Teens on Facebook using code language for privacy

London, April 26 (ANI): Teenagers on social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo are using code language to keep their activities private and baffle nosey parents or employers, say researchers.

Tricky teenagers say they are 'getting MWI' - getting mad with, instead of writing that they are drunk.

Being in a relationship is known as 'taken' or 'Ownageeee', and 'Ridneck', a corruption of redneck, means to feel embarassed.

Girls posting the word 'legal' are secretly saying they are at least 16 years old and legally allowed to have sex.

The teens are using the secret online language to stop parents and employers judging them by their social activities.

Lisa Whittaker, a postgraduate student at the University of Stirling, who studied teens aged 16-18 on Bebo in Scotland, said the slang had been created for privacy.

"Young people often distort the languages they use by making the pages difficult for those unfamiliar with the distortions and colloquialisms," the Telegraph quoted her as saying.

"The language used on Bebo seems to go beyond abbreviations that are commonly used in text messaging, such as removing all the vowels.

"This is not just bad spelling, which would suggest literacy issues, but a deliberate attempt to creatively misspell words.

"The creation and use of their own social language may be a deliberate attempt to keep adults from understanding what is written on the page.

"By doing this they are able to communicate with their in-group and conceal the content from the out-group. This further adds to their online identity," she added. (ANI)