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I was kidding with friends about them sending me something irrealistic. The written answer I got was:

тока позже!))

with "))" being what I think are the Russian emoticons for lol (without eyes - just the smile). позже is after but in lingvo I didn't find something really helpful in order to translate тока, which is presummably the genitive of ток.

What does тока позже mean?

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  • 2
    Overusing of "))" is very common in Russia. There is even a joke about it: No smiles @ Serious conversation.
    – kemerover
    Sep 24, 2013 at 7:47
  • My interpretation of that phrase would be close to "yeah right".
    – Tonyk
    Mar 18, 2015 at 18:14

3 Answers 3

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"Тока" is a (usually intentionally) incorrect spelling of "только", imitating its common pronunciation (similar to "чо" = "что"). "Тока позже" thus means "only later" or "just later". The unmatched parentheses are indeed emoticons (I don't think this form is specific to Russia though).

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    )) is much more prevalent in Russian than elsewhere because to type : on Russian keyboard layout you have to use Shift+6, while on English (US) layout it's Shift+;, which is much easier to type with one hand. So many people don't bother and skip the : when typing in Russian. BTW, that's also why you sometimes see Ж)) instead.
    – Igor Skochinsky
    Sep 12, 2013 at 19:27
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    @IgorSkochinsky I've always wondered about that, thanks! Although I very much doubt anyone using an English keyboard would write a : with one hand!
    – Matt Fletcher
    Sep 13, 2013 at 8:21
  • I do it all the time :)
    – Igor Skochinsky
    Sep 13, 2013 at 9:20
  • @IgorSkochinsky It's not clear what you mean by 'easier to type with one hand'. Both Shift + ; and Shift + 6 require both hands for typing.
    – UVV
    Mar 6, 2015 at 8:52
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    @uvv the ';' key is very close to the right shift, so you can easily type ':' with just the right hand. See e.g. here
    – Igor Skochinsky
    Mar 8, 2015 at 18:32
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тока = is translating as = just, (right now), for the record guys, I'm russian )) = middle type smile)

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тока позже could be like "but/only later"
e.g.
да, тока позжеlike yes, but/only later

examples of right form
http://www.linguee.com/english-russian/search?source=auto&query=%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%BE+%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B6%D0%B5

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