tlk

A bare-bones text messaging abbreviation for 'talk', shedding the vowels to save precious keystrokes back when typing on a T9 keypad was a workout. It belongs to the early 2000s era of SMS shorthand, alongside 'lol', 'brb', and 'u ok?'. While largely superseded by smarter keyboards and autocomplete, 'tlk' still pops up in casual texts and DMs from people who never quite shook the old habit — or are deliberately going retro.