Friday BlogFodder will return next Friday. Until then, I hope someone finds this useful, in it's place:
Internet language, text messaging shorthand, 'net lingo, etc. so on and so forth. No two ways about it, the Internet has in fact changed the way we communicate. For some it's been a huge change, and for others not so significant, but if you've been online longer than a day, no doubt you've seen some pretty strange looking language and you have no idea what it all means.
Many of us who have been online for a while (and especially in chat & forum communities) tend to take it for granted that everyone knows what we mean when say "bbiaf" or "ttyl". Well, there are still some folks out there that might not know what it means, and don't particularly want to feel like a baby-geek for asking. I have a baby-geek friend and they suggested posting such a cheat sheet like this might be a good idea, so this is for all the baby-geeks out there. :-)
There's a HUGE (and I do mean huge) list of this lingo here, and you can go take a peek at it if you like. Standard language disclaimers & all that apply.
I thought it might be helpful to list here, just the ones I use (although some I use less often than others, and some are pretty obvious, this is my own list, all the same):
^5 - High Five
AFK - Away From Keyboard
BBFN - Bye Bye For Now
BBIAB - Be Back In A Bit
BBIAF - Be Back In A Few
BBL - Be Back Later
BBS - Be Back Soon
BRB - Be Right Back
BTW - By The Way
DL or D/L - Download
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
FWIW - For What It's Worth
FYI - For Your Information
GMTA - Great Minds Think Alike
IIRC - If I Remember Correctly
IM - Instant Message
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
IOW - In Other Words
IRC - Internet Relay Chat
ISP - Internet Service Provider
J/K - Just Kidding
LOL - Laughing Out Loud
LTNS - Long Time No See
NM - Never Mind
NP - No Problem
OIC - Oh, I see
OTOH - On The Other Hand
PC - Politically Correct
PM - Private Message
REHI - Hello Again
ROFL - Rolling On Floor Laughing
ROTF - Rolling On The Floor
ROTFL - Rolling On The Floor Laughing
ROTFLOL - Rolling on the floor laughing out loud
TTFN - Ta Ta For Now
TTYL - Talk To You Later
TTYS - Talk To You Soon
TX - Thanks
TYVM - Thank You Very Much
WB - Welcome Back
WTG - Way To Go!
YVW - You're Very Welcome
YW - You're Welcome
In addition, in situations where you're communicating with someone and they need one, there's the common (((( hug )))) where you generally insert that person's name. Mine usually look like this {{{{you}}}}.
One I made up years ago that I've seen from time to time used by others is:
ASMCOMN - Almost Shot My Coffee Out My Nose (for those times you've read something at your screen that was so funny, you almost... well, you get the idea).
There's also UGH, PFFT, ACK & GACK. They all mean the same thing, more or less. Expressions of dislike, disappointment and/or surprised frustration. (Some of us even say these things in real life, believe it or not!)
I was a little surprised to go through that list at the link above, and copy all the shorties I really do use. I didn't realize I was so modern, relevant and all that sort of dopey stuff. Oh well, there you have it, I hope this helps someone figure out what in the world I'm talking about, when I tend to slip into lingo-mode.
:-)
