Why laugh when you can say "El oh el" instead?
For that matter, saying "Ninety-nine" at the end of an evening works just as well as "Nighty-night." Need to cheer up a friend? Try whispering, "Less than three." When typed, it makes a sideways heart <3.
The strange slang of instant messaging (IMing for those in the know) has infiltrated the ever-changing dialect known as teen speak. It is one thing that teens' online chit-chat is littered with abbreviations, acronyms, phonetic spellings and other shortcuts on the computer screen. But now many are talking as if they have keyboards permanently attached to their brains.