Humor Web Humor What Does WUD Mean? This acronym can actually be written two different ways Share PINTEREST Email Print Image made with Canva Web Humor Memes Holiday Humor By Elise Moreau Elise Moreau BCom. in Business and Information Technology, University of Ontario Post-Graduate Diploma, Small Business Entrepreneurship, George Brown College Elise Moreau is a writer that has covered social media, messaging, and streaming. Her work has appeared on Techvibes, SlashGear, Lifehack, and others. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on 01/23/20 WUD stands for: What You Doing? This is a slang phrase or slang question used instead of the grammatically correct version, "What are you doing?" The word "are" is left out for shortness and simplicity. How WUD Is Used WUD is typically used at the beginning of a conversation online or in a text message. It can be used to start a conversation and get the ball rolling or shortly after the conversation has started to keep it going. Using WUD is one of the easiest acronyms to use to show interest in the other person/people who are part of the conversation. It can be used on its own to keep it basic or it can be paired with other words/phrases for context recognition. WUD may or may not be accompanied by a question mark at the end. Regardless of whether or not the question mark is present, it's always meant to be used as a question. Examples of WUD in Use Example 1 Friend #1: "Hey" Friend #2: "Yo" Friend #1: "Wud" Friend #2: "Nmu?" Here's an extremely basic example of how a text conversation might start between two friends. After both making contact, Friend #1 tries to keep the conversation going by using WUD to ask Friend #2 what they're currently up to. Friend #2 responds with NMU, which means Nothing Much, You? Example 2 Friend #1: "Wud after 5 tomorrow? Wanna hang?" Friend #2: "I've got work until 5:30 but after that I'm free to chill" This second example shows how the question WUD can be expanded upon with additional information. Friend #1 doesn't just want to know what Friend #2 is doing in the moment; they want to know what they'll be doing specifically after 5 o'clock the next day. Example 3 Facebook status update: "If u think idk wud when u like my profile pic then ur wrong! I know ur crushing on me ;)" Lastly, this final example demonstrates how WUD can fit almost anywhere in a sentence if used correctly. This Facebook user chooses to use it in an if/then statement directly before another acronym — IDK, which stands for I Don't Know. WUD vs. WYD You might have already noticed that in the acronym WUD, the letter U is used to represent the word you instead of following the pattern of the words by using the first letter of the word it stands for. If this were the case, the acronym would be WYD. It turns out that both WUD and WYD are acronyms that are used equally in text speak and online, both of which stand for the same thing. The acronym that an individual choose to use really just comes down to a matter of personal preference, or which acronym is easiest to interpret correctly. Some people might be confused by the U in the middle of the acronym since it doesn't follow the first letter pattern of the two other words, in which case WYD would be the better acronym to use. On the other hand, (or OTOH if you're really getting the hang of these acronyms) some people might be so used to seeing the word you replaced with the letter U that WUD would make more sense to them. Similar Acronyms to WUD/WYD Many other acronyms follow the same first letter word pattern and slang styles as WUD and WYD. Their slang phrases typically omit at least one word, such as "do" or "are." These include: WYM: What You Mean? (What do you mean?) WYS: What You Saying? (What are you saying?) WYW: What You Want? (What do you want?) WYN: What You Need? (What do you need?) WYA: Where You At? (Where are you at?) WYG: Where You Going? (Where are you going?) WYC: Why You Care? (Why do you care?)