Who knew? Obviously, not me.

For the longest time now, I apparently have been offending my daughter because I don’t know proper cell phone texting etiquette. Never mind that I am still trying to figure out all the abbreviations (I do know LOL (Laugh Out Loud) and BRB (Be Right Back) among a couple of others) but now I have been told that my quick response of ‘K’ in certain situations is a virtual slap in the face.

Let’s just start here: I do not have a smart phone. When my last real cell phone went sideways on me, I went and got a cheap little model to tide me over. It has been working just fine for many moons and I just can’t bring myself to upgrade if it’s not necessary. However, it doesn’t have an actual keyboard and I can’t figure out T9 (or whatever it’s called) so I actually use the numbers and the corresponding letters on the keypad to text. It’s not as quick as most people but I do pretty good.

Still, it’s easier if my daughter texts me her schedule or reports in she’s at a friend’s house that I just simply respond with a ‘K’ and figure that’s good enough. But no. Apparently in her world, a capital K means you are giving attitude. She would always respond with a ‘kk’ and, silly old me, I thought we had our own little routine going, mom would send the big K, daughter would respond with the two little kk’s and all was well.

Now I find out that her feelings have been hurt because I keep giving her attitude.

This came up as we sat with friends and enjoyed Thanksgiving morning coffee and cinnamon rolls, getting a chance for some face to face time (not to be confused with facetime) with the ‘other Jacksons’ – our soccer traveling companions of the last several years. We got on the topic of cell phones and being able to watch videos and take pictures with them and it led into the whole ‘attitude’ discussion.

Who makes these rules anyway? Who was it that decided a capital K makes you a mean, vengeful person in the texting world? Now, if I was able to send an italicized capital K, I could see that as having a little bit of attitude behind it.

In looking over some previous texts, it seems I do use lol quite a bit. She tells me this is okay, since it’s just kind of a general way to wrap something up; not that you’re trying to be funny or anything, it’s just an accepted closing statement. Again, who decided that? It seems to be a default, almost everybody includes at least one ‘lol’ when you are texting.

There’s also this presumption that when you get a text, it must be answered almost immediately. I have found that if I don’t respond within the first 15 seconds of receiving a text from my daughter, it is quickly followed by another one that invariably says HELLO?! – as if typing in all capital letters will make the sound of the text arriving to my phone louder than the one she originally sent in regular size letters. News flash: it sounds the same, whether you use CAPITALS or not.

And the learning curve continues; I now also know that I have to be more careful when my daughter tells me she loves me as we text back and forth. Although I thought it was cute, apparently my ‘U2’ isn’t enough of a response for her; she’s not feeling the love. Most of the time, in my defense, I do say ‘love you too’ but sometimes, depending on the day and time and situation, ‘U2’ is infinitely easier. I mean no disrespect. I do love her. K? I mean kk.

LOL.

Marg Jackson is editor of The Escalon Times, The Oakdale Leader and The Riverbank News. She may be reached at mjackson@oakdaleleader.com or by calling 847-3021.