we buy food to "take away", but in the US they buy it TO GO.

a) Correct. In the US you can say
   "I'd like it to go please."
b) To carry is not the right answer
c) To lift is not the right answer
d) To eat out is to eat in a restaurant.


3. Complete this phrase: As flat as A PANCAKE.

a) An omelette is flat but not the right word.
b) A wafer is also very thin.
Notice: wafer-thin (an advertisement might claim
that a wrist watch or a mobile phone is wafer-thin!)
c) Correct: As flat as a pancake is a fixed phrase
d) a biscuit
e) a doughnut


4. Which of the following is not correct?

a) We talk about takeaway food as fast food.
b) If you want to say that fast food is not very
   healthy, you can call it junk food.
c) Fast food is also "food to go"
(especially in the US)

d) Correct, the expression "rubbish food" doesn't exist in English. If you want to describe fast food as unhealthy, we say junk food.


5. Which of the following is sweet (not savoury)?

a) Pizza is savoury Italian food
b) A taco is savoury Mexican food.

c) Correct. A doughnut is sweet, often filled
   with chocolate or jam.

d) Sushi is from Japan and made with raw fish.

6. I know they're not very healthy, but I love sausages and especially in a HOT DOG.

a) Hot cat is not correct.
b) Hot mouse is not correct.
c) Hot dog is correct.
d) Hot horse is not correct.


7. Another word for chips is FRENCH fries.

a) "German fries" is not correct.
b) "Italian fries" is not correct.
c) "English fries" is not correct.

d) "French fries" is the other word for "chips".
   Originally US-English but quite commonly used in
Britain.


8. An American says potato chips when an Englishman says

a) baked potatoes = potatoes cooked in the oven
b) chips (see 7.)
c) French fries = (see 7.)
d) potato croquettes = potatoes covered in breadcrumbs
   and cooked in fat.
e) potato crisps is correct (usually just crisps) =
   thin slices of potato, fried, dried and sold in
packets.


9. In which four ways do British people usually cook eggs?

a) boil bake stew fry
b) poach boil stew fry
c) fry boil scramble poach Correct
d) scramble steam broil grill
e) grill fry simmer stew


Notice: to fry eggs = to cook eggs in fat in a frying pan.
to boil eggs = to cook in boiling water (eggs in their shells).
to scramble eggs = to cook beaten eggs with milk and butter until they thicken.
to poach eggs = to cook eggs without their shells in boiling water.
to bake = to cook in the oven (cakes, bread)
to stew = to cook slowly in liquid
to steam = to cook in steam (puddings)
to broil = to roast to grill = to cook on metal bars above a fire, or under the grill of a cooker.


10. Which of the following is the odd-one-out?

a) Ketchup is another word for tomato sauce. b) Mustard is a type of spicy sauce that you put on your hamburger or hot dog. c) Soy sauce is a salty sauce that you sometimes put on food from Asia.

d) Correct. You use chopsticks to eat your food, the others are all sauces to put on your food.


17. August 2007