The Parent's Internet Slang Dictionary

You do not need to decode every message your child sends, and attempting to will mostly annoy them and waste your time. Slang also moves fast enough that any list is partly out of date by the time it is published.

But a small number of terms are worth recognising, because they can indicate that a conversation has moved somewhere risky. The point of this glossary is not fluency. It is lowering the chance you would miss a genuine signal.

One caution before the list. A single acronym proves nothing. Teenagers use this language ironically, quote it, and repeat things they have seen without meaning them. Context and pattern matter; an isolated term does not.

Everyday slang — no concern

The ordinary texture of how young people write. Recognising these mostly saves you from misreading something harmless.

Term	Meaning
IKR	I know, right?
TBH	To be honest
NGL	Not gonna lie
FR	For real
IRL	In real life
GOAT	Greatest of all time
W / L	A win / a loss ("that's a W")
mid	Mediocre, unimpressive
bet	Agreed, okay
lowkey / highkey	Slightly / very
rizz	Charisma, flirting ability
cap / no cap	A lie / no lie, seriously
ate	Did something impressively well
glazing	Excessive praise of someone
cooked	In trouble, or exhausted
delulu	Deluded, unrealistic (usually self-mocking)

Worth recognising — context matters

These are not automatically alarming, but they can indicate secrecy, stranger contact or risky plans. Look at who the conversation is with.

Term	Meaning	Why it matters
POS / PAW / PIR	Parent over shoulder / parents are watching / parent in room	Signals the chat is being hidden from you
CD9 / Code 9	Adult nearby	Same as above
ASL	Age / sex / location	A standard stranger-contact opener
LMIRL	Let's meet in real life	Warrants a direct conversation
S2R / P911	Send to receive (images) / parent emergency	Image exchange, or hiding a chat
Finsta / spam account	A second, private account	Common and often innocent — but worth knowing it exists
Alt	Alternative account	As above
Sliding into DMs	Sending a private message, usually romantically	Ordinary among peers; different from a stranger
Catfish	Someone using a fake identity	Useful for your child to know the word

Terms that warrant a conversation

Not proof of anything. But if you encounter these, they justify asking directly and calmly rather than filing them away.

Term	Meaning
KMS / KYS	"Kill myself" / "kill yourself"
Unalive	Died or suicide — used to evade platform moderation
Sewerslide	Suicide — another moderation workaround
Sh	Self-harm
Ana / Mia / thinspo	Pro-anorexia, pro-bulimia and "thin inspiration" content
NIFOC	Naked in front of computer
FWB / WTTP	Friends with benefits / want to trade pictures
Sextortion	Blackmail using intimate images
Zoom-bombing	Intruding into a video call uninvited

Two notes on this table. First, the moderation-evasion terms — unalive, sewerslide, sh — exist because platforms detect the real words, and they are now used casually and ironically as well as seriously. Their presence is a reason to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

Second, self-harm language should always be responded to, even when it appears to be a joke, and even when your child insists it was. The cost of one unnecessary conversation is very low. See teen mental health warning signs for how to ask, and where to get help urgently.

What to do with this

Do not run an interrogation. Arriving with a decoded message and a list of demands teaches your child two things: that you read their messages, and that they should be more careful. Neither helps.

Do not assume the worst reading. Teenagers quote things. Irony is the dominant register online, and much of this language is used precisely because it sounds shocking.

Do use it to notice. The value is recognising a genuine signal you would otherwise have scrolled past — a stranger asking for age and location, a plan to meet someone, a joke about self-harm that is repeated.

Do ask openly when something concerns you. "I saw this and I didn't know what it meant — can you explain it?" preserves the relationship. It also usually gets you a real answer, because most children quite enjoy explaining that you are out of date.

The bigger point

A glossary is a weak safety tool, and it is worth being honest about that. Slang changes, moderation-evasion terms are invented specifically to defeat detection, and no list stays current.

What actually protects a child is that they tell you when something feels wrong — and that depends on a relationship where reporting a problem does not result in losing the phone. Research on parental monitoring consistently finds that what parents know comes overwhelmingly from what children volunteer, not from what parents uncover. A decoded acronym is a poor substitute; see monitoring vs spying for why.

Use this list to avoid missing a signal. Do not use it as a surveillance programme.

How SmartProtect fits

SmartProtect does not read messages, on any plan. Its focus is transparent boundaries — agreed limits and app rules your child can see — and web filtering that reduces exposure to self-harm and pro-eating-disorder content at the source, which is a more useful intervention than decoding an acronym after the fact.

Key takeaways

• Most slang is harmless texture. Do not over-read it.
• A single term proves nothing. Context, and who the conversation is with, is everything.
• Learn the small set that matters — secrecy signals, stranger-contact openers, meet-up requests, self-harm language.
• Moderation-evasion words like unalive exist to defeat filters, and are used both seriously and ironically.
• Always respond to self-harm language, including when it is presented as a joke.
• Ask openly rather than decoding covertly. A glossary is no substitute for being told.