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1.13: Social Media Frenches- les abréviations sur Twitter

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As in other languages, abbreviations are often in French when writing on social media (=les réseaux sociaux) and sending text messages (=des textos, des sms). This is because abbreviations are shorter than the whole word and take less space and time to write. Here is a list of some common abbreviations in French:

bjr = bonjour

a+ = à plus

bcp = beaucoup

biz = bisous

dsl = désolé(e)

pkoi = pourquoi

Consultez French Texting - Les Textos Français pour une liste plus compréhensive.

** Potential ADAPT/H5P problem

Step 1. Select three abbreviations from the list linked above. You will then look for these forms on Twitter to see how French speakers use them in their messaging.

Step 2. Go to Explore Twitter. (NB: If you have a Twitter account, it will ask you to sign in. If you do not, pair up with a classmate). In the “Search Twitter” field at the top of the page, enter one of your three expressions as a hashtag and hit Enter, e.g., #bcp.

Step 3. Scroll through the list of tweets it produced and look for the expression you searched for within each message.

Answer the following questions:

Step 4. Return to the search field at the top of the page where you entered your expression as a hashtag. To the right of the field, you should see three dots. Click on the dots and click “Advanced Search.”

In the field labeled “Any of these words,” type the three expressions / words you selected from the list above (enter them as plain words this time and not hashtags) and hit Enter. (NB: If you have a Twitter account and are signed into Twitter, you may also be able to constrain the language of the tweets you are searching. Set this to “French” for a more focused search). Answer the following questions


This page titled 1.13: Social Media Frenches- les abréviations sur Twitter is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Géraldine Blattner, Amanda Dalola, and Stéphanie Roulon via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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