What Does 1437 Mean In Texting? (Explained!)

1437 in texting stands for “I love you forever,” based on the numbers corresponding to the number of letters in each word. This is a shorthand way of expressing absolute and undying love, though perhaps among the more confusing and at first impenetrable ways of saying so. It is very common on TikTok.

Texting slang can be either totally obvious in its meanings or it can be so opaque that there’s really no way you would figure out what something meant unless someone told you. “1437” certainly fits into the latter category, being almost esoteric in its true meaning.

Let’s find out more.

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What does 1437 stand for in texting?

1437 stands for “i love you forever” in texting.

This is because the numbers each correspond to the number of letters in each word of the phrase. “I” is one letter, “love” is four letters, “you” is three and “forever” is seven.

It’s a form of texting slang that is certainly not as widely used as others, especially given that the much clearer and more intuitive “ilyf” is very commonly used, has the same meaning and is understood by a greater number of people.

Nevertheless, many people do employ this phrase as almost a kind of secret code.

So, if someone sends you a message and adds this number to the end, there’s a good likelihood that this is what they are saying.

They are saying they love you forever and doing so in a kind of secretive way, perhaps to hide it from others–or perhaps because they’re confessing it to you!

In any case, unless there’s some specific reason someone would be sending you a string of four numbers, then there isn’t likely to be anything else that they mean by this.

It’s not an enormously common phrase but it’s also helpfully exclusive, and as long as it is code then this is going to be what it means.

Where do we get this phrase from, then?

Where does 1437 come from in texting?

It’s not precisely clear where this code comes from, although it is most widely claimed that it originated even before the era of mobile phones when beepers were still in widespread use.

Beepers were used for sending very short messages, usually without any necessary expectation of a response.

Messages were generally not longer than a few words, so being able to reduce a long phrase like this to a set of four words made it much easier to express.

Naturally, buzzers have not been used for a very long time except in some specific professions and circumstances.

So, in recent years, a revival of this kind of code has been spearheaded by social media platforms like TikTok, who have started using this old phrases as a kind of code.

Understanding what they mean sets you apart as someone who is “in the know”.

But that’s not to say that this code phrase has been entirely out of use since its recent revival. In the early days of texting, when everyone was using an alphanumeric keyboard, typing out full sentences took a great deal longer.

Shorthand phrases like this were swallowed up rapidly by the medium, and 1437 has been in use to an extent ever since.

That said, now that we all have QWERTY keyboards on our phones, the need for these kinds of abbreviations has lessened but hasn’t fallen entirely out of use.

What does 1437 mean on TikTok?

1437 means the same thing on TikTok that it does in texting, and as mentioned TikTok is part of the reason this old shorthand phrase has been revived.

TikTok is a hugely popular platform and tends to lead crazes and trends like this, but the meaning hasn’t changed from the original sense.If you see someone use it on TikTok, it still means “i love you forever”.

While many pieces of slang can be confusing to those who don’t keep up with it, this one in particular is often baffling and confounding to those who don’t use it.

So, why does anyone use 1437?

Why do people use 1437?

There are many reasons why people might use 1437, and the simplest is just that they’ve seen others using it.

Having a secret little phrase of your own like this, which not everyone understands, can be a nice feeling and a romantic message like this it can make it seem even more meaningful to some people.

On the other hand, though, language has always been a vehicle of determining ingroups and outgroups.

Because 1437 is not by any stretch intuitively understandable, those who know what it means only do so because they are part of the “ingroup” that uses it.

Furthermore, in certain settings, people may want to express their love for someone without others realizing or knowing what they’re saying.

You might send it to someone in a text so that they can understand your meaning while hiding it from everyone else, particularly at school age.

This particular piece of slang skirts the edges of slang and almost becomes a kind of secret code.

People might use it when they want to hide from others what they mean, or simply because it’s a quicker way of saying the whole phrase over text or on social media.

It’s definitely one of the stranger ways of saying it and indeed to many it might seem somewhat impersonal–to others, though, the kind of “in-language” it represents makes it even more meaningful.

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Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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