Etymology

aolbonics

A1O1L1B3O1N1I1C3S1

Today it means: The practice of speaking using numbers, or using short phonetic spellings as a shorthand to save on keystrokes. Full definition →

Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

Blend of AOL + Ebonics, since the Internet service provider AOL was often regarded as having a high proportion of barely literate Internet users.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.