|
Internet slang (also AOL speak, AOLbonics — coined to sound like ebonics) consists of slang that users of the Internet have developed and utilized. Many of its terms originated with the purpose of saving keystrokes, e.g., "u" for "you", "r" for "are", "4" for "for", etc. The terms often appear in lower case, with capitals often reserved for emphasis - the pronoun "I", for example, often appears simply as "i". The untrained eye often finds Internet slang difficult to interpret because content in spoken language that speakers convey in the intonation and tone of the voice, such as sarcasm, do not readily transfer to written text.
Although Internet slang has a close relationship with leetspeak, only programmers and online gamers traditionally used leet, whereas much larger groups of Internet users commonly use Internet slang.
The Internet environment can utilise emoticons such as ":)" in an attempt to clarify emotional intent in Internet messages. As with other internet slang, netizens may use emoticons both genuinely and sarcastically; for example the ":-P" emoticon, which can express either genuine amusement and a sense of fun, or express a negative sarcastic comment on something another user might have said.
Chat acronyms or chaq (pronounced "chalk") originally developed on pre-Internet bulletin board systems. A handful (e.g. ASAP, PO'ed) far pre-date computers. The three-letter acronym (TLA) remains one of the most popular types of abbreviation in computing and telecom terminology and slang. Similar systems have since come into use with users of text-messaging wireless telephones.
These lists could usefully expand to include citations of the earliest usage, where references exist.
Abbreviations and acronyms
Characters
Internet abbreviations evolve and change continually. Online games provide a good place to observe language like this in use. Often, people uninterested in computer programming do not understand the more classically "nerdy" phrases like "2B||!2B" (which means "to be, or not to be"), thus they become useless or appear only in minority forums.
- ^H — Signifies pressing the backspace key. "What an idio^H^H^H^Hinsightful comment!" (Stems from the use of Ctrl + H as backspace in some Unix shells)
- ^W — Similarly, this means erasing the last word. "I mean, who really gives a^W^W cares?"
- > — Greater than (as in "Linux > Windows" or "Windows > Linux"). Use of an asterisk (*) in this context sometimes denotes a wildcard, e.g. "John > *" means "John is greater than all". (Depending on context, the reader may substitute the word "owns" in place of the phrase "is greater than"
- ^ ^ or ^__^ or ^^ — an emoticon signifying happiness, especially used by anime fans. "Chuckle marks"
- >_< or >< — an emoticon signifying frustration, similar to the ^ ^.
- >_> — an emoticon used to indicate sarcasm or suspicion, sometimes used with <_< to indicate shifty eyes.
- >^.^< — cat face or a face that has crinkled up with laughter.
- x__x — dead, unconsious, etc.
- ^__~ — wink
- -__- — same as >_<
- ^o^ — laughing, cheerful, similar to ^^
- ^^__^^ — Angel
- =^__^= — Cat face
- -^__^- — Blushing
- _|_ — an offensive emoticon signifying the middle finger
- _W_ — "What ever", "I do not care"
- ‹^› — another form of the middle finger
- ..i.. — yet another form of the middle finger (often seen in pairs)
- <3 — "love"; ASCII art for a heart, the less-than symbol and the three resemble a heart tilted on its side.
- </3 — "hate"; ASCII art for a broken heart, similar to <3.
- == — agreement; from the C equality operator; means "me too" or "what he said"
- != — disagreement; from the C inequality operator; means "is not (necessarily) the same as" Sometimes also written as =/= as in mathematical notation.
- @ — "at". Some users go so far as to replace all "at" sounds in words with @, so "fat" becomes "f@"; "matter" = "m@er" and so forth, although this occurs relatively rarely.
- * (asterisk) — applied around a word or phrase to indicate emphasis or italics, or just typing in bold face. Singly, in chat, in front of a word or phrase at the beginning of a line means a correction to one's own previous typo. It recently started being used for an action. E.G *Jumps up and down*
- _ (underscore) — similar to asterisk, but means underlining of a word or phrase. E.G are you _really_ sure?
- / (forward slash) — indicates italicized text, similar to the underscore for underlined text
- -0_o- — an emotion expressing confusion or shock, also being or becoming drunk or high.
- 0.o — an emotion expressing confusion or shock, also being or becoming drunk or high.
- Ô_ô — an emotion expressing confusion or shock, also being or becoming drunk or high.
- :O — "Oh" Emoticon
Numbers
- 10-4 — "Ok, Acknowledgement", as in the CB Radio 10-codes.
- 12B — "Wannabe"
- 10q — "Thank you"
- 10x — "Thanks"
- 1337 — "Leet", short for elite.
- 20 — "location"; from CB Radio jargon
- 224 — "today, tomorrow, forever"
- 2B — "to be"
- 2B||!2B — "to be or not to be"; from the C programming language logic operations "OR" ("||") and "NOT" ("!").
- 2TM — "to the max"
- 31337 — "elite"
- 3Q or 3U — "thank you" (Japanese pronunciation of "Thank you" is "sankyuu", and 3 is pronounced "san".)
- 4 — "for"
- 4ever, 4eva — "forever"
- 69 — from the 69 sex position. Usually found in AIM screen names.
- 807, 8075 — "BOT(s)"; a person who demonstrates an extreme lack of knowledge or common sense.
- 88, 881 or 886 — "bye bye" (Chinese pronunciation)
- 9494 — "that's it", "that's right", "you see?" (Chinese pronunciation)
- 1AB — "Wannabe - A person who wants to act/be another person [One-A-Be;1-A-B]"
A
- AA — "Assalamu Alaikom" Short Islamic greating
- ACK — "acknowledged"; used frequently in discussion boards, tech-speak
- AFAIC — "as far as I'm concerned", or "as far as I care", or "as far as I can..."
- AFAICS — "as far as I can see"
- AFAICT — "as far as I can tell"
- AFAIK — "as far as I know"
- AFAIR — "as far as I recall", or "as far as I remember"
- AFC, AFK — "away from computer/keyboard"
- AGP — "Asian Gay Porn"
- AGP — "Anti PiratGruppen", danish version of RIAA
- AICMFP — "and I claim my five pounds"
- AIM — "AOL Instant Messenger" Usage: Talk to me on AIM.
- AIUI — "as I understand it"
- AKA — "also known as", predates the internet.
- AO — Anarchy Online MMORPG
- AOHell — derogative term for America Online (AOL).
- APPM ? "ai pak pool mai/ai piak piak mai"; "want to play pool?/want to have sex or not?" in hokkien(a version of the chinese dialect). Also see ASGM.
- ASAP — "as soon as possible"
- ASL — "age, sex, location"; used to request general info about a fellow user. Also used as an introductory phrase, usually when that info is expected up-front.
- ASGM — "ai sio gan mai"; "want to have sex or not" in Hokkien (a Chinese dialect)
- ATM — "at the moment"
- ATOP — "at time of posting..."
- AUP — "Acceptable Use Policy"
- AYBABTU — "All your base are belong to us"
B
- B& — "Banned"
- B2B — "business to business"; ecommerce used by businesses to interact with other businesses. It can also mean "bad to the bone".
- B4 — "before"
- B4N — "bye for now"
- BB — "bye bye"
- BBIAB — "be back in a bit"
- BBL — "be back later"
- BBQ — "be back quick", eventually corrupted to "Bar-B-Que" — see "OMGWTFBBQ".
- BBS — "be back soon", or "bulletin board system/service"
- BBT — "Bubble Tea"
- BBW — "be back whenever"
- BC, B/C — "because"
- Bewt — "Boot" Often used as "Lewt fast 'n' Bewt ass".
- B00t — Opposite of "w00t". Can also describe kicking people from game or chat servers.
- BF — "boyfriend"
- BFD — "big fucking deal"
- BFF — "best friend forever"
- BFG/BFG9000 — "Big Fragging Gun (9000) (found in id Software games such as Doom)"
- BFN — "bye for now"
- BJ — blowjob
- BL — "bad luck"
- Blog — short for "weblog" from "web log". Often used as a verb, as in "I was blogging today".
- blogger — "web logger": someone who writes or posts articles or messages on a blog.
- BNOL — "be nice or leave"
- BOFH — "bastard operator from hell". A series of funny stories about UNIX system administration written by Simon Travaglia.
- BOHICA; "Bend over, here it comes again."
- BRB — "be right back"
- BS — "bullshit or backstab (the second meaning commonly used on battle.net)"
- BSOD — "Blue screen of death"
- BTDT — "Been there, done that"
- BTTT — "back to the top"
- btw — "by the way"
- BTW (2) — "Better Than Working", refers to an activity that can be done at work that is better than working. Like reading a blog or a humorous website, etc...
- BURMA — "Be Undressed Ready My Angel"
- BW — "bandwidth"
- B/T, BT — "between" or the BitTorrent peer-to-peer filesharing protocol.
- BYOC — "bring your own computer". Often used in connection with computer gaming events. May also be used for Build Your Own Computer. For example, Quakecon is a BYOC Lan Party in North America.
- BLJ — "Bo Lan Jiao"
C
- CB — "Cheerbye"
- CID — "consider it done"
- CiS — "Chuckle(ing) in Silence", "chuckling very quietly"; as an alternative to "LOL"
- cig — short for cigarette or cigar
- cluebie — a clueless newbie (but sometimes apparently confusingly used to mean "a newbie with a clue, but not close to a guru")
- CMIIW — "correct me if I'm wrong"
- CoD — "Call of Duty"; WWII First Person Shooter PC Game*
- coo — "cool"
- CPL — "Actually standing for CyberAthlete Professional League, the biggest LAN event, but has become an alternative to call some "leet" (good) e.g., "OMG you're CPL"
- CS — "Counter-Strike"; Widely played First Person Shooter game; Computer Science.
- CSL — "can't stop laughing"
- CU — "see you"; used as a goodbye, commonly together with "l8r" (later), as in "cul8r", often abbreviated to merely "cul". See also "cya".
- CUWUL — "Catch Up With You Later"
- CWOT — "complete waste of time";
- CYA — "see you"; used as a goodbye (see "cu"). Also, "check(ing) your ass", or "cover your ass", as in taking some precautionary measure just for safety's sake, or to avoid blame in a risky (but necessary) action (predates the Internet).
- CYFF — "Change your font fucker!"; used when someone has an annoying and hard to read font.
- CVQ — "chuckling very quietly"; see CiS
- C&C, CnC — "Command & Conquer"; A popular series of Strategy games, orginally by Westwood Studios
- C&V — "chapter & verse"; used in newsgroups.
- C|N>K — "coffee through nose into keyboard"; a Unix-ism meaning, involving the Unix command line pipe (|) and redirect (>) characters.
D
- DAF — "definitely a fag"
- DBG — "don't be gay"
- DB4L — "drinking buddy for life"
- DC'd, D/C — "disconnected"
- DD — "don't die". Usually used in online real-time strategy games.
- DDM — "drogado de mierda"
- dernoe — "(I) don't know"
- DGT — "don't go there"
- DH — "dear husband". Used by housewives posting on Internet forums.
- DH — "dickhead"
- DILLIFC — "Do I look like I fucking care?"
- DILLIGAF — "Do I look like I give a fuck?"
- DIY — "Do It Yourself"
- DKDC — Don't know don't care, usually used when a person is apathetic about something.
- DL, D/L — "download"; receiving data from a remote host. Usually functions as a noun or verb. Can sometimes mean "down-low", as taken from real-life usage.
- DLF — "dropping like flies"; said when many participants have left a chat room suddenly
- DMY — "don't mess yourself"; from an episode of The Simpsons.
- DnD — "Do not Disturb" or "Dungeons_&_Dragons"
- DON — "Denial-of-Normal"; Originally used on Slashdot (http://slashdot.org/articles/04/04/01/2241240.shtml?tid=126&tid=95)
- DOTC — Dancing on the ceiling.
- DoS — "Denial-of-Service"; a malicious attack on a computer system.
- DT — "Double Team"; used in GunBound, a game developed by Softnyx.
- dun — "don't"; commonly used by Singaporeans.
- dunno — "(I) don't know"
- DYK — "did you know(?)"
- DW, D/W — "don't worry"
E
- E — enlightenment
- EDMW — Eat Drink Man Woman Forum Page for Kids / Puberty Teens
- EG — "evil grin", normally written *EG* or <EG> to separate it from the surrounding text.
- ehlp — deliberate misspelling of "help" (making fun of newbies yelling for help in a MMORPG)
- EIL — "explode into laughter"
- ELNS — Norwegian expression that stands for "eller noe sånt", which translates to "or something like that"
- EOM — "end of message"
- EQ — "Everquest", a popular MMORPG
- EQ2 — "Everquest2", a popular MMORPG
- ESAD — "eat shit and die"
- e-Slang — Term used to include all abbreviations and coined terms used in e-Mail, instant messaging, chatrooms, and online gaming (such as MUDS, MUCKS, etc.) (Stacy Crosby, 2004)
- EULA — End-User License Agreement (a popular topic on many MMORPGs)
- ETLA — "extended three letter acronym", see TLA.
F
- F4G, F4GG0T — "fag/faggot"
- FAQ — Frequently Asked Question, or a list of frequently-asked questions (with answers). Seldom appears written in small letters.
- FAP — Sound produced by male masturbation.
- FE — "fúmate esta", a Spanish expression for "suck my dick"
- FE — "fatal error"
- FF — Final Fantasy; "Friendly Fire" (especially in First Person Shooters).
- FFS — "for fuck's sake!" (sometimes replaced with FS, "fuck's sake")
- flames — see "flamer".
- flamer — one engaged in flaming. Also ominously close to the term lamer.
- FLOABT — "for lack of a better term"
- FGI — "fucking google it"; used in response to a common question
- FO, FOAD — "fuck off/fuck off and die"
- FOAF — "friend of a friend"; the dubious attribution given to urban legends
- FOYFF — "fuck off you fucking faggot!"
- FOOCL — "Falls out of chair laughing".
- FP — "first post"; Originally used on Slashdot
- frag — To kill or tear to pieces. Its origin comes the Vietnam War or earlier, from "fragmentation grenade". It had a particular application to "fragging" 2nd lieutenants or hated officers, especially in the jungle.
- FSOD — "Frozen Screen Of Death"; a Phantasy Star Online thing.
- FTF or F2F — "face to face"; referring to a meeting in the real world, not online. In role-playing terms, it is the offline predecessor to MMORPGs and MUDs.
- FTLOG — "for the love of god!"
- FTP — "File transfer protocol"
- FTTB — "for the time being"
- FU — "fuck you" (predates Internet)
- FUBAR — "fucked up beyond all repair" or "fucked up beyond all recognition" (predates Internet)
- FUBAH — "fucked up beyound all hope"
- FUD — "fear, uncertainty and doubt"; purposeful spread of misinformation.
- FUDIE — "Fuck yoU and DIE"
- FWIW — "For what it's worth"
- FXP — "File exchange protocol"
- FYAD — "Fuck You and Die" (from SomethingAwful.com)
- FYI — "for your information" (predates internet)
G
- G — "grin", normally written *G* or <G> to separate it from the surrounding text
- G2G, GTG — "got to go", also "good to go"; popularized in MMORPGs and MUDs.
- G4Y, GFY — "good for you", or "go fuck yourself"; the use of this acronym is ambiguous and not recommended. G4Y can also mean "GAY".
- GAGF — "go and get fucked"
- GAL — "get a life"
- gamez — illegally obtained games (c.f. warez).
- GCAD — "Get Cancer And Die"
- GF — "girl friend", also means "get fucked"
- GFI — "good fucking idea"
- GG — "good going" or "good game"; used sincerely in competitive and cooperative online games, or used sarcastically when someone has done something foolish. Also "genuine girl", used on chat sites to indicate that the user is female, rather than simply pretending to be.
- Ghey — Gay. (occasionally seen as "teh ghey", as in "The X-Box is teh ghey".)
- GJ — "good job", often sarcastic
- GL — "good luck"
- Gl hf — "Good Luck, Have Fun." Mostly used in online gaming.
- GMTA — "great minds think alike"
- gnite — "good night"
- GNFPWLBN — abbreviation of the Modest Mouse album "Good News For People Who Love Bad News".
- "gno" - Gonna(Going to do)
- GR8 — "great", sometimes spelled gre8t even though it doesn't make the word any shorter.
- Grats — abbreviation of "congratulations". Used in MMORPGs when a new rank or level is gained.
- GTFO — "get the fuck out"
- GTG — "got to go"
- GTH — "go to hell"
- guru — an expert in some technical topic, such as C programming or Unix system administration
- GW — "good work", often used sarcastically.
H
- H8 — "hate", or "H1" to "H9" to indicate how much a person hates something.
- HAI — A purposeful misspelling of "hi"; Japanese for "yes"
- HAMMRD* — "hammered, also meaning pwn/pwned/owned. See pwn"
- HAND — "have a nice day"
- HAXOR, H4X0R; "hacker"
- HB — "hurry back"
- HB — "Herremange Byte" Danish expression for a large amount of data. Also abbreviated to "H", it may appear in various other expressions, like "HP - Herremange Pornofilm" (large amount of pornomovies) etc
- HBD — "Happy Birthday"
- HF — "have fun"
- hijack — to start an offtopic discussion, ex. "hijack a thread" on a message board.
- hmwk — "homework"
- HNG — "horny net geek"
- H/O — "hold on"
- HoBO — " Person who plays Games , expecially HoB (www.heatofbattle.net)"
- HPB — "High Ping Barstard" or "High Ping Bait", reference to those with high latency (ping) usually in online games. The opposite of LPB
- HSS — horse shit and splinters
- HTH — "hope this (or that) helps"
- HTF — "how the fuck"; derivative of WTF.
I
- IANAL — "I am not a lawyer"; usually used before a non-lawyer gives legal advice, as a (sometimes humorous) disclaimer.
- IANARS — "I am not a rocket scientist"
- IC — "I see", also "in character" in MMORPG or MUD settings.
- ICYDK / ICYDN / ICUDK — "in case you didn't know"
- IDK — "I don't know"
- ID10T — "idiot"; generally pronounced eye-dee-ten-tee, its meaning is not obvious until viewed in written form. Example: "We've got an ID10T error!"
- idjit, ijit — "idiot"
- IIRC — "if I recall correctly", or "if I remember correctly"
- IIUC — "if I understand correctly"
- IGAHP — "I've got a huge penis"
- IKON — "Ikonboard, also spelled as IKN"
- ILOTIBINLIRL — "I'm laughing on the internet, but I'm not laughing in real life"
- IM — "instant message", can be used as a noun ("Send an IM") or a verb ("I'll IM him"). Past tense is "IM'd" or "IMed".
- IMO — "in my opinion"
- IMAO — "In My Arrogant Opinion"
- IMHO — "in my humble opinion", or "in my honest opinion"
- IMHE — "In my humble experience"
- IMNSHO — "in my not so humble opinion", as opposed to IMHO (In my humble opinion)
- INMP — "it's not my problem"
- INTPFPOTM — "I nominate this post for post of the month"; incredibly obscure.
- IOH — "I'm outta here"
- IOW — "in other words"
- IPB — Invision Power Board
- IRC — Internet Relay Chat
- IRL — "in real life"; often used in online games to refer to life outside of the game, see RL. Made famous by the movie "The Net" starring Sandra Bullock.
- IRT — "in reply to"
- ISTR — "I seem to remember/recall"
- ITT— "In This Thread"; first used on forum.canucks.com in White Noise.
- IYDMMA — "if you don't mind me asking"
- IYKWIM — "if you know what I mean"
J
- JAK — "Jazak Allah Khair", Arabic expression for thank you
- JJ — "just joking"
- JK, J/K — "just kidding"
- JOOC — "just out of curiosity"
- j00, j00r — Leet speak for "you" or "your".
- JYFIHP — "Jam Your Finger In Her Pussy"
K
- K — "OK/Okay"
- keekles — usually used while deliberately acting like a newbie.
- kewl, kool — alternate form of "cool".
- KNF — "kernel normal form"; kernel source file style guide [1] (http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=style&apropos=0&sektion=9&manpath=OpenBSD+Current&arch=i386&format=html)
- KISS — "keep it simple stupid"
- KITFO — "knock it the fuck off"
- KTHXBYE — "Ok, thank you, goodbye", It is usually used to abruptly, and rudely end a conversation.
- KNN — "Fuck your mother" (Chinese)
L
- L8, L8R — "late", "later"; as in "see you later", often used together with CU, as in CUL8R.
- LAFFO — signifying laughter
- LD — "link dead"; used in online games when a user has been disconnected, but their persona or character remains in the game.
- Lama; lame player (from Team Fortress Classic)
- LATN — "laugh at the newbs"
- LEET, L33T, 1337, 31337 — "elite", also another kind of slang where numbers and symbols replace similar-looking characters.
- Lewt — "Loot" Often used as "Lewt fast 'n' Bewt ass".
- LIGAFF — "like I give a flying fuck"
- LIGAS — "like I give a shit"
- LKY — "Lee Kuan Yew, Minister Mentor of Singapore"
- LMAO — "laughing my ass off"
- LMAOnade — a homophonous extension of LMAO that humorously refers to "lemonade"
- LMFAO — "laughing my fucking ass off"
- LMTFA — "leave me the fuck alone"
- LOL — "laughing out loud", or "lots of laughs"; as a reply to something amusing. Also "lots of love" (not as common). LOL is also said to be derived from the Dutch word "lol" which is translated as "fun" in English.
- lolcity — something so funny the entire city laughs out loud.
- lollercaust — an extreme event of hilarirty.
- lollerskates — pun on the word "rollerskates"; similar usage to LOL.
- Loxxen — an altered form of LOL, with virtually the same meaning, but slightly enhanced.
- LPB — "Low Ping Bastard", reference to those with low latency (ping) usually in online games. The opposite of HPB.
- LTNS — "long time no see"
- lurker — one who reads an email list or a message board but does not participate in the discussion.
- luser — punny cross between loser and user, can mean either of the two. Usually denotes users of Microsoft Windows.
- LYL — "love ya lots"
- LYK, LYKE — "like"
M
- M473z — "mates" pronounced may-tez, a term referring to a good friend, closer than a m8
- M8 — "mate"; as in "buddy" or "pal"
- MFC — "merge from current"
- MMORPG — "Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game", a game played online with thousands of other people from across the world
- Mod — "Moderator" or "Modification"
- MOTD — "Message of the Day"
- MYOB — "mind your own business"
- MLOD — "Mega LOL of doom"
- Makkarakebab — "Kebab makkaran kanssa"
N
- N/A — "not applicable"
- NB — "short for nabei, commonly used in mmorpgs as a swear word. closest approximation of meaning: see CB."
- NBD — "no big deal"
- NFBSK — "Not for British school kids", originally from message boards at snopes.com, used sometimes in place of NSFW.
- newb — short for "newbie"; meaning someone who is new, usually at a game.
- NG — "newsgroup"
- NG — "no good"
- NGP — "Nasty gay porn"
- Nh — "nice hand"; used in online card games.
- NI — "no idea"
- N1994, N199312 — Leet speak for "nigga/nigger"
- NM or N/M — "never mind" or "not/nothing much". Also "No Message", used on message boards to indicate that all the text is in the post's title, and that it need not be opened itself.
- NMFYS — unknown acronym from comic Badly Drawn Kitties, a webcomic. User created "solutions" include "Not Mentioned For Your Sanity" and "Not My First Yellow Submarine," see the BDK Comic. (http://www.badlydrawnkitties.com/d/20031111.html)
- NMNHNLM — acronym for "no money no honey nobody loves me" originating from HWZ forums
- NN — "night night" like "good night"
- noob — shorthand/leet spelling of "newbie". Also spelled "n00b", with two zeroes rather than two Os (see leet) or "newb". In some internet circles, the term "noob" or "n00b" has a negative connotation, generally not associated with "newb" or "newbie", where being a n00b carries a connotation of ignorance and laziness. N00bs may lack the energy or the gumption to RTFM or otherwise attempt to find out about a subject themselves -- even given the ready availability of the information -- and instead chooses to bother others. A newbie, on the other hand, simply comes fresh to a subject, with no particularly negative connotations. Internet Games such as "Call of Duty", "Counter-Strike" and "Medal of Honor" commonly use the term "n00b".
- n0083127z — "nooberts" a mutation of n00b, often used to describe someone who not only demonstrates stupidity, but is also has less esteem or less power than the speaker
- NOYB — "none of your business"
- NP — "no problem"
- NPNT — "No Picture No Talk" Origin from Hardwarezone - EDMW
- NPA — "not paying attention"
- NS — "nice shot"; used sincerely in competitive and cooperative online games such as GunBound, or Medal of Honor. Also, "No Shit"; sometimes used as "NSS" for "No Shit, Sherlock"
- NSFW — "not safe for work"; indicates that one should avoid using a link from a workplace due to the presence of pornography or of other unsuitable content. Used at Fark and on some message boards. See also SFW.
- NT — "no text"; used on Internet forums or Usenet to indicate that a post has no content. Also, "nice try"; used by gamers.
- NVM — "never mind"
- NWS — "not work safe"; see NSFW.
O
- O — "oh"
- OAR — On a roll — referring to someone's luck during Internet games. Winning several games in a row (3 or more) would constitute an OAR.
- OBTW — "oh, by the way"
- OS — "Oh Shit!!"
- oh noes!!!!111 — an exaggerated expression of despair, often used for humorous effect.
- OIC — "oh, I see"
- OMG — Exclamation, "oh my God/goodness!"
- OMGWTFBBQ — "Oh my God, what the fuck, bar-be-que."; used in a humorous manner in reference to those who abuse Internet slang.
- OMGWTFNIPPLES — "Oh my God, what the fuck, nipples", used in a humorous manner in reference to those who string together too much Internet slang in one word
- OMFG — Exclamation, "oh my fucking God/goodness!"
- OMFL — Exclamation, "oh my fucking lag!"
- OMW — "On My Way"
- OOC — "out-of-character"; usually in MMORPG or MUD settings when a player isn't acting out his/her part. It was also used in fanfiction to indicate likewise. Also, "out of curiosity".
- OOO — "Out of the office"; Used similarly to MIA. "Ken is OOO today." Also, OpenOffice.org.
- OP — Original Poster
- OT — "off topic"
- OTP — "One true pairing", meaning two characters believed to be perfect together, usually not Canon_(fiction). Used in fanfiction.
- OTOH — "on the other hand"
- OTW — "on the way"
- OXO — "Norwegian/Danish shortening of the word "også", which translates to "too" or "also""
- own, owned, ownt — (see also pwn) 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).
- ownzer $mdash; One who "owns" (see own)
P
error when a link or URL is invalid or the web server times out.
- PCC — "short for par-chiew-cheng. [chinese.] short for the act of male masturbation."
- PEBKAC — "Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair", referring to in human error. See PICNIC and ID10T.
- PFO — "please fuck off"
- PITA — "pain in the ass"
- PICNIC — "Problem In Chair, Not In Computer", referring to in human error. See PEBKAC and ID10T.
- Piconjo — A shared account on www.newgrounds.com. Large numbers of people submit explicit animations of NG animators, in an attempt to "pwn" them. Piconjo speaks in fluient 1337, and claims to have "pen0r power".
- Pic(s), pix — Used in reference to a picture. Usually posted when someone wants another person to post a picture. This could be used in many different situations, but is most prominent when someone is talking about a woman or girl.
- PLS, PLZ — "please" — predates internet
- PM — "private message"
- PMG — can sometimes be seen instead of "omg", which means "oh my God"
- PMSL — "pissing myself laughing", synonymous with "LMAO", above and "ROFL", below.
- PO, PO'd — "piss off", or "pissed off"
- POS — "parents over shoulder"; a warning, by kids, that parents may be watching. Also, "piece of shit". (Also see "PAW")
- POV — "point of view"
- ppl, ppls — "people".
- pro, pr0 — "professional"; meaning someone is really good, usually at a game.
- pron, pr0n — "porn" (short for pornography); intentional misspelling used to avoid automated filters on certain words.
- prv — "private" similar to PM; usually used for IRC private messaging
- PTBB; "Pass The Barf Bag," coined in the Childfree.net discussion list in the '90s.
- PvP — Player versus player
- pwn, pwned (also p0wn or pwnt) — perfect-ownage or perfectly-owned. See "own" above.
Q
- ql, qool, qoolz — "cool" (in the American sense)
- qwn, qwnt, qwned — deliberate typo of "pwn" (which see), which is a deliberate typo of "own"
- QQ — "crying eyes" (of perhaps Hong Kong Origin) meaning "oh poor baby" (false pity)
R
- R — "are"
- r0x0rz (also rox0rs and other forms) — leet speak for "rocks".
- R8 — "right", "rate"
- RD — "Red Dwarf"
- RE — rematch; often used in online games
- re/rehi — "Hello again", used on IRC, especially popular with Europeans. Mentioned in the Jargon File.
- refl — deliberate mistype of "ROFL"
- RL — "real life"; often used in online games to refer to life outside of the game, see IRL.
- ROFL, ROTFL, ROFLMAO — "rolling on the floor laughing [my ass off]"; as a reply to something extremely amusing
- ROFLCOPTER — the superlative of ROFL
- roffle — alternate version of "ROFL", based on the latter's supposed pronunciation in speech.
- roffle out loud — a form of "ROFL" or "LOL", intended to mock those who use many acronyms in speech.
- ROFFLMFAO — "Rolling on fucking floor laughing my fucking ass off" (Pronounced roffle-em-fayo).
- ROR — "raughing out roud", a Japanese (Engrish) variant of LOL.
- RSN — "real soon now", sense of sarcasm.
- ROTFLMHO — "rolling on the floor laughing my head off"; alternative to ROTFLMAO. Some people may leave out the "T" so it will be ROFLMAO
- ROTFLMAOSTC — "Rolling on the Floor Laughing My Ass Off Scaring The Cats"; another alternative to ROTFLMAO
- ROFLKMD — "Rolling On the Floor Laughing KaZaa Media Desktop" or "Rolling On the Floor Laughing Kicking My Dog"; another alternative to ROFL
- RTFA — "read the fucking article"; applies mostly to Slashdot threads, in response users who make comments on a story without having read it first.
- RTFRFC — "read the fucking RFC", similar to RTFM, telling someone to read an RFC to find their answer.
- RTFM — "read the fucking/friendly/fine manual", the frequent reply to a request for basic help from newbies who have not attempted to find the answer for themselves.
- RTFMFM — "read the fucking manual fucking moron"; derived from RTFM with slightly more emphasis on the newbie's lack of intelligence.
- RTFP — "read the fucking post"; derived from RTFA and also used on Slashdot.
- RTFS — "read the fucking/fine source", frequently used when documentation for a software program is lacking or absent.
- RTL — "report the loss"; usually used in online gaming, can be used sarcastically when one loses or gets fragged
- RU — "are you"
- rut —"are you there?"
S
- S — "smile", usually written *S* or <S> to separate it from the surrounding text. See "G".
- S2R — "Send-to-Receive"; indicates that you expect a file (usually image) to be sent to you before you'll send yours.
- sif — "as if"
- sifn't — "as if not", used in reply to "sif".
- SCNR — "sorry, could not resist"
- SH — "shit happens"
- SMD — "Suck my dick"
- SMDVQ — "Suck my dick very quick"
- SO — "significant other"; a termed encapsulating a girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse.
- SOB — Son of a bitch
- Soz — "Sorry", apparently only used in the UK.
- SFW — "safe for work"; material (pictures, webpages) that is safe for the office. Used at Fark. See also NSFW. Alternate meaning (which may not be appropriate in the office): "so fucking what?"
- Smeg — Meaning the same as "fuck" or "bugger" (popularized by Red Dwarf, a British TV sitcom).
- SMF — "Simple Machines Forums"
- sroucks — means even when something rocks, it sucks (or something in between), or vice versa. Often used in a sarcastic way, as to let others remain in doubt if it's praising or just the opposite.
- sry — "sorry"
- SSDD ? "Same Shit Different day."
- SSIA — "subject says it all"; used in newsgroup postings and the like.
- STFU — "shut the fuck up"
- STFNG — "search the fucking news group" - variant on STFW
- STFW — "search the fucking web"
- SUAGOOML — "Shut Up and Get Out of My Life"
- sup? — "what is up?"
- sux, sux0rs, suxxor — leet speak for "sucks", "suckers".
- SWAK — "Sealed With A Kiss"
T
- TA — "thanks again"; also English and Australian slang for thanks, pronounced taa, predating the Internet.
- TBH — "to be honest"
- thanx, thx, thz — "thanks"; this can form combinations such as "kthx" (OK, thanks), "plzkthx" (Please, OK, thanks), and "kthxbye" (OK, thanks, goodbye).
- teh — A usually deliberate typo of "the" — its popularity stemmed from the oft-misspelled original word due to its natural frequency in English sentences. When deliberate, it sometimes serves to emphasise the following adjective, for example, "you are teh fat"
- TFA — "the fucking article"; a shorter form of "RTFA", mostly used on Slashdot
- TIA — "thanks in advance"
- TLA — "Three letter Acronym". TLA is an example of a TLA.
- TMAI — "tell me about it"
- TMR@IA — "The monkeys are at it again"; usually used to blame the staff of online gaming communities for any screw ups in-game.
- TMI — "too much information"
- TP — "Town Portal", in Diablo and Diablo II, a magical scroll for getting back into town
i.e. safety. Pronounced "teepee", and may be used as a verb ("hey, TP me!")
- ToS — "Terms of Service"
- TPTB — "the powers that be"
- troll — a person who deliberately stirs up trouble.
- TT — emoticon signifying sadness or a crying face (http://members.teamtg.com/excalibur/koricons.htm)
- TTBOMK — "to the best of my knowledge"
- TTFN — "ta ta for now" (bye)
- TTYL — "talk to you later"
- TTYS — "talk to you soon"
- TY — "thank you"
U
- u — "you"
- UA — User Agreement
- ul — Unlucky (gaming term)
- UL, U/L — "upload"; sending data to a remote host.
- ur — "you're" or "your"
- URT "Urban Terror"; A mod for Quake III
- URYYFM — "you are too wise (two Ys) for me"
- USUX — "you suck"
V
- v — "we"
- VFM — "value for money"
- VoIP — "Voice over Internet Protocol", or phone conversations over broadband connections.
- VWEG — "very wicked evil grin". See "G"
W
- W/ — "with", predates internet
- w00t, woot — leet speak exclamation! of excitement or happiness or applauditory whistle; Used after gaining root control of a computer, can be short for "woohoo" or "We Owned the Other Team"
- w312d — "word" (a generally positive interjection)
- W8 — "wait"
- WAI — "what an idiot"; also, Japanese for "Yay" as influenced by the anime culture
- WADR — with all due respect.
- waffles — pun on "ROTFLMAO"; used similarly. In full: "Roffle my waffles"
- Wang — "weeners are nice'n gluey"
- warez — illegally-obtained software.
- wat — "what"
- WB — "welcome back"
- WBAGNFARB — Would Be A Good Name For A [Rock] Band. Inspired by columnist Dave Barry and used broadly by his fans.
- WD — "well done"
- WDUWTA — "what do you wanna talk about?"
- w/e — "whatever"
- WG, WEG — "wicked (evil) grin"
- wiki — A WikiWiki. Wikipedia is an example of a wiki.
- W/O — "without", predates internet
- WoW — "World of Warcraft"
- WOMBAT — "Waste of Money, Brains and Time"
- wot, wut — "what", predates internet
- WRT — with respect to, with regard to
- WRU or wru — A very simplified "Where are you". Example: Wru from?
- WTF — "what the fuck?"; Also "who the fuck?", "why the fuck?", etc. given the context.
- WTFPWND — see pwn
- WTG — "way to go!", often sarcastic.
- WTFH — "What the fucking hell?"
- WTH — "what the heck?", or "what the hell?"
- WYSIAYG — "What you see is ALL you get". Like WYSIWYG, with a derogatory comment that the software is incomplete.
- WYSITWIRL — (pron. "wizzy twirl") "What you see is totally worthless in real life." A derogatory term indicating that a claim to be WYSIWYG isn't valid.
- WYSIWYG — (pron. "wizzywig") "What you see is what you get". In the print industry, it means that printed output will look identical to its screen representation. More recently used to refer to the style of making webpages that arose through the use of HTML-generators such as MS Frontpage, Dreamweaver, etc. and implies that the output is usually crude and does not transfer well across all settings.
X
- X>* — definition of something [X] is better than everything [*]. Often [X] is a user's handle and [*] is an organization or another user. Sometimes crackers will use this as a boast and an insult when defacing a web site, meaning that they are better than the organization and/or the web sites administrators.
- XD — An emoticon resembling someone laughing when rotated clockwise 90°. Also xD
- ecks-dee — Another form of "XD" that emphasizes its pronunciation.
- -x0r — a suffix used by H4X0Rs to emphasize a point.
- xOMG — OMG^3
Y
- YAF — "You're a fag!"
- YGPM — "You've got a private message"
- YHBT — "you have been trolled"
- YHL — "you have lost"
- YHPM — "You have a private message"
- YIM — "Yahoo Instant Messanger"
- YMMV — "your mileage may vary" or "you make me vomit"
- YNK — "you never know"
- YOMANK — "you owe me a new keyboard" (after a joke causes explosive expulsion of beverage from one's mouth)
- yr — "your" or "you're"
- YS — "you suck"
- yuo — A usually deliberate typo of "you" — Possible origins include fast and/or careless typers hitting the keys out of sequence. Like "teh", it is sometimes used to add emphasis to a phrase (often paired with "teh" in doing so), for example, "yuo are teh suck"
- YW — "you're welcome"
Z
- 0day — software or media that is illegally obtained before or on the day of the official release.
- ZOMG — Bastardization of "OMG", meaning "Oh My God". Pronounced "Zoe My God" or "Zed Oh Em Gee".
- zig — "means cigarette".
Effects on the Wider Language
Users sometimes make up Internet abbreviations on the spot, therefore many of them can seem confusing, obscure, whimsical, or even nonsensical. This type of on-the-spot abbreviating leads to such things as: OTP (on the phone), PO (pissed off), or the less common, OPTD (outside petting the dog). Another feature common to Internet communication is the truncation and morphing of words to forms that users can type more readily. These may one day creep into common usage and end up in the dictionary. Examples of this include:
- addy — "address" (plural: "addys")
- comp — "computer" (already has made the leap to common spoken usage)
- dun — "don't"
- ima — "i'm going to", "I'm a gonna" (predates the Internet).
- pic — "picture" ("pics", "pix" or "piccies" for plural)
- prog, proggy — "computer program"
- prolly — "probably" (The Oxford English Dictionary traces this usage back as far as 1962)
- awsum — "awesome"
The form "teh" offers a special case of this transformation. This originated as a corruption of "the", and often pops up spontaneously when typing fast. So common has it become, in fact, that it has made the jump to purposeful usage. Typically it occurs in situations where the writer presents as 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. It occurs most commonly in "teh suck", "teh lame", and "teh shit", although "teh shit" has the same meaning as cool or "teh cool". This sarcastic usage originates with JeffK.
Similarly, netizens may use the word "liek" as a sarcastic misspelling of like, as in "I LIEK PIE". It often implies an insult to one's intelligence and/or typing ability.
The word newbie occurs almost exclusively to refer to all sorts of new users of an Internet forum or starters in a particular field of activity. It does not function as a pejorative term per se, but can do so when combined with RTFM, etc.
"own" has become a mainstream word for "to completely dominate". It probably predates the Internet in some usages. It also sometimes appears spelt "pwn" owing to a common typing error due to the proximity of the "p" and "o" keys on a QWERTY keyboard.
See also
External links
|
