Here's a new one for you, slang-loving people of the Internet: What does “textpectation” mean? It's clearly a portmanteau of “text” and “expectation,” which makes it the perfect word to describe what happens when we've sent a text to someone, only to find ourselves staring at the horror that is the typing awareness indicator for an unbearable amount of time. But let's dig a little deeper, shall we? Here's everything you need to know about this delightful little term.
What Does It Mean?
“Textpectation's” earliest entry in the Urban Dictionary dates back to 2006. Simple and succinct, it defines the term as, “The anticipation one feels when waiting for a response to a text message.” The example given is, “I just texted her for a date — but now the textpectation is killing me.” Several additional entries subsequently appeared in 2009 under an alternative spelling — “Texpectation,” minus the extra T — all of which say pretty much the same thing:
- “At the point where a text message is sent to someone there is an expectation to receive one back, this wait… usually long and painful is known as the 'texpectation.'”
- “When you expect all your friends, family, co-workers, and anyone you know and ever will know, to be just as fast with text responses that [sic] you are.”
- “When some one [sic] is fully engaged in a tex [sic] conversation and is waiting for a reply.”
And more recently — by which I mean May 18, 2015, that is, yesterday — the word was submitted to Merriam-Webster's New Words and Slang Archive attached to the definition, “The experience of anticipating a text.”
To be fair, “textpectation” doesn't apply only to the typing awareness indicator; it can rear its impatient little head whenever you launch a text message out into the ether, regardless as to whether you're actually watching the typing awareness indicator immediately afterward or not. However, there can be no denying that those three little dots that tell you when someone is typing out a message in real time make the whole thing that much worse — especially if they vanish inexplicably and no message is forthcoming. But hey, at least we know how long the typing awareness indicator lasts for a variety of different devices now, right?
What Does “Textpectation” Feel Like?
First, you're like:
Then you're like:
Then you're like:
Then you're like:
Then you're like:
Then you're like:
Finally, you're like:
And then you're like:
It's a vicious cycle.
Images: Ron Wiecki/Flickr; Giphy (9)
