Your Internet Consultant - The FAQs of Life Online
11.2. What does that acronym stand for?
The online world is filled with cryptic abbreviations and acronyms. Many of
these arise out of a need to save time, a desire to type fewer characters, or
laziness or pure silliness. Below is a partial list of acronyms you'll see on
the Internet (especially on the Usenet, MUDs, and IRC) and their translations.
Of course, you'll also find terms such as RAM, CD-ROM, and SCSI, but these
computer terms were born in laboratory test tubes, not in cyberspace.
While researching this answer, I ran across a posting by Dan Hofferth, who sums
up the acronym problem nicely: "BTW, FWIW, I once saw an amusing (IMHO) summary
of common e-mail abbreviations somewhere on Internet. Apparently, it has been
long forgotten or nobody RTFM. IAE, I kept thinking that I'd repost it again,
RSN, to cut down on these FAQ's re: TLAs. Guess I could summarize now. If,
after reading it, you find that you are SITD, remember that TANSTAAFL."
- AFK Away from keyboard
- b4 Before
- BAK Back at keyboard (used on MUDs and talk sessions)
- BBL Be back later
- BCNU Be seeing you
- BRB Be right back
- BTSOOM Beats the s*** out of me
- BTW By the way
- BYOH Bat you onna head
- CFV Call for votes
- CU See you
- CUL See you later
- CUL8R See you later
- DYJHIW Don't you just hate it when...
- F2F Face-to-face, or meeting in person
- FAQ Frequently asked question or frequently asked questions list
- FUBAR Fouled up beyond all recognition
- FWIW For what it's worth
- FYA For your amusement
- FYI For your information
- GA Go ahead
- GR&D Grinning, running, & ducking
- HHOJ Ha ha only joking
- HHOK Ha ha only kidding
- HHOS Ha ha only serious
- IAE In any event
- IANAL I am not a lawyer
- IMHO In my humble opinion
- IMO In my opinion
- IOW In other words
- IRL In real life
- JASE Just another system error
- L8R Later
- LOL Laughing out loud
- MORF Male or female?
- MOTAS Member of the appropriate sex
- MOTOS Member of the opposite sex
- MOTSS Member of the same sex
- NFW No f***ing way
- NRN No reply necessary
- OBTW Oh, by the way
- OIC Oh, I see
- OTOH On the other hand
- PD Public domain
- PITA Pain in the ass
- rehi Hello again
- RFD Request for discussion
- ROFL Rolling on floor laughing
- ROTFL Rolling on the floor laughing
- RSN Real soon now
- RTFM Read the fine manual (except the f doesn't stand for
fine)
- SITD Still in the dark
- SNAFU Situation normal, all fouled up
- SO Significant other
- SOL S*** outta luck
- SW Shareware
- TANSTAAFL There ain't no such thing as a free lunch
- TIA Thanks in advance
- TIC Tongue in cheek
- TLA Three-letter acronym (also ETLA, extended three-letter acronym)
- TNX 1.0E6 Thanks a million
- TNX Thanks
- TTFN Ta-ta for now
- TTYL Talk to you later
- WRT With regard to, or with respect to
- WTF What the f**** or who the f***
- WTH What the hell?!
- YKYBHTLW You know you've been hacking too long when...
- .oO () This is a thought bubble, like in the cartoons. .oO (See?)
- <g> Grin
- <gr&d> Grinning, running,
and ducking
Table of Contents | Previous Section | Next Section