Texting style quiz › The Dry Texter

Texting styles

The Dry Texter

Short, plain, done.

Dry texting means short, plain replies like “k”, “yep” or “sent”: the answer, and not much else.

Find your texting style

A free quiz: pick the reply you’d send in 12 everyday moments. About 3 minutes.

What it sounds like

Three everyday texts, answered the Dry Texter way. Every style’s page answers the same three, so you can compare.

With a friend · A friend asks about Friday.

want to see a movie Friday?

fri works

With family · Your aunt mailed you a birthday present.

Did the package get there?

yep got it

At work · A coworker missed yesterday’s meeting.

Can you send me the notes from yesterday?

sent

How it lands

What it does well

Short and clear, with no drama. Nobody has to dig through a wall of text to find your answer.

Where it trips

Without your voice, short can read as cold, and people may wonder if you’re upset when you’re fine.

What one study found

In three experiments, one-word text replies read differently with a period. “Yeah.” seemed less sincere than “Yeah”, and replies like “Nope.” and “Maybe.” seemed more negative or less enthusiastic.

Houghton, K. J., Upadhyay, S. S. N., & Klin, C. M. (2018). Punctuation in text messages may convey abruptness. Period. Computers in Human Behavior, 80, 112–121.

One thing to try

Porcupine · a tipAdd one warm word or a question.

Instead ofok

Tryok, thanks

Why it helps: Honest and hearable ›

How it reads to other styles

With warmer texters

The Straight Shooter · The Easy Read · The Hype Texter · The Over-Apologizer

Your plainer texts may read as upset to them, even when you’re fine.

Try: Add one warm word: “ok, thanks, see you at 7.”

With less direct texters

The Hint Dropper

When they hint, you might miss it, and when you’re plain, it can land harder on them than you mean.

Try: When a reply from them feels vague, ask: “Is there something you’d like me to do?”

The Dry Texter with each style

Where each pairing works, where it trips, and one thing each can try.

If someone texts you like this

A short reply usually says less than it seems to. Before you read a mood into “k”, read the words.

Short isn’t a feeling

“k” or “sent” usually means just that: the answer. Without a voice, it’s easy to hear a tone that isn’t there.

Look for a change, not a length

If their texts are always short, one more short one says little. If they’re usually chattier, it’s fair to check in.

Ask about the plan, not their mood

“Are you mad?” puts them on the spot. A plain question gets a plain answer.

If they sayk

Porcupine · a tipIf you’re not sure how it landed, ask about the plan. It gives them an easy way to say more.

You could sayStill good for Saturday? Happy to move it if not.

What one study found

In three experiments, people writing and reading emails felt sure they’d gotten the emotion right, but they were wrong more often than they thought. Writers expected friends to read them better than strangers would, but friends were no more accurate.

Riordan, M. A., & Trichtinger, L. A. (2017). Overconfidence at the keyboard: Confidence and accuracy in interpreting affect in e-mail exchanges. Human Communication Research, 43(1), 1–24.

Free tool · Is this text dry?Got a text like this?Paste it in to see a few ways it could be read, and what you could say back. We don’t save it.Check a text

Common questions

What does dry texting mean?

Replies with only the answer in them: no extra words, exclamation points or emoji, and often no question back. “yep got it” is a dry text.

Is dry texting rude?

Not by itself. A short reply is often just efficient. It can read as cold when the other person was hoping for warmth, like after good news or a hard text, so those are the moments to add a word.

Am I a dry texter?

If most of your replies are a word or two, maybe. The quiz gives you twelve everyday moments and shows how your replies tend to run, in about three minutes.

How do I stop being a dry texter?

You don’t have to. Short texts are clear. When it matters, add one warm word or a question: “ok, thanks” instead of “ok”.

What’s your texting style?

Pick the reply you’d really send in twelve everyday moments, and see your style, how it lands and one thing to try.