Abbreviations and Acronyms

Also see Emoticons (smilies).

These abbreviations and acronyms, or shorthand, used in Internet communications have been compiled from a number of sources. I have done what I can to clean up the language on a few of them. I apologize if I missed anything offensive.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U W X Y

 

Abbreviation/Acronym Meaning  
0.02 Your (or my) two cents worth. Back to top
! I have a comment
? I have a question
[$X$] No spam !!
\M/ Heavy Metal Music
<bg> big grin
<chuckle> the speaker chuckles
<dg> devilish grin
<eg> evil grin
<frown> the speaker is frowning
<g> grin
<gd&r> grinning, ducking, and running!
<gd&rvvf> grinning, ducking & running very very fast ...
<gg> big grin (etc.)
<grin> the speaker is grinning
<i> impish grin
<s> smiling
<smile> the one writing the message is smiling
<smirk> the one writing the message is smirking
<sp?> word/name/phrase probably contains a spelling error
<vbg> very big grin Back to top
<wink> the one writing the message is winking
2F4U too fast for you
2MI Too much information.
2U2 To You Too
4COL For Crying Out Loud
AAMOF As A Matter Of Fact
ADN Any Day Now
AFAIC As Far As I'm Concerned
AFAICSA s Far As I Can See
AFAIK As Far As I Know
AFAIR As Far As I Remember
AFJ April Fools Joke
AFK Away From the Keyboard
AIJ Am I Jesus?
AISI As I See It
aka also known as
AMFGoodbye (Adios Mutha-......)
AND Any Day Now
ANFAWFOS And Now For A Word From Our Sponsor
ANFSCD And Now For Something Completely Different Back to top
A-OLs Administrators On-Line
APA Amateur Press Association
AS On Another Subject
ASAFP As Soon As Friggin' Possible
ASAP As Soon As Possible
ASAYGT As Soon As You Get This
ASL Age, sex, location
ATSL Along The Same Line
AWC After While, Crocodile
AWGTHTGTATA Are We Going To Have To Go Through ALL This Again?
AWGTHTGTTA Are We Going To Have To Go Through This Again?
AWHFY Are We Having Fun Yet?
AWTTW A Word To The Wise
AYOR At Your Own Risk
B4 Before
B4N Bye For Now
BAC Bad A**ed Chick
BAD Broken As Designed
BAK Back At Keyboard
BBFN Bye Bye For Now Back to top
BBIAB Be Back In A Bit
BBIAF Be Back In A Few
BBL Be Back Later
BBR Burnt Beyond Repair
BBS Bulletin Board System
BBSTYWTCMDJBAP Be Back Sooner Than You Would Think, Considering My Dog Just Bit A Policeman
BC Because
BCNU Be Seeing You
BEG Big Evil Grin
BF Boy Friend
BFD Big Frickin Deal
BFHD Big Fat Hairy Deal (a la Garfield the Cat)
BFN Bye For Now
BIF Before I Forget
BION Believe It Or Not
BMTIPG Brilliant Minds Think In Parallel Gutters
BNF Big Name Fan
BNFSCD But Now For Something Completly Different
BOHICA Bend Over, Here It Comes Again
BOT Back On Topic Back to top
BRB Be Right Back
BRS Big Red Switch
BRS Big Red Switch.
BS BullSh*t
BTA But Then Again
BTAIM Be That As It May
BTHOM Beats The Hell Outta Me
BTOBD Be There Or Be Dead
BTSOOM Beats The S**t Out Of Me
BTW By The Way
BTWBO Be There With Bells On
BWL Bursting With Laughter
BWQ Buzz Word Quotient
BYE Response to BYE?
BYE? Are you ready to say goodbye?"
BYKT But You Knew That
BYOB Bring Your Own Bottle
BYOM Bring Your Own Mac
C&G Chuckle and Grin
CAD- Control-Alternate-Delete - Computer Aided Design Back to top
CADET Can't Add, Doesn't Even Try
CfD Call For Discussion
CfV Call For Vote
CIAO Goodbye (Italian)
CID Crying In Disgrace
CMIIW Correct Me If I'm Wrong
CO Conference
CP Copy Protection
CPP C Plus Plus or C++
CRS Can't Remember Sh**
CSG Chuckle, Snicker, Grin
CU See You
CU2 See You, Too
CUL Catch You Later - See You Later
CUL8R See You Later
CULA See You Later, Alligator
CWYL Chat With You Later
CYA See Ya or Cover Your A**.
CYAL8R See You All Later.
D/L Download Back to top
DDD Direct Distance Dial (as in the phone system)
DIIK Damned/Darn If I know
DIKU? Do I Know You?
DILLIGAD Do I Look Like I Give A Darn?!
DILLIGAF Do I Look Like I Give A [*CENSORED*]!
DIY Do It Yourself
DK Don’t Know
DL DownLoad
DLTBBB Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite.
DNPM Darn Near P***ed Myself
dotgov A government official (from the .gov of government domain names)
DTRT Do The Right Thing
DWIMC Do What I Mean, Correctly
DWIMNWIS Do What I Mean, Not What I Say
EG or <eg> Evil Grin
EM Ethnic Minority
EOD End Of Discussion
EOF End Of File
EOL End Of Lecture
EOT End of Thread Back to top
ESAD Eat S**t And Die
ESOSL Endless Snorts Of Stupid Laughter
ETLA Extended Three Letter Acronym
F2F Face To Face
FAQ Frequently asked questions
FB Files Busy
FCFS First Come, First Served
FD FrontDoor
FFRD Flying Freep in a Rolling Doughnut (I don't give a d***)
FIAWOL Fandom Is A Way Of Life
FIFO First In, First Out
FIJAGH Fandom Is Just A Goddamn Hobby
FIMD Foot-In-Mouth Disease (open mouth, insert foot, echo)
FISH First In, Still Here
FITB Fill In The Blank
fn Function
FOAD F*** off and die
FOAF Friend Of A Friend
FOAG **** Off And Google
FOMC Fell Off My Chair Back to top
FOOBAR see FUBAR
FRED Flaming Ridiculous Electronic Device
FS For Sale
FTASB Faster Than A Speeding Bullet
FTF Face To Face
FTL Faster Than Light
FUBAR F***ed/Fouled Up Beyond All Repair/Recognition
FUBB Fouled Up Beyond Belief
FUD Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt
FURTB Full Up Ready To Burst (about harddisks!)
FWIW For What It’s Worth
FYA For Your Amusement
FYI For Your Information
G Grin, or Giggle
G1 Good One
G2G Got to Go
GA Go Ahead
GAL Get A Life
GD&R Grinning, Ducking and Running
GD&RF Grinning, Ducking and Running Fast Back to top
GD&WVF Grinning, Ducking, and Walking Very Fast
GDW Grin, Duck and Weave
GF Girl Friend.
GFC Going For Coffee
GFN Gone For Now.
GFR Grim File Reaper (pervasive data destroyer)
GG Good Game
GGC Goo Goo Cluster (cause zits & intestinal blockage)
GIDK Gee I Don't Know
GIGO Garbage In, Garbage Out - Garbage In, Gospel Out (people accepting
GIWIST Gee, I Wish I'd Said That
GLGH Good Luck and Good Hunting
GMAFB Give Me A Freeping Break
GMTA Great Minds Think Alike
GNU Gnu Not Unix
GOK God Only Knows
GOWI Get On With It
GP,F Go Puke, Fast!
GR&D Grinning, Running and Ducking
GROK As in "I GROK" means thorough understanding.h/whardware Back to top
GTG Got To Go
GTSY Great To See You
H&K Hugs and Kisses
H4U Hot For You
HAK Hugs And Kisses
HBASTD Hitting Bottom And Starting To Dig
HHIS Hanging Head In Shame.
HHO1/2K Ha, Ha, Only Half Kidding
HHOJ Ha Ha Only Joking
HHOK Ha Ha Only Kidding
HHOS Ha Ha Only Serious
HHTT Ha Ha Thump Thump
HHTYAY Happy Holidays to You and Yours.
HIH Hope It Helps
HNY Happy New Year
HOYEW Hanging On Your Every Word
HSIK How Should I Know.
HT Hi There
HTFSIK How The F**k Should I Know
HTH Hope This Helps! Back to top
HUA Heads Up, AceI/OInput/Output
IAAA I Am An Acountant
IAAL I Am A Lawyer
IAC In Any Case
IAE In Any Event
IANAA I Am Not An Accountant
IANAL I Am Not A Lawyer
IAW In Accordance With
IBK Idiot Behind Keyboard
IBTD I Beg To Differ
IC I See
IDK I Don't Know
IfIYFxxx Insert Your Favorite xxx, xxx e.g. EM = Ethnic Minority in jokes)
IHHO In Her/His Humble Opinion
IIABDFI If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It.
IIRC If I Recall/Remember Correctly
IITYWIMWYBMAD If I Tell You What It Means Will You Buy Me A Drink?
IITYWIMWYMMPLTM If I Tell You What It Means Will You Make Mad Passionate Love To Me
IITYWTMWYKM If I Tell You What This Means Will You Kiss me?
IITYWTMWYMMPLTMANLAITD If I Tell You What This Means Will You Make Mad Passionate Love To Me All Night Long And Into The Day Back to top
IITYWYBAD If I Tell You, Will You Buy Another Drink
IITYWYBMAB If I Tell You, Will You Buy Me A Beer
IIWM If It Were Me (Mine)
IJWTK I Just Want To Know
IJWTS I Just Want To Say
IKWUM I Know What You Mean
IKYABWAI I Know You Are But What Am I?
ILSHIBAMF I Laughed So Hard I Broke All My Furniture!
IMA I Might Add
IMAO In My Arrogant Opinion
IMCO In My Considered Opinion
IME In My Experience
IMHO In My Humble Opinion
IMNSHO In My Not So Humble Opinion
IMO In My Opinion
IMPOV In My Point Of View
IMRO In My Royal Opinion
INPO In No Particular Order
IOW In Other Words
IRL In Real Life Back to top
ISBAB I Should have Bought A Book
ISS I’m So Sure
ISSYGTI I’m So Sure You Get The Idea!
ISWYM I See What You Mean
ITFA In The Final Analysis
ITSFWI If The Shoe Fits Wear It.
IWALU I Will Always Love You
IWBNI It Would Be Nice If
IYFEG Insert Your Favorite Ethnic Group
IYSS If You Say So
IYSWIM If You See What I Mean
IYTMWIMIWMMPLTY If You Tell Me What This Means I Will Make Mad Passionate Love To
J4F Just For Fun
JAM Just A Moment
JAS Just A Second
JAUA Just Another Useless Answer
JC Just Chilling
JFI Just For Information
JIC Just In Case
JK Just Kidding Back to top
JMO Just My Opinion
JSNM Just Stark Naked Magic
JTLYK Just To Let You Know
JWK Just Wondering
K Okay
KBD Keyboard
KHYF Know How You Feel
KIBO Knowledge In, Bullsh*t Out
KISS Keep It Simple, Stupid
KIT Keep In Touch
KMA Kiss My A**
KMIA Kiss My Italian A**
KWIM Know What I Mean?
KYFC Keep Your Fingers Crossed
L Laugh
L8R Later
LABATYD or LAB&TYD Life's A Bitch And Then You Die
LAGNAF Let's All Get Naked And [*CENSORED*]
LD Long Distance
lib Library Back to top
LJBF Let’s Just Be Friends
LLTA Lots and Lots of Thunderous Applause
LMAO Laughing my A** off
LMHO Laughing My Head Off
LOL Laughing Out Loud
LOL Lots Of Luck
LOLV Lot's Of LoVe
LSHMBA Laughing So Hard My Belly Aches
LSHMBH Laughing So Hard My Belly Hurts.
LTHTT Laughing Too Hard To Type
LTIP Laughing Til' I Puke
LTM Laughing To Myself
LTNS Long Time No See
LTNT Long Time, No Type
LTS Laughing to Self
LUWAMH Love You With All My Heart.
LY Love You
LYLAB Love You Like A Brother
LYLAS Love You Like A Sister
MEGO My Eyes Glaze Over Back to top
MLA Multiple Letter Acronym
MOF Matter Of Fact
MOSS Member Of Same Sex
MOTAS Member Of The Appropriate Sex
MOTD Message of the day
MOTM Member Of The Month
MOTOS Member Of The Opposite Sex
MOTSS Member Of The Same Sex
MRA Moving Right Along
msg Message
MTBF Mean Time Between Failure
MTFBWY May The Force Be With You
MYOB Mind Your Own Business
n/a not applicable
NAVY Never Again Voluneer Yourself.
NB Nota Bene
NBD No Big Deal
NBFD No Big F***ing Deal
NE14KFC? Anyone for KFC?
NFG No Freeping Good Back to top
NFI No Friggin' Idea
NFW No Friggin' Way!
NHOH Never Heard Of Him/Her
NIH Not Invented Here
NIMBY Not In My Back Yard.
NINO Nothing In, Nothing Out or No Input, No Output
NITL Not In This Lifetime
NM Never Mind
NOYB None Of Your Business
NP No Problem
NQA No Questions Asked
NRN No Response Necessary
N'SP Nobody's Perfect
NTIM Not That It Matters
NTIMM Not That It Matters Much
NTW Not To Worry
NTYMI Now That You Mention It
O Over (indicates the end of a communication)
OATUS On A Totally Unrelated Subject
OAUS On An Unrelated Subject Back to top
OB Obligatory
obj Object
ObJoke Obligatory Joke
OBO Or Best Offer
OBTW Oh, By The Way
Ofs Offset
OFTPATHIRIO Oh F*** This Place And The Horse It Rode In On!
OIC Oh, I See
OMG Oh My God
ONNA Oh No, Not Again
ONNTA Oh No, Not This Again
OO Over and Out (end of communication)
OOTC Obligatory On-Topic Comment
op Operator
OST On Second Thoughts
OTF On The Floor
OTF On the Floor (laughing)
OTL Out To Lunch
OTOH On The Other Hand
OTOOH On The Other Other Hand Back to top
OTT Over The Top
OTTH On The Third Hand
OTTOMH Off The Top Of My Head
OWTTE Or Words To That Effect
OZ Australia
PABG Packing A Big Gun
PBM Play By Mail (game)
PCMCIA People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms
PD Public Domain
PDS Please Don't Shout. (typing all in capital letters is rude)
PEBCAK Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard
PFM Pure F***ing Magic
PITA Pain In The A**/Anatomy
PLOKTA Press Lots Of Keys To Abort
PMBI Pardon My Butting In
PMETC Pardon Me, etc.
PMF Pardon My French or Pure Freaking Magic.
PMFBI Pardon Me For Butting In
PMFJI Pardon Me For Jumping In
PMIGBOM Put Mind In Gear, Before Opening Mouth Back to top
PMJI Pardon My Jumping In
PMP Peeing My Pants
PNCAH Please, No Cursing Allowed Here
POS Piece of S**t
POSSLQ Person Of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters
POTS Plain Old Telephone Service
POTUS President of the United States
POV Point Of View
PPL People
PPP Petty Pet Peeve
PPPP Previous Paragraph was Polemical Position
PPTSPAHS Please Pass The Salt, Pepper And Hot Sauce ... used when
Prgm Program
proc Procedure
PS postscript/post scriptum
PTMM Please Tell Me More
ptr Pointer
QT Cutie
R U THERE? Are you there?
RAEBNC Read And Enjoyed, But No Comment Back to top
RE Hello again or In Regard To
REHI Hi again
RfD Request For Discussion
rgds Regards
RHIP Rank Has It's Privileges
RL Real Life
RLCO Real Life Conference
RNA Ring, No Answer
ROFL Rolling On Floor Laughing
ROFL Rolling On Floor, Laughing!
ROFLAS Rolling On Floor Laughing And Screaming
ROFLASTC Rolling On Floor, Laughing And Scaring The Cat!
ROFLGO Rolling On Floor, Laughing Guts Out!
ROFLMAO Rolling On Floor, Laughing My A** Off
ROI Return on Investment
ROTF Rolling On The Floor
ROTFL Rolling On The Floor, Laughing
ROTFLAHMS Rolling On The Floor, Laughing And Holding My Sides
ROTFLBTC Rolling On The Floor, Laughing, Biting The Carpet
ROTFLBTCACTC Rolling On the Floor, Biting The Carpet And Scaring The Cat Back to top
ROTFLBTCASTCIIHO Rolling On The Floor, Laughing, Biting The Carpet and Scaring The Cat
ROTFLBTCDICAJTTWADBSIHPWTRHITSBKABAYB Rolling On The Floor, Laughing, Biting The Carpet, Dancing In Circles And Jumping Through The Window, Almost Dieing By Smashing Into HP Who's Then Running Horrified Into The Street Being Killed Accidentally By A Yellow Bulldozer
ROTFLMAO Rolling On The Floor, Laughing My A** Off
ROTFLMAOTID Rolling On The Floor Laughing My A** Off Till I Die
ROTFLOL Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud
ROTFLOLAPMP Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud And Peeing My Pants
ROTFLSHTIH Rolling On The Floor Laughing So Hard That It Hurts
ROTFLSHTIHHSSMTISDSSWD Rolling On The Floor Laughing So Hard That It Hurts Her Sides So Much That If She Doesn't Stop She Will Die
ROTFLTC Rolling On The Floor, Licking The Glue
ROTFLTIC Rolling On The Floor Laughing Till I Cry
RRQ Return Receipt Request
RSN Real Soon Now
RSVP Respondez S'il Vous Plait - please reply
RTBM Read The Bloody Manual
RTFAQ Read The Frequently Asked Questions
RTFF Read The Freaking FAQ
RTFM Read That *Fine*/ Farging/ Fershlugginer/ Flaming/ Freaking/ Friendly/ Friggin'/ F*cking Manual
RTFMA Read The Friggin' Manual, Again
RTM Read The Manual
RTSM Read The Silly Manual Back to top
RTWFQ Read The Whole Friggin' Question
RTWT Read The Whole Thing (blog term)
RYFM Read Your Friendly/Friggin'/F*cking Manual!
RYS Read Your Screen
S Smile
SAPFU Surpassing All Previous Foul Ups
SCNR Sorry, Could Not Resist
SEC Wait a second
seg Segment
SETE Smiling Ear To Ear
SF Science Fiction or Speculative Fantasy
SFLA Stupid Four Letter Acronym
SICS Sitting In Chair Snickering
SITD Still In The Dark
SLH Sub Level Hierarchy (newsgroups)
SLM See Last Mail
SMOP Small Matter of Programming
SMTWGWLAF Slapping My Thighs While Giggling Wildly Like A Fool
SMTWTFS Slapping My Thighs While Terribly Foolishly Snickering
SNAFU Situation Normal: All Fouled Up Back to top
SnailMail The U.S. Postal Service
SO Significant Other
SOB Stressd Out Bigtime
SOGOTP Sh*t Or Get Off The Pot
SOI Stunk On Ice
SOL S*** Out of Luck - Sooner Or Later
SOS Same Old Stuff
SOTA State Of The Art
SOW Speaking Of Which
sp? spelling correct?
SSDD Same Stuff, Different Day
SUFID Screwing Up Face In Disgust
SUL Snooze You Loose
SWAG Super Wild A** Guess
SWALCAKWS Sealed With A Lick Cause A Kiss Won't Stick
SWEG Scientific Wild Eyed Guess
SWIM See What I Mean?
SWL Screaming With Laughter
SWMBO She Who Must Be Obeyed
SYS See You Soon. Back to top
SYSOP System Operator
SYT Sweet Young Thing
TACE To A Certain Extent
TAF That's All, Folks!
TAFN That's All For Now
TAKS That's a knee slapper
TANJ There Ain’t No Justice
TANSTAAFL There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
TARFU Things Are Really Fouled Up
TBD To Be Decided
TBYB Try Before You Buy
TCO Total Cost of Ownership
TDM Too Darn Many
TFS Three Finger Salute (Ctl-Alt-Del).
TFTHAOT Thanx For The Help Ahead Of Time
TFTT Thanks For The Thought
TGAL Think Globally, Act Locally
TGIF Thank God, It's Friday
THANX Thanks
THX Thanks Back to top
TIA Thanks In Advance
TIC Tongue In Cheek
TINAR This Is Not A Recommendation
TINWIS That Is Not What I Said
TLA Three Letter Acronym
TLH Top Level Hierarchy (newsgroups)
TM Thread Mangler - TradeMark
TNSTAAFL There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
TNTL Trying Not To Laugh
TNX Thanks
TNXE6 Thanks A Million
TOBAL There Oughta Be A Law
TOBG This Oughta Be Good.
TOY Thinking Of You.
TOYM Turn On Your Mind!
TPTB The Powers That Be
TRDMC Tears Running Down My Cheeks.
TS Totally Stinks
TSJD Texas Size Jelly Doughnut
TSR Totally Stupid Rules Back to top
TTBOMK To The Best Of My Knowledge
TTFN Ta Ta For Now
TTKSF Trying To Keep a Straight Face
TTL4N That's The Lot For Now
TTTT To Tell The Truth
TTUL Talk To You Later
TTYAWFN Talk To You A While From Now.
TTYL Talk To You Later
TTYT Talk To You Tomorrow.
TYCLO Turn Your CAPS LOCK Off (Quit Shouting)
TYVM Thank You Very Much
U University
U/L Upload
UL Upload
UNCLE Unified Nuclear Coalition of Latvian Emigrants
UOK Are You OK?
UoX University of X
UTSL Use The Source, Luke!
w/ with
w/o without Back to top
WAEF When All Else Fails
WAG Wild A** Guess
WAMKSAM Why Are My Kids (or Kitties) Staring At Me?
WB Welcome Back
WDALYIC Who died and left you in charge?
WDYMBT What Do (or Did) You Mean By That?
WDYT What Do You Think?
WE Whatever
WGAS Who Gives A [*CENSORED*]?!
WIBAMU Well, I'll Be A Monkey's Uncle
WIBNI Wouldn’t It Be Nice If
WIMP Windows, Icons, Mouse, Pointing (to describe Windows)
WizOp Wizard Sysop; the primary Forum Administrator/Sysop
WMMOWS Wash My Mouth Out With Soap
WNOHGB Where No One Has Gone Before
WOA Work Of Art
WOFTAM Waste Of Flaming Time And Money
WOTAM Waste Of Time And Money
WRT With Regard To, or With Respect To
WT Without Thinking Back to top
WTB Want To Buy
WTF What The F***
WTFDIK What The Freep Do I Know
WTFZDN What The F*** Zit Doin' Now?
WTG Way To Go!
WTGP Want To Go Private?
WTH What The Heck?
WTN Who then now?
WTTM Without Thinking Too Much
WYGISWYPF What You Get Is What You Pay For
WYLABOCTGWTR Would You Like A Bowl Of Cream To Go With That Remark?
WYLASOMWTC Would You Like A Saucer Of Milk With That Comment?
WYSBYGI What You See Before You Get It
WYSIWYG What You See Is What You Get
XOXOXO Kisses and hugs
YABA Yet Another Bloody Acronym
YAOTM Yet Another Off-Topic Message
YAUN Yet Another Unix Nerd
Yaxxx Yet Another xxx
YBYSA You Bet Your Sweet A** Back to top
YGLT You're Gonna Love This
YGTBK You've Got To Be Kidding
YGTI You Get The Idea?
YGWYPF You Get What You Pay For
YIU Yes, I Understand
YIWGP Yes, I Will Go Private
YKWIM You know what I mean
YKYARW You Know You're A Redneck When ...
YMMV Your Mileage May Vary (or your experience could be different)