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June 22, 2010 5:37 PM

What are some of the sweetest text messages you have sent or received?

I have started having sleepovers with a good friend. My friend is the sort who might appreciate a few sweet texts now and then.

I would also appreciate suggestions for quality literature that I might use for inspiration.

Other languages are ok if the prase is relatively basic or popular, because my friend has an Android telephone and would look it up.

Thanks! <3

posted by lover to human relations (16 answers total)

Really, the sweetest ones I've ever gotten/sent are inside jokes sent completely out of the blue. It's a great way to let the other person know you're thinking of them and put a smile on their face, and it shows you know them well enough to know what will make them laugh. I sent one to my boyfriend the other day and got back "lol. Actual lol," and that was so much more adorable than anything romantic we could have possibly come up with for one another.

As an added bonus, funny-sweet texts sidestep the potential pothole of being too cheesy or too creepy.
posted by lilac girl at 6:10 PM on June 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

Kind of seconding lilac girl. For example a while ago, after a text asking my BF to bring home a mocha for me, I sent "also, i can't b tied down" to which he responded "f u".

This is a verbatim repetition of a text exchange in the TV show "Weeds," and we thought it was hilarious, but it's not like... especially sweet.

Texts lend themselves, IMO, to impromptu sorts of things. Rehearsing them would, I would think, sort of get in the way of any sweetness.
posted by kavasa at 6:24 PM on June 22, 2010

Definitely inside jokes.

I've been out of town for two weeks dealing with family drama, and I'm really missing my fiance and my dog, so radiofiance has been sending me "Corgi of the Day" photos - really cute/funny shots of our dog. Make me laugh/smile every time.
posted by radioamy at 6:26 PM on June 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

This thread might be useful to you :)
posted by chara at 6:30 PM on June 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

I got this one that said, basically, "You need to move out by 1pm tomorrow"

That wasn't what you wanted to hear.

I'd just say,

Fais de beau réves

and call r done.

texting is a hard medium to show true, honest, emotion.
posted by alex_skazat at 6:40 PM on June 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

Sweet sound of violin playing at this spa has me yearning to plant a deep kiss onto ur lips.

That was months ago and I still think about it.

- AJ
posted by Alaska Jack at 7:00 PM on June 22, 2010

"You were all over my dream last night. We went to see devo and they were japanese. I love you"

It should fulfill the requirements of being spontaneous, unsolicited, personalized, and affectionate.
posted by telegraph at 7:56 PM on June 22, 2010 [8 favorites]

I love Emily Dickinson.

Let me not mar that perfect dream
By an auroral stain,
But so adjust my daily night
That it will come again.


To lose thee, sweeter than to gain
All other hearts I knew.
’T is true the drought is destitute,
But then I had the dew!
posted by rachaelfaith at 8:06 PM on June 22, 2010

Not what you're going for, but I've saved it. I've become friendly with the guys who work at my corner store which is something like a... hipster bodega with an emphasis on craft beer. One arranged for me to buy an expensive bottle of beer through his distributor, then there was some issue about how it had to be sent back, then we got a replacement. Early on in this, the manager said "Gimme your number. I'll let you know when we get what you want in." One day I was at a meeting and I saw a text. It was from him, and it just reads "Hey dude beer is here". Customer service FTW.

I get picture messages of dogs frequently from friends. I like dogs.

One time I was busting my ass on a project and couldn't go hang out with my friends. I got a text that said "Dude we love you! You can do it!"

Generally, it's the "I saw this little thing out in the world & thought of you" ones that get me right here.
posted by knile at 9:07 PM on June 22, 2010 [3 favorites]

The best ones are so personal, usually inside jokes, or unexpected messages that somehow communicate that the sender was thinking fondly of the recipient. "Spontaneous, unsolicited, personalized, and affectionate" is exactly it.

This is a hard question to answer, because the real answer is probably that nothing we can tell you will be as good as what you think up on your own. I recently broke and replaced my phone, and I'm having trouble getting rid of it, because it has in its memory the 90 best text messages I've received over the last few years. I just went through all of them to see if any were good answers to this question, but while I get all nostalgic when I read one that just says "penis pump," I'm pretty sure that won't work for you. Ditto "colon slides?" and "blizzard conditions," and I'm quite sure "september's birthstone is recession specials" doesn't even parse for anyone else. And that opacity is part of what makes them so wonderful and moving.

One of the best text messages I've ever gotten was from my old best friend, who knew I was going through a bad breakup, and had been playing phone tag with me across a couple of time zones for days. It just said "I suck at phones." What it has in common with all of the above messages is that it means "I love you."
posted by dizziest at 10:53 PM on June 22, 2010 [10 favorites]

"A martini is not blue. Do I need to come get you?"
posted by deep thought sunstar at 12:03 AM on June 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

My SO speaks some German but not Spanish and I speak Spanish but not German. I just text him phonetic German and he sends back butchered Spanish.

Should be: Ich liebe dich auch. or Hasta manaña querida.

What we send: Ish leave a dish owk. or Hasta maoana Kereeda.
posted by ShadePlant at 9:24 AM on June 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Definitely about the injokes and in the moment just between us type references. That said, here's one I still remember from fairly recently that isn't like that, for once. I wrote about it in my journal:

R. called me a few days ago while at work to make sure I felt ok (I had just gotten my cold). I missed his call because the very moment he called my stovetop sugaring process was...not going so well, ugh. Once I threw the fire hazard out and started over I texted him to let him know why.

I also could tell his swoony affection the past few days was partly due to my um, uncharacteristic-these-days friskiness that came out of nowhere (fever-induced mania?) this week. Hell, I had a disturbingly vivid freakin' sex dream about DICK CHENEY and R. yes both of them, one night (I would not wish this on anybody, no).

M (me):
Sorry, when you called I was making a banana dessert for you!

R:
I am drooling for you!

M:
I burned my tongue making the rum butterscotch topping. :( You deserve a banana dessert for saving that bunch for me without me even thinking to ask. <3>
R:
I will kiss it better when I get home.
posted by ifjuly at 9:42 AM on June 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

nthing the in-jokes. I have a friend who is prone to texting or emailing "You're my fucking hero." when I've done him a favor. Gets me every time.
posted by pixiecrinkle at 10:13 AM on June 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

I was volunteering for a presidential campaign in New Hampshire. It was the night of the Iowa caucus when my then-boyfriend/now-husband texted me to say, "In the caucus of my heart, you get all the delegates." Loved it.
posted by kat518 at 10:34 AM on June 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

In-jokes, absolutely. Always in-jokes. An ex of mine pronounced "I love you" as things like late night texts when I was stuck at work saying e.g. "You smell!"

It doesn't really translate. You gotta do what you two know.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:05 PM on June 24, 2010 [1 favorite]