Internet slang

simple:Net jargon Internet users have developed many slang terms over the years. Most of these are not actually acronyms as they cannot be pronounced, but that is what they are called nonetheless. Many of these terms originated for saving keystrokes and are often written in lower case:

AFAIC --- "as far as I'm concerned", or "as far as I care"
AFAIK --- "as far as I know"
AFAIR --- "as far as I recall", or "as far as I remember"
AFK --- "away from keyboard"
ASAP --- "as soon as possible"
BBL --- "be back later"
BBS --- "be back soon"
BFD --- "big fucking deal"
BRB --- "be right back" (usually used in chats and on an instant messenger service).
BTW --- "by the way"
C&V --- Chapter & Verse. Used in newsgroups.
C|N>K --- a Unix-ism meaning "coffee through nose into keyboard"
cya --- "see you", used as a goodbye.
CYS --- "Check your settings". A phrase often said by technical support staff of a certain Australian ISP.
FAQ --- "Frequently Asked Question"
FFS --- "for fuck's sake!"
FOAF --- "friend of a friend", i.e. the dubious attribution given to urban legends
FYI --- "for your information"
G2G --- "got to go". Used in chatrooms.
GAGF --- "go and get fucked"
GFY --- "good for you" or "go fuck yourself". The use of this acronym is ambigious and not recommended.
GG --- "good going" or "good game". Used sincerely in online games such as trivia, but more often used sarcastically when someone has done something foolish.
HAND --- "have a nice day"
HTH --- "hope this helps"
IANAL --- "I am not a lawyer". Usually used before a non-lawyer gives legal advice, as a humorous disclaimer.
IANARS --- "I am not a rocket scientist"
IC --- "I see", also, "in character" in MUDs and role-playing games.
ICYDK / ICYDN / ICUDK -- "In case you didn't know."
IIRC --- "if I recall correctly" c.f. ISTR
IMHO --- "in my humble opinion" / "in my honest opinion"
IMO --- "in my opinion"
IMNSHO --- "in my not-so-humble opinion"
IRC --- "Internet Relay Chat"
IRL - "in real life". Used in MUD settings.
ISTR --- "I seem to recall" (i.e. I'm not really sure) c.f. IIRC
IYDMMA --- "if you don't mind me asking", for ex., "IYDMMA, are you a virgin?"
JJ or JK (j/k) --- "just joking", "just kidding"
Joo --- synonym of you. Also spelled j00 with a lower case j and two zeroes rather than two O's.
JOOC --- "just out of curiosity"
k --- short for "OK"
l8r --- a shorthand spelling of "later", meaning "see you later" (see leet)
LIEK --- synonym of like, as in "I like that website".
LMAO --- "laughing my ass off"
LOL --- "laughing out loud", or "lots of laughs" (a reply to something amusing)
MYOB --- "mind your own business"
NM (n/m) --- "never mind"
NOYB --- "none of your business"
OIC --- "oh, I see"
OMG --- Exclamation, "Oh my God!!"
OMFG --- Exclamation, "Oh my fucking God!!"
OMFL --- Exclamation, "Oh my fucking lag!"
OOC --- "out-of-character". Used on MUDs and other role-playing games. Also, "out of curiosity."
OT --- "off topic"
OTOH --- "on the other hand"
own - 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).
PFO --- "please fuck off"
PITA --- "pain in the ass"
prog --- "computer program" (progz in plural)
prolly --- contracted form of "probably"
plz --- shorthand spelling of "please"
Pwn --- step up of the word own. To "Pwn something" means to have complete control over it, and to be "Pwned by something" means to be dominated by it. (see leet)
qoolz --- something that is "cool" in the American sense.
R --- shorthand spelling of "are"
RL --- "real life". Used in MUD settings.
ROFL (or ROTFL) --- "rolling on the floor laughing" (a reply to something extremely amusing).
ROFLMAO (or ROTFLMAO) --- "rolling on the floor laughing my ass off"
r0x0rz --- leet speaks for "rocks"
RTFM --- "read the fucking manual" (often sanitized to "read the fine manual"). The frequent reply to a request for basic help from newbies who have not attempted to find the answer for themselves.
STFU --- "shut the fuck up"
sux0rs --- leet speak for "sucks"
thx --- shorthand spelling of "thanks" - this can be combined into "kthx" (OK, thanks), "plzkthx" (Please, OK, thanks), and "kthxbye" (OK, thanks, goodbye)
TIA --- "thanks in advance"
TTYL --- "talk to you later"
U --- a shorthand spelling of "you"
w/e --- slang/abbreviation for whatever
WDUWTA ---- "what do u wanna talk about?"
WTF --- "what the fuck?"
YMMV --- "Your mileage may vary" (you may see different results)
w00t --- exclamation of excitement or happiness; closely related to, "hell yea!" (short for woohoo)
X > * --- definition of something [X] is better than everything [*].
<3 --- "love" (made from the ASCII-art heart between the less than symbol and the three). Ex: I <3 you.

Others express concepts peculiar to the Net:

newbie --- a new user. Not a pejorative term (but see RTFM, preceding).
noob --- a new user. Also spelled n00b, with two zeroes rather than two O's (see leet)
cluebie --- a newbie with a clue, but not close to a guru.
guru --- an expert in some technical topic, such as as C programming or Unix system administration
FAQ --- frequently asked question, or a list of frequently asked questions with answers. Never seems to be written in small letters.
troll --- a person who deliberately stirs up trouble (see article).
lurker --- one who reads an email list or a message board but does not participate in the discussion.
flamer --- one who 'flames'; To rant on about some relatively uninteresting subject or with a patently ridiculous attitude or with hostility towards a particular person or group of people. "Flame" is used as a verb ("Don't flame me for this"), a flame is a single flaming message. Also is likely to relate to the term lamer.
hijack --- go offtopic. done commonly by newbies in forums.

The peculiar thing about internet abbreviations is that many people make them up on the fly, therefore these abbreviations can often be confusing, and impossible to completly cover without being impossibly meticulate. This type of on-the-spot abbreviating leads to doldrums of such things as: OTP (on the phone), PO (pissed off), or the more common, OPTD (outside petting the dog). Another thing common to internet communication is the truncation and morphing of words to more typing-friendly forms. These may one day creep into common usage and end up in the dictionary. Some examples of this are:

addy for address (addys is the plural)
pic for picture (pics or pix is the plural)
prolly for probably

A special case of this last form is 'teh'. This is the corruption of 'the', and often pops up spontaneously when typing fast. So common is it, in fact, that it has made the jump to purposeful usage. Typically it is used in situations where one is being 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. This latter usage originates with JeffK.

Internet writing is, by its nature, difficult to interpret, especially in chatrooms or on instant messaging, because much of it is quickly input, and many assume, falsely, their audience knows their body language. For instance; a LOL may be taken as genuine laughter or sarcasm, or as "whatever, stay away from me." So, for the sake of accurate and easily understandable communication, it is best to be as explicit as possible and make an effort to get your point across. Smilies such as :) can also be used to clarify emotional intent in internet messages.

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