Social media acronyms are becoming a language all of their own. Not only are they used to shorthand different messages and phrases, but they are also increasingly being used to underpin emotions, responses, and reactions.
While some acronyms and abbreviations are completely new and fixed to the social media sphere, others add new meaning to existing shorthand phrases.
ASL is one which falls under the latter category – with an existing meaning and a brand new meaning within the social media (and specifically the TikTok) sphere.
What Does ASL Mean?
Traditionally, ASL means American Sign Language.
On TikTok, however, ASL is increasingly popping up in lowercase – reading as ‘asl’. In these instances, ‘asl’ stands for ‘as hell’ and is popped on the end of thoughts, messages, and captions to really drive home the point being made.
For example…
- “I’m feeling tired asl” – to mean “I’m feeling tired as hell”
- “That dog is old asl’ – to mean “That dog is old as hell”
Suffice to say, if there’s anywhere that has the power and the following to reimagine entire phrases and acronyms, it’s TikTok. But are you a user of the original ASL or the new social media meaning?
