Gr8 nu dictionary 4 txt msgs

Mobile phones may have spawned a new language but it is pretty much indecipherable to most people.

Now Collins, the dictionary publisher, is bringing out its first guide to the phrases, acronyms and shortcuts used by mobile phone users.

The more obvious translations included are w8 (wait), r (are) and 4 (for). But for many people, the inclusion of some of the more complex letter strings will be of greatest benefit.

Ones that are being used more and more are wombat (waste of money, brains and time), ihtfp (I have truly found paradise) and awgthtgtta (are we going to have to go through this again).

The company, which sells 600,000 dictionaries a year in Britain and five million worldwide, has compiled its list of text words by studying the content of messages and by checking websites, newspapers, magazines and books for new abbreviations.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, over 60 million text messages are expected to be sent. This has prompted the decision to opt for a separate dictionary.