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Information about Internet slang

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:

   * AFAIC --- "as far as I'm concerned", or "as far as I care"
   * AFAIK --- "as far as I know"
   * AFAIR --- "as far as I recall", or "as far as I remember"
   * AFK --- "away from keyboard"
   * BBL --- "be back later"
   * BRB --- "be right back" (usually used in chats and on an instant
     messenger service).
   * BTW --- "by the way"
   * cya --- "see you", used as a goodbye.
   * CYS --- "Check your settings". A phrase often said by technical support
     staff of a certain Australian ISP.
   * FAQ --- "Frequently Asked Question"
   * FYI --- "for your information"
   * G2G --- "Got to go". Used in chatrooms.
   * 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.
   * 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 didnt know."
   * IIRC --- "if I recall correctly"
   * IMHO --- "in my humble opinion" / "in my honest opinion"
   * IMO --- "in my opinion"
   * IMNSHO --- "in my not-so-humble opinion"
   * IRC --- "Internet Relay Client"
   * IRL - "in real life". Used in MUD settings.
   * IYDMMA --- "if you don't mind me asking", for ex., "IYDMMA, are you a
     virgin?"
   * JJ or JK --- "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"
   * l8r --- a shorthand spelling of "later"
   * LIEK --- Synonym of like, as in "I like that website".
   * LOL --- "laughing out loud", or "lots of laughs" (a reply to something
     amusing)
   * MYOB --- "mind your own business"
   * NM --- "never mind"
   * NOYB --- "none of your business"
   * OIC --- "oh, I see"
   * OOC --- "out-of-character". Used on MUDs and other role-playing games.
     Also, "out of curiosity."
   * prog --- "computer program" (progz in plural)
   * prolly --- contracted form of "probably"
   * plz --- shorthand spelling of "please"
   * Pwn --- Step up of the word Own. To "Pwn something" means to have
     complete control over it, and to be "Pwned by something" means to by
     dominated by it.
   * R --- shorthand spelling of "are"
   * RL --- "real life". Used in MUD settings.
   * ROTFL or ROFL --- "rolling on the floor laughing" (a reply to something
     extremely amusing).
   * thx --- shorthand spelling of "thanks" - this can be combined into
     "kthx" (OK, thanks), "plzkthx" (Please, OK, thanks), and "kthxbye" (OK,
     thanks, goodbye)
   * TIA --- "thanks in advance"
   * TTYL --- "talk to you later"
   * U --- a shorthand spelling of "you"
   * WDUWTA ---- What do u wanna talk about?
   * YMMV --- "Your mileage may vary" (you may see different results)
   * w00t --- Exclamation of excitement or happiness. (short for woohoo)
   * X > * --- Definition of something [X] is better than everything [*].

Others express concepts peculiar to the Net:

   * newbie --- a new user. Not a pejorative term (but see RTFM, preceding).
   * noob --- a new user. Also spelled n00b, with two zeroes rather than two
     O's
   * 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.
   * troll --- a person who deliberately stirs up trouble (see article).
   * lurker --- one who reads an email list or a message board but does not
     participate in the discussion.
   * 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.

The peculiar thing about internet abbreviations is that many people make
them up on the fly, therefore these abbreviations can often be confusing,
and impossible to completly cover without being impossibly meticulate. 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)
   * 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 latter 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.

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