What does texting tbh mean

It can be typed in either lowercase or upper-case, or have the T capitalized at the beginning of the sentence. People rarely put dots between the letters, so don't worry about doing that.

TBH's primary use is to declare that a statement is coming from the honesty of the person speaking it. Its usage can range from snarky attacks to humble self-reflection.

It can also be used jokingly when the poster isn't genuinely being honest but uses the acronym for added comedic effect. You can use this version of TBH anywhere you like. TBH is recognized internet-wide, from message boards to social media. If you're typing something in a casual setting, feel free to drop a TBH, should the need arise. IMO can also be used at the beginning or end of a sentence to signal that the user is giving their honest opinion on a topic.

This is when someone is giving an honest take that's typically playing devil's advocate to a statement or opinion. If you venture onto Instagram, you'll see that TBH takes on another meaning. Users will use TBH as if it were a noun; for example, "like for a tbh" or "I'll give you a tbh.

People will often post images that say "like for a tbh. When used for complimenting, TBH typically goes at the very start of the sentence "tbh I love your hair". Some Instagram users, however, won't give a TBH if they don't have anything nice to say about the requester, which they believe is honest enough to fit the original meaning of TBH.

Though 'tbh' "to be honest" is well established in informal communication, it appears less frequently in published, edited text.

That's why it isn't in the dictionary. The problem, of course, is when one's reader is among those unfortunate uninitiated. If the wielder of the opaque abbreviations doesn't know or doesn't care about the reader's uninitiated status, the reader has to either guess at the meaning or wander away to discover it. Not at all desirable, imo "in my opinion". Note: If we wanted to express either an amount of diffidence or a flat-out rejection of diffidence, we'd use imho or imnsho : "in my humble opinion" or "in my not so humble opinion," respectively.

Btw that's "by the way" , abbreviations like these are not a new phenomenon. But it is certainly true that computers including the ones that are the phones in our pockets have led to the creation and dissemination of scads of new ones. Afaik "as far as I know" , most of the other abbreviations mentioned so far date at least to the early days of Usenet , which began in the s.

And yet, most of these abbreviations have yet to be entered into our dictionaries. Why is that, you might ask? Well, lexicographers encounter these abbreviations in the same way everyone else does—that is, in informal written communication, and not, as a rule, in the usual environs of good dictionary candidates i.

Other options, like best feature or confession , request different information but involve the same desire for affirmation, feedback, and social or romantic bonding. Rating reduces a person to a number, which can be hurtful.

This is not meant to be a formal definition of tbh, rate, and date like most terms we define on Dictionary. Feedback See Today's Synonym. Word of the Day. Meanings Meanings.

Taylor Gang. Examples Origin Usage. Slang dictionary tbh, rate, and date [ tee -bee- eych ] [reyt] [deyt] What does tbh, rate, and date mean?