Are You Hip to Chat-Room Lingo?

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Author: Barack, Lauren

"LMIRL 121." Did you understand that, parents? The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (www.missingkids.com) hopes you did.

Translated from online chat-room speak, the acronym means "Let's meet in real life, one to one." And it's a come-on with potentially dire consequencesâ€"one in five children who frequent Internet chat rooms will be sexually solicited, according to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Certainly, teenagers using slang to conceal the meaning of their message is nothing new. But today, with Instant Messenger and online chat rooms, anyone with a grasp of these acronymsâ€"even adult sexual predatorsâ€"can masquerade as a sweet 16-year-old. Internet filters not withstanding, there's little to prevent such cryptic posts as "OLL" (online love).

In response, the center has created a new campaign, Help Delete Online Predators, which was recently launched on the center's Web site. There, adults and students can test their cyber-safety skills and download a list of common chat-room lingo.

Librarians agree that youngsters need access to educational tools about Internet safety. But they also believe that kids need some modicum of privacy, and that ultimately the responsibility of teaching students how to be safe online lies with their parents.

"Many of these chat acronyms are coming into the public realm, and librarians do know some of them," says Gretchen Wronka, president of the Association of Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association. "But we also recognize that librarians and teachers don't have the same role as parents do."

However, fewer than five percent of parents are familiar with even the most common cyber-age slang terms, according to a survey sponsored by the center. So, parents, if you think your teenager sees you as a friend just because he types "PAL" (parents are listening) when you enter a room, it might be time to do some homework of your own.

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By Lauren Barack