Web Slang, lingo, and acronyms used in chat rooms, Instant Messages, and Text Messaging.
Chat, E-Mail, Web, and chat room slang and acronyms
AAK | Alive And Kicking |
AAR | At Any Rate |
AAS | Alive And Smiling |
ADN | Any Day Now |
AFAIK | As Far As I Know |
AFK | Away From the Keyboard |
AFN | that’s All For Now |
AOTA | All Of The Above |
a/s/l or asl | Age/Sex/Location – (used to ask a chatter their personal information) |
AV | Avatar – Graphical representation (a picture) often used in chat rooms to depict a person that is in the room and chatting. |
b4 | Before |
BAK | Back At Keyboard (I’m back) |
BBL | Be Back Later |
BBS | Be Back Soon |
BCNU | I’ll Be Seeing You. |
b/f | Boyfriend (also shown as bf, B/F, or BF) |
BEG | Big Evil Grin |
BFN | Bye For Now |
BMA | Bite My A** (became popular with the Simpson’s cartoon show) |
boot | To get kicked out of a chat room, or have to restart the computer because you couldn’t talk in the chat room anymore. |
BR | Best Regards |
BRB | Be Right Back |
BRH | Be Right Here |
BSEG | Big S**t Eatin Grin |
BTA | But Then Again…. |
BTW | By The Way |
btw | BeTWeen you and me … |
chat room | A web page where people gather using software that allows them to talk to one another in real time. |
CRS | Can’t Remember S**t |
CU | See You – also posted as cya |
CUS | Can’t Understand S**t (stuff) |
CNP | Continued in Next Post (seen more on message boards than chat) |
CP | Chat Post |
CUL8R | See You Later |
CUOL | See You On Line |
CYA | See Ya |
dd, ds, dh | Darling or Dear: Dear Son, Dear Daughter, or Dear Husband. Usually exchanged in family chats. |
DDSOS | Different Day, Same Old S**t |
DEGT | Don’t Even Go There (I don’t want to talk about it) |
DIKU | Do I Know You? |
DIS | Did I Say |
D/L, DL, d/l, dl | Downloading, or Download it. |
EG | Evil Grin |
EM | |
EMA | E-mail Address (example: ?ema or ema? = what is your email address) |
EOT | End Of Thread (meaning end of discussion) |
ez or EZ | easy (one of the really old ones) |
F2F | Face To Face |
FAQ | Frequently Asked Question |
FISH | First In Still Here (someone who is on line TOO much) |
FITB | Fill In The Blanks |
flame | to insult someone. Used when a person asks a stupid question, or says something rude to irritate the users of a chat room or message board. |
FOCL | Falling Off Chair – Laughing |
forum | What todays message boards are called. Often using php as defining language to quickly write ‘real time’ messages and replies to a web site (or page) |
FTS | F*** This S*** |
fu | f*** you (If you can’t figure this one out, you shouldn’t be on line) |
FUBAR | “Fouled” Up Beyond All Repair / Recognition |
FUD | Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt |
FWIW | For What It’s Worth |
FYI | For Your Information |
GA | Go Ahead |
GAL | Get A Life |
gest | Gesture … a small multimedia file played over the internet, usually expressing an emotion or comment. |
g/f | Girlfriend (also shown as gf, G/F, or GF) |
GFN | Gone For Now |
GGOH | Gotta Get Outta Here |
GMTA | Great Minds Think Alike |
GR | Gotta Run |
GR&D | Grinning, Running, and Ducking. |
GTR | Got To Run |
GTRM | Going To Read Mail (leaving chat room to check email) |
H&K | Hugs and Kisses |
hack | person who breaks into software, or disrupts a chat room. |
HAGD | Have A Good Day |
HAGO | Have A Good One |
Halsoft | Name of a company that purchased the brand of Chat that Excite offered, now a pay as you go service. |
HB | Hurry Back |
Hosts | Refers to the people that are running the chat room, they usually have the ability to kick a person off due to rude behavior. |
HTH | Hope That Helps |
huggles | Hugs |
IAC | In Any Case |
IB | I’m Back |
IC | I See |
IDN | I Don’t kNow |
IDK | I Don’t Know |
IDTS | I Don’t Think So |
IANAL | I’m Am Not A Lawyer (expect an uninformed opinion) |
IC | I See |
ICQ | I Seek You. A computer program used to communicate instantly over the Internet. |
ILU or ILY | I Love You |
IM | Instant Message |
IMHO | In My Humble Opinion (or In My Honest Opinion) |
IMO | In My Opinion |
IOH | I’m Out of Here |
IOW | In Other Words |
IRL | In Real Life |
IYO | In Your Opinion |
JAS | Just A Second |
JIC | Just In Case |
JK | Just Kidding |
JMO | Just My Opinion |
JW | Just Wondering |
k, K, or kk | O. K. |
KIT | Keep In Touch |
L8R | Later (an early one, kind of outdated with current ‘young geeks’) |
LMAO | Laughing My Ass Off |
LFFAO | Laughing My F***(freaking) Ass Off |
LOL | Laughing Out Loud |
LTNS | Long Time No See |
LTS | Laughing To ones Self |
LY | I Love Ya. |
LYL | Love You Lots |
Message Board. | A web page where people write comments, and those comments are than added to that web-page for others to view. Used to carry on conversation, request information, and relay messages. |
MUG | Refers to a new user of that chat program, goes back to Excite VP days when the AV (or icon) that represented someone new was a picture of a coffee mug. |
NE1 | Anyone |
newbie | refers to a person who is new to an area or technology. Also seen as nube, nooby, nubie, nb, etc. |
NFW | No Feasible (or F***ing) Way |
NIMBY | Not In My Back Yard |
nm, or NM | Never Mind |
NP, np | No Problem |
NRN | 1. No Response Necessary 2. Not Right Now |
NT | No Thanks |
OBTW | Oh, By The Way. |
OIC | Oh, I See |
OF | Old Fart, someone who has been around for a while. |
OJ or OK | Only Joking or Only Kidding |
OL | the Old Lady |
OM | the Old Man |
OMG | Oh My Gosh (although it’s usually used with the Lords name in place of “gosh”) |
OT | Off Topic |
oth or OTH | Off The Hook: Something is really popular, or hot. Very exciting. |
otr or OTR | Off The Rack: Saying that something is outside the ordinary. |
OTE | Over The Edge (beyond common sense or beyond good taste) |
OTOH | On The Other Hand … |
OTOMH | Off the Top of My Head … |
OTW | On The Way … I’ve sent a file to you, it’s “On the way” |
P911 | My parents are in the room. P=Parents, and 911=emergency, in other words either drop the subject, or watch the language. |
PANS | Pretty Awesome New Stuff (often referring to computer technology) |
PCMCIA | Personal Computer Memory Cards International Association |
PCMCIA | People Can’t Master Computer Industry Acronyms (slang) |
PEBCAK | Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard |
peeps | People. example: “There sure are a lot of peeps in this room” – meaning a lot of people are in the chat room. |
peep this | Hey, listen to this, I’ve got some interesting news. |
PITA | Pain In The Ass |
PLZ | Please |
PMJI | Pardon Me for Jumping In (when you enter into a new conversation) |
poof | when someone leaves a chat room, often seen as *poof* as in boy he *poofed* in a hurry. |
POTS | Plain Old Telephone Service |
POS | Parents are looking Over my Shoulder. |
POTS | Parents Over The Shoulder – (My parents are watching, I can’t really talk) |
PPL | People |
QT | Cutie |
RFC | Request For Comments (used more in newsgroups, a page or pages that supply technical information) |
rl or RL | Real Life (as opposed to being online) |
r m or RM | Ready Made: pre-existing |
ROFL | Rolling On Floor, Laughing |
ROTF | Rolling On The Floor (laughing is implied) |
ROTFLMAO | Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off |
ROTFLMFAO | Rolling On The Floor Laughing F(***ing) My Ass Off |
RSN | Real Soon Now |
r/t | Real Time (also: RT, or rt) |
RTFM | Read The “Flippin” Manual (response to beginner question on net, chat, newsgroups, etc.) |
RU | aRe yoU? |
SEG | Shit Eating Grin |
SH | Same Here |
SMS | Short Message Service (more cell phones and pagers than chat rooms and the Internet) |
SN | Screen Name. The name or moniker selected by person in an IM or chat program. ex: My “SN” in vp was “-lone.wolf” |
SNAFU | Situation Normal, All “Fouled” Up |
SO | Significant Other |
SOL | Shit Out Of Luck |
SOS | Same Old S**t (stuff) |
SOTA | State Of The Art (latest technology) |
SPST | Same Place, Same Time |
SSDD | Same S**t, Different Day |
STR8 | Straight (can refer to sex, or DSTR8 as in Damn Straight) |
STW | Search The Web |
SY | Sincerely Yours |
SYL | See You Later |
TAFN | That’s All For Now |
TC | Take Care |
TFH | Thread From Hell (a topic or discussion that won’t stop – esp. newsgroups) |
TGIF | Thank Goodness It’s Friday |
THX | Thanks! |
TIA | Thanks In Advance |
TM | Text Message (often refers to communications with text over cell phones) |
TMI | Too Much Info. (information) |
TNT | ‘Til Next Time |
TPS | That’s Pretty Stupid |
TPTB | The Powers That Be (can sometimes refer to the people that are running the chat room or server) |
TRDMF | Tears Running Down My Face: Can be with either laughter, or due to saddness. |
TS | Tough S**t |
TSFY | Tough S**t For You |
TTFN | Ta-Ta For Now |
TTTT | These Things Take Time |
TTYL | Talk To You Later |
TY | Thank You |
TYT | Take Your Time |
TYVM | Thank You Very Much |
VPPH | Virtual Places Page Host |
US | You Suck |
usa or USA | Until Sides Ache: Usually used with one of the laughter acronyms such as “lolusa” Laughing Out Loud Until my Sides Ache. I’ve also heard that some folks substitute ush for “Until Sides Hurt”. rotflolush = rolling on the floor, laughing out loud, until my sides hurt. |
UV | Unpleasant Visual |
UW | yoU’re Welcome |
UY | Up Yours |
vp or VP | Virtual Places: A brand of chat offered by Excite in the late 90s and early 2000. |
WB | Welcome Back (you say this when someone returns to a chat room) |
WC | WelCome |
WEG | Wicked Evil Grin |
WEU | What’s Eating You? |
WFM | Works For Me |
WIIFM | What’s In It For Me? |
WTG | Way To Go |
WTF | What The F**K |
WT? | What The …? or Who the …? |
WTGP? | Want To Go Private? (move to a private chat room) |
WWJD | What Would Jesus Do? |
YAA | Yet Another Acronym |
YBS | You’ll Be Sorry |
YL | Young Lady |
YM | Young Man |
YMMV | Your Mileage May Vary |
YR | Yea, Right. (sarcastic) |
*ys* | You Stinker |
YVW | You’re Very Welcome |
YW | You’re Welcome |
Emoticons: (symbols used to display feeling)
Note: For these little things called “emoticons” Often the idea is to turn your head sideways, and it makes a picture on a lot of the smiley faces. 😉 for example where the ; (semi-colon) are the eyes, the – is the nose, and the ) is the mouth. Also, you see some people use the hyphen (-) to show the nose, while others will show the same expression without the nose. Example: 😉 and 😉 signify the same thing.
*s*, *S*, <s>, = smile | *g*, <g> = grin | xoxo = hugs and kisses | huggggggsssss = hugs |
*w*, <w> = wink | *g*, = giggles | *k*, *K* = kiss | ;-)~~~~~~~~ = giving someone the raspberries. |
(((((person))))) = giving them a virtual hug. | \~/ = glass with a drink. (usually booze) | ^5 = high five | ?^ = What’s Up? |
\_/? = a cup of tea | [_]> + Cup of coffee | @@@ = Cookies | @–/– = a rose |
🙂 .. smile | 😉 … wink | <:-| … curious | :~) … cute |
🙁 … sad | 😎 … wears glasses | :-} … embarrassed | :-/ … perplexed, confused |
:,-( ..or ;`-( …. to cry | :-< … pouting | >:-( … angry | 0:-) … angel |
😐 … bored or no opinion | :-> … grin/mischievous | | -) … dreaming | :-O … shouting, or shocked |
😮 … talking, or surprised | >:-|| … mad / angry | 😀 … big grin or laugh | =:-O … scared |
😡 … keeping mouth shut | :o) … smiles (w/nose) | :-))))))) … lots of smiles | ;-P … sticking tongue out 😛 … sticking tongue out |
# 8 – ) … nerd, or or person with glasses and crew cut. | &-( … crying | !:-) .. I have an idea | ;-{ ) … person with a mustache |
;-)~ … sexy tongue – or drunk | ;~) … being cute | c[“] … coffee mug | [_]> … another cup or mug |
:-> … grin/mischievous | <:-| … curious | |-| … sound asleep | 😡 .. I’m keeping my mouth shut |
Another few side notes: | Related Links |
0 can be O or vice versa, (the letter and the number are often interchangeable) | |
1 = won or one, (1dr = wonder) | |
2 too, to, or two, | |
3 = the letter E, (so ‘s33 U’ means See you) | |
4 = for, four, or a prefix of suffix of ‘fore. (b4 = before, 4warned = forewarned), | |
8 is usually either a pair of eyes, glasses, or ate, although it gets used a lot for making pictures, | |
9 is a good thing (he was dressed to the 9s means he was all dressed up), | |
B = be, | |
C = see, (IC means I see) | |
G = gee, | |
K = OK, (so k, or kk means I’m OK) | |
M = am, | |
N = in, | |
O = oh, | |
R = Are, | |
U = You, | |
g = grin, | |
s = smile, |