Internet slang
simple:Net jargon
Internet users have developed many slang terms over the years. Most of these are not actually acronyms as they cannot be pronounced, but that is what they are called nonetheless. Many of these terms originated for saving keystrokes and are often written in lower case.
Popular abbreviations and acronyms
- <3 --- "love" (made from the ASCII-art heart between the less than symbol and the three). Ex: I <3 you.
- 2B - To be
- 2B||!2B -- "To be or not to be"; from the C programming language logic operation 'OR' “ || ” and 'NOT' “ ! ”.
- 4 - for
- AFAIC --- "as far as I'm concerned", or "as far as I care", or "as far as I can..."
- AFAIK --- "as far as I know"
- AFAIR --- "as far as I recall", or "as far as I remember"
- AFK --- "away from keyboard"
- ASAP --- "as soon as possible"
- BBL --- "be back later"
- BBS --- "be back soon"; also "bulletin board service"
- BFD --- "big fucking deal"
- BRB --- "be right back" (usually used in chats and on an instant messenger service).
- BTW --- "by the way"
- B2B --- "Business to Business"
- C&V --- Chapter & Verse. Used in newsgroups.
- C|N>K --- a Unix-ism meaning "coffee through nose into keyboard"
- cya --- "see you", used as a goodbye.
- CU --- "see you", used as a goodbye.
- CYS --- "Check your settings". A phrase often said by technical support staff of a certain Australian ISP.
- DMY --- "don't mess yourself" (from an episode of The Simpsons)
- FAQ --- "Frequently Asked Question"
- FFS --- "for fuck's sake!"
- FOAD --- "fuck off and die!"
- FOAF --- "friend of a friend", i.e. the dubious attribution given to urban legends
- FTP --- file transfer protocol
- FXP --- file eXchange protocol
- FYI --- "for your information"
- G2G, GTG --- "got to go" (used in chatrooms) or "good to go" (used mostly in online games).
- GAGF --- "go and get fucked"
- GFY --- "good for you" or "go fuck yourself". The use of this acronym is ambigious and not recommended.
- GG --- "good going" or "good game". Used sincerely in online games such as trivia, but more often used sarcastically when someone has done something foolish. Also, it is now becoming customary for all players to say "gg" when the game is over in such games as Counter-Strike, unless a player is profoundly displeased with the outcome.
- GJ --- "good job"
- h8 --- "hate"; or h1 to h9 to indicate how much does a person hates something. Example: "h9 brocoli."
- HAND --- "have a nice day"
- HTH --- "hope this helps"
- IANAL --- "I am not a lawyer". Usually used before a non-lawyer gives legal advice, as a humorous disclaimer.
- IANARS --- "I am not a rocket scientist"
- IC --- "I see", also, "in character" in MUDs and role-playing games.
- ICYDK / ICYDN / ICUDK -- "In case you didn't know."
- IIRC --- "if I recall correctly" c.f. ISTR
- IMHO --- "in my humble opinion" / "in my honest opinion"
- IMO --- "in my opinion"
- IMNSHO --- "in my not-so-humble opinion"
- IRC --- "Internet Relay Chat"
- IRL - "in real life". Used in MUD settings.
- ISTR --- "I seem to recall" (i.e. I'm not really sure) c.f. IIRC
- IYDMMA --- "if you don't mind me asking", for ex., "IYDMMA, are you a virgin?"
- JJ or JK (j/k) --- "just joking", "just kidding"
- Joo --- synonym of you. Also spelled j00 with a lower case j and two zeroes rather than two O's.
- JOOC --- "just out of curiosity"
- k --- short for "OK"
- l8 --- shorthand spelling of "late".
- l8r --- shorthand spelling of "later", as in "see you later"
- leet, l33t, 1337, 31337 --- short for "elite"
- LMAO --- "laughing my ass off"
- LOL --- "laughing out loud", or "lots of laughs" (a reply to something amusing)
- MYOB --- "mind your own business"
- NM (n/m) --- "never mind" or "not much"
- NOYB --- "none of your business"
- NP --- "No Problem"
- NSFW --- "Not safe for work." Indicates that a link should be avoided due to pornography or other content unsuitable for the workplace. Used by Fark and some message boards. See also SFW.
- NT --- "No Text", used on Internet forums or Usenet to indicate that a post has no content
- O --- "oh"
- OIC --- "oh, I see"
- OMG --- Exclamation, "Oh my God!!"
- omg. so leet. yes. --- Exclamation, "Oh my God; so elite, yes!"
- OMFG --- Exclamation, "Oh my fucking God!!"
- OMFL --- Exclamation, "Oh my fucking lag!"
- OOC --- "out-of-character". Used on MUDs and other role-playing games. Also, "out of curiosity."
- OT --- "off topic"
- OTOH --- "on the other hand"
- PFO --- "please fuck off"
- PITA --- "pain in the ass"
- PO (PO'd) --- "piss off" ("pissed off")
- plz --- shorthand spelling of "please"
- P2P --- "peer-to-peer"
- qoolz --- something that is "cool" in the American sense.
- R --- shorthand spelling of "are"
- RL --- "real life". Used in MUD settings.
- ROFL (or ROTFL) --- "rolling on the floor laughing" (a reply to something extremely amusing).
- ROFLMAO (or ROTFLMAO) --- "rolling on the floor laughing my ass off"
- RTFA --- "read the fucking article" applies mostly to Slashdot threads, for users who make comments on a story without having read it first.
- RTFM --- "read the fucking manual" (often sanitized to "read the fine manual"). The frequent reply to a request for basic help from newbies who have not attempted to find the answer for themselves.
- RTFP --- "read the fucking post", derived from RTFA and also used on Slashdot
- RU --- Are You?
- R8 --- right
- SFW --- "Safe for work." Material (pictures, webpages) that is safe for the office. Used by Fark. See NSFW.
- STFU --- "shut the fuck up"
- sux0rs --- leet speak for "sucks"
- TBH --- "to be honest"
- thx --- shorthand spelling of "thanks" - this can be combined into "kthx" (OK, thanks), "plzkthx" (Please, OK, thanks), and "kthxbye" (OK, thanks, goodbye)
- TTFN --- Ta Ta For Now
- TIA --- "thanks in advance"
- TTYL --- "talk to you later"
- U --- a shorthand spelling of "you"
- ur --- a shorthand spelling of "you're"
- w/e --- slang/abbreviation for whatever
- w/o --- without
- WDUWTA ---- "what do u wanna talk about?"
- WTF --- "what the fuck?"
- YMMV --- "Your mileage may vary" (you may see different results)
- w8 --- shorthand spelling of "wait".
- X > * --- definition of something [X] is better than everything [*].
Concepts
Others express concepts peculiar to the Net:
- cluebie --- a newbie with a clue, but not close to a guru.
- guru --- an expert in some technical topic, such as as C programming or Unix system administration
- FAQ --- frequently asked question, or a list of frequently asked questions with answers. Never seems to be written in small letters.
- flamer --- one who 'flames'; To rant on about some relatively uninteresting subject or with a patently ridiculous attitude or with hostility towards a particular person or group of people. "Flame" is used as a verb ("Don't flame me for this"), a flame is a single flaming message. Also is likely to relate to the term lamer.
- gamez --- illegally obtained games (c.f. warez).
- hijack --- to start an offtopic discussion, ex. "hijack a thread" on a message board.
- kewl --- alternate form of "cool".
- liek --- sarcastic misspelling of like, as in "I LEIK PIE". Often used as an insult to one's intelligence and/or typing ability.
- lurker --- one who reads an email list or a message board but does not participate in the discussion.
- luser --- synonym of "user", often derogatory.
- newbie --- a new user. Not a pejorative term (but see RTFM, preceding).
- noob --- shorthand spelling of "newbie". Also spelled 'n00b', with two zeroes rather than two O's (see leet) or 'newb'.
- own, 0wn, owned - to defeat someone (used commonly when playing Counter-Strike) or to humiliate someone tactically in a debate; something that is extremely cool (ex. BMWs totally own).
- pwn, pwned --- deliberate typo of the word own. To "pwn something" means to have complete control over it, and to be "pwned by something" means to be dominated by it. (see leet)
- r0x0rz --- leet speaks for "rocks"
- troll --- a person who deliberately stirs up trouble (see article).
- warez --- illegally obtained software.
- w00t --- exclamation of excitement or happiness; closely related to, "hell yea!" (short for woohoo) or We Owned the Other Team
Words incorporated to the English language
Internet abbreviations are often made up on the spot, therefore many of them can be confusing, obscure, or even nonsensical. This type of on-the-spot abbreviating leads to doldrums of such things as: OTP (on the phone), PO (pissed off), or the more common, OPTD (outside petting the dog). Another thing common to Internet communication is the truncation and morphing of words to more typing-friendly forms. These may one day creep into common usage and end up in the dictionary. Some examples of this are:
- addy for address (addys is the plural)
- pic for picture (pics or pix is the plural)
- prog for computer program
- prolly for probably
A special case of this last form is 'teh'. This is the corruption of 'the', and often pops up spontaneously when typing fast. So common is it, in fact, that it has made the jump to purposeful usage. Typically it is used in situations where one is being self-consciously enthusiastic, mimicking the less-grammatical Internet newbie: "That movie was teh suck!!", "The fight scene with all the Agent Smiths was TEH AWESOME", etc. This sarcastic usage originates with JeffK.
Internet writing is, by its nature, difficult to interpret, especially in chatrooms or on instant messaging, because much of it is quickly input, and many assume, falsely, their audience knows their body language. For instance; a LOL may be taken as genuine laughter or sarcasm, or as "whatever, stay away from me." So, for the sake of accurate and easily understandable communication, it is best to be as explicit as possible and make an effort to get your point across. Smilies such as :) can also be used to clarify emotional intent in internet messages.
See also
External Links