Help me decode the Linear B of teens

October 26, 2008 12:10 PM

Help me decode the Linear B of teens

A young relative of mine recently made the following comments on her facebook page. What the hell does this mean?

I'm tpubg reu*p!
KWR-PL
SM-TS
O*BG

I'm a a USMC TKPWOEUF!

posted by mattholomew to Society & Culture (10 answers total)

Best answer: It seems to be stenographic shorthand related stuff. Googling various bits individually

tpubg = fuck

TKPWOEUF = girlfriend, which makes sense in context if she is dating someone in the marines.

(Why these abbreviations are easier is beyond me)
posted by pseudonick at 12:22 PM on October 26, 2008

Is your relative a stenographer?!

TKPWOEUF is stenotype for "girlfriend".
posted by rokusan at 12:24 PM on October 26, 2008

Or, as pseudonick said.

(They're only "easier" on one of those steno keyboards.)
posted by rokusan at 12:25 PM on October 26, 2008

Yeah, if her boyfriend is a black Marine, this is solved. :)
posted by rokusan at 12:26 PM on October 26, 2008

A steno keyboard only has certain keys, so they're not abbreviations as much as substitutions.
posted by smackfu at 1:12 PM on October 26, 2008

I didn't know anything about stenotype until just now, but after skimming the Wikipedia article, it seems like "reu*p" probably means something like "rick". "PWR" is stenotype for the initial "y" sound and "PL" stands for final "m", but the significance of the "-" is lost on me. The letter "M" does not appear in stenotype, so I have no idea what "SM-TS" means. "*BG" doesn't show up on Wikipedia's table, but "BG" is final for "k" and "*PBG" is final for "nk". "O" by itself is the short "o" vowel sound.

Don't know if that helps. Seems like someone's deliberately trying to keep prying eyes in the dark.
posted by ErWenn at 7:09 PM on October 26, 2008

The KWR-PL is used to represent the M sound at the end of words like "nauseam" or "potassium", so it may just be "Yum", "am", or even "I'm".

And yeah, they're not abbreviations -- probably the best way to think of them is as "chords" (like Ctrl-Alt-Del). You end up with something that is vaguely phonetic, but under a specific semi-standardized code called a "theory". Theories can differ depending on equipment and employer, so it isn't as simple as finding an English-steno dictionary. A couple of letters can represent an entire phrase -- or vice versa.

My best guess for "reu*p" is *cough* something like "ripe". Which doesn't scan, I know. I suspect the middle lines may be a phonetic slangy spelling out along the lines of OH MY GAWD. Just a hunch based on context. The O*BG might be "OK" or OH-KAY.
posted by dhartung at 1:24 AM on October 27, 2008

Guys: I'm pretty sure reu*p is "African".
posted by rokusan at 3:15 AM on October 27, 2008

So... collating everything we have as of yet together we get:

I'm fuck African!
I'm
SM-TS
O*BG

I'm a United States Marine Corps girlfriend.

That doesn't make much sense to me... are you sure reu*p is African, rokusan?
posted by Kattullus at 9:12 PM on October 27, 2008

I believe it's "fucking an African (American)".
posted by rokusan at 3:43 PM on October 29, 2008