If you’re new to the Internet, or even just to forums, you will inevitably come across tons of acronyms that are used regularly by people. If you don’t know what they mean, it can be a little intimidating or just plain confusing.
Seeing your strife, Christian Survivors sent these two courageous staff members on an acronyms hunt for you!
When you communicate in real life, you are able to express reactions and emotions through body language. For example, if someone tells you a joke, you might find yourself giggling or laughing …. and if someone says something that shocks you slightly, your chin may drop as you open your mouth in surprise. Of course, when you are talking to someone online and they can’t see your body language, they won’t see your whole response – only your words. So, acronyms and emoticons are used instead.
They are also used as a sort of shorthand, because obviously typing is slower than speaking and so using acronyms and emoticons just speeds things up. Below is a list of frequently used acronyms and their meanings, along with some general Internet terms that you may not be familiar with. Hope it helps!
Frequently Used Acronyms At Christian Survivors :
AFAIK – as far as I know
AKA – also known as
ASAP – as soon as possible
BB – bulletin board
BBL – be back later
BBS – be back soon
BF – boyfriend
BFN – bye for now
BRB – be right back
BTW – by the way
CWYL – chat with you later
CS – Christian Survivors
CSM – Christian Survivors Ministries
CSF – Christian Survivors Forums
FAQ – frequently asked questions
FYI – for your information
FWIW – for what it’s worth
*G* – grin
GF – girlfriend
GMTA – great minds think alike.
H – husband
IC – I see
IMHO – in my humble opinion
IMNSHO – in my not so humble opinion
IMO – in my opinion
IOW – in other words
IRL – in real life
JK – just kidding
LTR / L8R – later
LMAO – laughing my a** off
LOL – laughing out loud
LUB – laughing under breath
NP – no problem
OTT – over the top
PM – private message
ROFL – rolling on the floor laughing (also ROTFL)
ROFLMAO – rolling on the floor laughing my a** off
*s* – smile
T – Therapy / therapist
TIC – tongue in cheek
TTFN – ta ta for now
TTYL – talk to you later
TY – thank you
WB – welcome back
YGTR – you got that right
YW – you’re welcome
(((((((((*name*)))))))))))) – hugs
Smilies
You will see smilies littered around the internet in two different ways – text and graphical. They are just like acronyms, in that they are used to express the emotion that goes alongside the message you are typing. (For example, if you write something slightly sarcastic, rather than typing ‘I’m joking’, you could simply use the ‘wink’ smilie.)
To understand smilie codes, tilt your head to the left and look at the text : you will see that 🙂 represents two eyes and a smiling mouth – using a bit of imagination with smilies should reveal a face of some description.
Certain combinations of text are used as smilies in forums and chat rooms, and on webpages, all over the net :
🙂 – smile
😀 – big smile / grin
😉 – wink
:O – shock
😛 – pulling tongue
🙁 – sad
:'( or :*( – crying
Certain chat and forum software, such as this forum, may automatically convert those combinations into graphical smilies, also! To add graphical smilies into your posts at CSF, there are certain codes you can add into your posts, which correspond to specific graphics. You can find a list of all the available smilie graphics here.
When you click ‘Post Reply’ or ‘New Thread’, you will also be presented with a randomised box full of ‘clickable’ smilies. This simply means that you can click on the smilies and the code will appear at the end of your post 🙂 You can click the ‘get more’ link if you wish to view and click the whole range of smilies! 😉
Common Internet Terms
ADDRESS – Email addresses are composed of numbers or letters follwed by the “@”symbol, and then a registered organisation with it’s abbreviation attached. (xxxx@yzw.com)
BANDWIDTH – how much stuff you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits per second. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits per second.
BBS – bulletin board system. A warehouse of info and messages where people can exchange files and communicate with each other. Often small and dedicated to special interests.
FAQ – lists of answers to basic questions new people might ask. Look through FAQ before asking a question.
FLAME – a virtual tongue-lashing. The best response is to ignore it and the best way to avoid getting flamed is to be respectful and understanding. Flaming back can start Flame wars which can be very unpleasant and even damaging.
HTML – Hyper Text Markup Language. the graphical programming code used to create sites on the web.
IP ADDRESS – Internet Protocol Address. Every computer on the internet has a unique IP address. It consists of 4 nubers separated by periods, and the numbes can be between 1 and 3 digits long and are between 0 and 255. (eg. 203.0.52.199) This number is that computers exact location on the Internet.
IRC – Internet Relay Chat. The internet version of a walkie talkie.
LINK – Text or image that, when clicked, take the user to another place on the web.
LOGIN – Gaining access to a system by identifying yourself as a valid user or in some cases a guest.
LOGOUT – Formally ending a session. Can also be called Logoff.
NEWBIE – this term refers to new users of the internet.
POP – “Point of presence”: a city or location where a network can be connected to, often with dialup phone. OR “Post office protocol”: refers the the way email software such as Eudora gets a mail server. When you obtain a SLIP, PPP or shell account you almost always get a POP account and this POP account tells your email software to get your mail.
SPAM – Identical (or nearly) articles that are posted to a large number of UseNet groups. The practice of spamming is discouraged because of the adverse effect it has on the internet.
SPAMMING – The practice of sending out spam.
THREAD – A series of posted messages that follow a specific topic.
UPLOAD – to upload a file means to transfer it from you local computer to a host computer.
URL – Universal Resource Locator. All internet addresses are URL’s.
Amusing Acronyms we found while surfing 😉 !!!
BOS – Big orange switch (Panic button)
BRS – Big red switch (panic button)
EG – Evil grin
LSHMBB – laughing so hard my belly’s bouncing!
LSHMBH – laughing so hard my belly hurts
LSHMCIS – laughing so hard my computer is shaking!
LSHTTARDML – laughing so hard the tears are running down my leg!
MCBTY(SN) – my computer is better than yours (so nyeeeer)!!
OTTOMHAROOB – off the top of my head and rolling out of bounds!
PEBKAC – problem exists between keyboard and chair.
ROFFNAR – rolling on the floor for no apparent reason
© Copyright Jo & Susannah (Super Sleuths) – at CSM, Jan 2003
Some source material taken from vbulletin FAQ.
For a more inclusive list of acronyms, use google.com to search for glossaries 😉
