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Internet slang consists of slang that users of the Internet have developed and utilized. Many of its terms originated with the purpose of saving keystrokes, as a result many use the same abbreviations in text messages (see txt). The terms often appear in lower case, with capitals often reserved for emphasis — the pronoun "I", for example, often appears simply as "i".

Common disclaimer phrases (or parentheticals) also often contract into acronyms — they tend to occur at certain points in a sentence, which can facilitate decoding. Some of these include:

IMHO (in my humble/honest opinion)
AFAIK (as far as I know)
AFK (Away from Keyboard)

The untrained eye often finds Internet slang difficult to interpret because content in spoken language that speakers convey in the intonation and tone of the voice, such as sarcasm, do not readily transfer to written text.

Emoticons (or smilies) such as ":)" can go some way towards clarifying emotional intent in Internet messages. As with other Internet slang, netizens may use emoticons both genuinely and sarcastically; for example the ":-P" emoticon, which can express either genuine amusement and a sense of fun, or express a negative sarcastic comment on something another user might have said.

Certain online personalities, among them Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade, have begun to decry the usage of Internet slang, going so far as to refer to it as "the crude truncations of the lower classes." [1]

Although Internet slang has a close relationship with leetspeak, only online gamers traditionally used leet, whereas much larger groups of Internet users commonly use Internet slang.

Chat acronyms or chaq (pronounced "chalk") originally developed on pre-Internet bulletin board systems. A handful (for example, ASAP, PO'ed) far pre-date computers. The three-letter acronym (TLA) remains one of the most popular types of abbreviation in computing and telecom terminology and slang. Similar systems have since come into use with users of text-messaging wireless telephones.

Contexts

Internet slang occurs in various means of electronic communication. In order of most to least frequent use:

Text messaging on cell phones involves slang even more heavily abbreviated than Internet slang, due largely to the relatively inefficient text-entry method.
Instant messaging provides a very common medium of use, since brevity forms an important part of communication in this environment. Emoticons often convey emotions in instant messaging.
Chatrooms, especially those connected to instant messaging, often use abbreviations and emoticons.
Chatrooms on IRC sometimes use abbreviations, and more frequently lowercase text (for speed) and emoticons. IRC-users often employ emoticons to express sarcasm.
A few Internet forums use Internet slang. This may happen for the sake of speed, as in forums like FaceTheJury; or, on forums where more "proper" grammar prevails, it may give a sarcastic tone to speech, such as FYAD on the Something Awful Forums. Forum-based slang tends to appear more specialized and localized than other types of slang.

Internet abbreviations evolve and change continually. Online games provide a good place to observe language variation in use. Often, people uninterested in computer programming do not understand the more classically "nerdy" phrases like "2B||!2B" (which means "to be, or not to be"), thus they become useless or appear only in minority forums.

Common Internet slang

The vocabulary of Internet slang draws from many different sources — typically environments that placed value on brevity of communication. Some terms, such as FUBAR have roots as far back as World War II [2]. Other terms come from more recent forms of communication, such as TTY and IRC. With the rise of instant messaging services (ICQ, AOL, and MSN, among others) the vocabulary has expanded dramatically. Some of the most commonly occurring elements of this slang include:

lol – laugh(ing) out loud/laugh on line/lots of laughs
brb – be right back/bathroom break
gtg/g2g – got to go
l8r or cul8r – (see you) later
lmao – laugh(ing) my ass/arse off.
rofl – rolling on floor laughing
sry – sorry
cya or cu – see you
ty – thank you
gg/gj – good game/good job
ttyl – talk to you later
bbl – be back later
thx/tx/tnx – thanks
ta – thanks a lot
ihm – i hate myself
wombat – Waste of Money, Brains, and Time
nm – Not much (sometimes never mind)
nvm – Never mind

Aside from instant messaging programs another realm full of online languages exists: the Internet gaming world. One of the most popular forms of video game slang has become known as H4X0R or as 13375P34K (in leetspeak). For parents today, learning the online language can play an important role in maintaining the online safety of children. An article produced by Microsoft may help parents begin to understand some of the things their kids say in-game. (Many of the more knowledgeable "geeks" consider this article a joke, especially for Microsoft's attempts to interpret 1337 speak.)

Note that the vast majority of true computer guru's, hackers, and coders consider leetspeak to be a pathetic trademark of a newbie, or a showoff. Leetspeak is almost always used only as sarcasm by the gurus, hackers, and coders. Use of leetspeak, excessive use of abbreviataions, and incorrect spelling and grammar is considered rude and usually indicates a script kiddie or a computer newbie.

The following lists could usefully expand to include citations of the earliest usage, where references exist.

Special characters

(>")> / (>'.')> — 'Kirby'
(-_-;t) — Kirby's not happy and he's sticking up his middle finger.
<(Ò_Ó<) — Kirby's mad.
¬<(Ò_Ó<) — Kirby's mad and he's got a gun!
Q(._.Q) — Kirby with Boxing Gloves
O-(._.Q) — Kirby throwing a punch
^H — Signifies pressing the backspace key. "What an idio^H^H^H^Hinsightful comment!" (Stems from the use of Ctrl + H as backspace in some Unix shells)
^W — Similarly, this means erasing the last word. "I mean, who really gives a^W^W cares?"
> — Greater than (as in "Linux > Windows" or "Windows > Linux"). Use of an asterisk (*) in this context sometimes denotes a wildcard, for example,. "John > *" means "John is greater than all". (Depending on context, the reader may substitute the word "owns" in place of the phrase "is greater than". Another possible interpretation here may state: "John is better than all")
^ ^ or ^__^ or ^^ — an emoticon signifying happiness, especially used by anime fans. "Chuckle marks"
>_< or >< — an emoticon signifying frustration or embarrassment
>_> — an emoticon used to indicate sarcasm or suspicion, sometimes used with <_< to indicate shifty eyes
T__T or TT_TT — Crying (often implying crying in a humorous way)
;_; — see above
:3 — cat face
=^_^= — same as above
\,,/ or \m/ — Throwing the horns
u_u — sad
x__x — dead, unconscious, etc.
^__~ — wink, reluctant
@_@ — symbol for a very tired person trying to stay awake, going crazy, dizzy.
$_$ — Money-hungry
:-) — smiley face (as with many things in computerspeak, the reader should view this emoticon sideways)
;-) — winking
(oYo) breasts

Emoticons

For an analytical discussion of emoticons, see emoticon.

Commonly-used emoticons include:

:) — Used to express happiness or content
:( — Used to express sadness or discontent
:O — Used to express surprise or a sarcastic display of surprise
:/ — Used to express indifference
:o) — Used to express forum users' ignorance and vanity
:D — Used to express strong happiness or joy
>:( — Used to express strong anger or discontent
>:D — Used to express malicious joy
>:) — Used to express malicious contentment
-__- — disgusted, annoyed, etc.
^o^ — laughing, cheerful, joyous, similar to ^^
^^__^^ — Angel
(^_^) — Happy face
[*_*] — Scared, in awe
><)))*> — something appears fishy
=^__^= — Cat face, blushing
-^__^- — Blushing
^__^' — Embarassed, "Sweatdrop", common among anime fans
^__^; — Embarassed, "Sweatdrop" common among anime fans
nn\\//o {|^.^|} o\\//nn — Headphone listening (peaceful)
\nn/ {|^.^|} \nn/ — Headphone listening (intensively)
^///^ — Another form of blushing
=_= — tired, with bags under eyes
<^__^;> — symbol for embarrassment commonly used by anime fans
_|_ — an offensive emoticon signifying the middle finger
_W_ — "Whatever", "I do not care"
‹^› — another form of the middle finger
..i.. — yet another form of the middle finger (often seen in pairs)
..!., — another form of the now infamous middle finger
t('-'t) — Flipping off with both hands (the "double deuce").
<3 — "love"; ASCII art for a heart, the less-than symbol and the three resemble a heart tilted on its side.
</3 — "hate"; ASCII art for a broken heart, similar to <3.
== — agreement; from the C equality operator; means "me too" or "what he said"
!= — disagreement; from the C inequality operator; means "is not (necessarily) the same as" Sometimes also written as =/= as in mathematical notation.
++ — Used after the manner of the C operator to indicate something "one greater" than itself, for example: "Awesome++"; also used similarly to the "doubleplus" prefix in Newspeak.
-- — Opposite of ++, indicating something "one less" than itself.
@ — "at". Some users go so far as to replace all "at" sounds in words with @, so "that" becomes "th@" and "cat" becomes "c@", for example. This occurs relatively rarely.
* (asterisk) — applied around a word or phrase to indicate emphasis or italics, or just typing in bold face. Singly, in chat, in front of a word or phrase at the beginning of a line means a correction to one's own previous typo. It recently started being used for an action. E.G *Jumps up and down*
_ (underscore) — similar to asterisk, but means underlining of a word or phrase. For example, "Do you _really_ think that?"
/ (forward slash) — indicates italicized text, similar to the underscore for underlined text
-0_o- — an emotion expressing confusion, shock, drunkenness or a "high" state
0.o — an emoticon expressing confusion or shock, signifying the user saying "WHAT!?!?"; also designating a drunken or high state
d(-_-)b — a face with headphones on that indicates listening or chilling out to music
Ô_ô — an emotion expressing confusion, shock, drunkenness or a "high" state
9_9 — rolling eyes, used to express annoyance
XD — Laughing, Crossed Eyes
XP — Sticking Tongue Out while Laughing, crossed eyes
:O — "Oh" Emoticon
:O~ — Drooling, foaming from the mouth. Commonly used when admiring something.
\o/ or \^o^/ — the 'yayman', representing the pose that someone with something to celebrate might adopt. In contexts such as forums, where small images replace emoticons, some type of happy emoticon image often replaces the 'o'.
\ob — similar to the yayman, the 'b' represents a thumbs-up.
/o\ — more or less the opposite of the yayman, here the figure puts his hands on his head: 'Oh no!'
!!!111!!!11!!!11One — making fun of noobs/newbs/n00bs on the net; or making fun of AOL people (placed at the end of a sentence)
!?!? or ?!?! or !? or ?! — showing surprise and confusion; this basically expresses anger, shock/surprise, or confusion, and rarely speechlessness
ajkaf;lsdjfjdskl;afj (any random string of lowercase characters, usually from the keys in home position on the keyboard) — hysterical laughter
(Y) — female genitalia
(.)(.)— breasts
(oYo) — another form of breasts (fullstops may replace the "o"-symbols)
(*)(*)— breasts (augmented)
8==> — male genitalia
{}==[]:::::::::::::::> — sword
>>>-------------> — arrow
_ — showing suspicion or distrust
<@(((>< — A fish
*_* or *.* or even *o* — admired; in awe; or, distracted by something shiny.
∙ ---»(X_x)«---o(°_°t) — One person shooting another while flicking them off. The eyes characteristic to the shooter, as non-keyboard characters, often do not appear. Likewise the double chevrons used to portray blood, and the bullet point representing the bullet. The hyphens merely represent the bullet's path.
\m/ (>.<) \m/ — a symbol of someone in a rock concert, or in other words " rocking on "
(_(_) or (_)_) — "mooning" someone

Abbreviations and acronyms

Numbers

10-4: "OK, Acknowledgement", as in the CB Radio 10-codes.
12B, 1AB: "Wannabe"
10q: "Thank you"
10x: "Thanks"
1337: "Leet", short for élite, often used ironically.
143: "I love you"
20: "location"; from CB Radio jargon
224: "today, tomorrow, forever"
2B: "to be"
2B||!2B: "to be or not to be"; from the C programming language logic operations "OR" ("||") and "NOT" ("!").
2m: "tomorrow"
2TM: "to the max"
31337: "elite", often used ironically
3Q, 39, 3U, or 999: "thank you" (Japanese wordplay for "thank you", rendered in katakana as サンキュー and pronounced sankyū' ("3" substitutes for san and "9" for kyu)
4: "for"
404: "Couldn't find it", "Clueless" (from the HTTP 404 "Error: Resource not found" response code)
4649: "pleased to meet you", "hi" (from Japanese "yoroshiku", the four numbers can be pronounced yo-ro-shi-ku)
46: "pleased to meet you" "hi" (short version of 4649)
4ever, 4eva: "forever"
5/5: "five by five"
54: "To ignore", from Mandarin Chinese "wu shi" (無視). Mandarin Chinese speakers pronounce the numbers "5" and "4" to "無" and "視" respectively in Mandarin Chinese.
69: from the 69 sex position. Often appears as part of AIM screennames
666: The triple sixes sequence often represents Satan, on and off of the Internet. It often occurs in screennames.
7: When pronounced in Cantonese, it sounds very close to the Cantonese foul, "柒" - used when someone has done something stupid or to refer to someone who looks or dresses ugly
8O~: Crazy, lost in the mind, drooling in true desire over something.
8008135: leet for "boobies".
807, 8075: "BOT(s)"; a person who demonstrates an extreme lack of knowledge or common sense. Originally deriving from forum or instant message bots, which often respond to pre-programmed keywords and commonly-used phrases humorously, without really making any coherent sense
833r: (or b33r,) - leet for beer or other alcoholic beverages
88, 881 or 886: "bye bye" (Chinese pronunciation). In some racist chat rooms it means "heil Hitler", because the letter "H" comes eighth in most Roman alphabets
9494: "that's it", "that's right", "you see?" (Mandarin Chinese pronunciation, short for 就是)
99: "Night-night", "goodnight"

A

ACK: "acknowledged", used frequently in discussion boards
admin: short for "administrator", a system administrator or forum moderator, among other possibilities
AFAIC: "as far as I'm concerned", or "as far as I care", or "as far as I can..."
AFAICS: "as far as I can see"
AFAICT: "as far as I can tell"
AFAIK: "as far as I know"
AFAIR: "as far as I recall", or "as far as I remember"
AFC, AFK: "away/absent from computer or keyboard"
AFGE: "another fucking growth experience"
AFK: "away/absent from keyboard", usually in the form <AFK> in one's handle, or "a free kill" in many FPS video games
APG: "Anti PiratGruppen", the Danish analogue of the RIAA
AICMFP: "and I claim my five pounds"
AIM: "AOL Instant Messenger"
AIUI: "As I understand it"
aka: "also known as" (predates the Internet)
anon: "anonymous"
AO: Anarchy Online, a popular MMORPG
AOHell: Derogative term for America Online (AOL)
ASAP: "as soon as possible"
aswom: An intentional misspelling of "awesome" generally used for comedic purposes
ASL: "Age, sex, location"; used to request general information about a fellow user. Also used as an introductory phrase, usually when expecting that information up-front. Some consider this request rude.
ATM: "At the moment"
ATOP: "At time of posting"
ATTN: "Attention"
AUP: "Acceptable Use Policy"
AWOL: "Absent Without Leave" (pre-dates the Internet)
AYBABTU: "All your base are belong to us"
Azn: abbreviation for "Asian"

B

B: "Bye"
B&: "Banned"
B2B: "business to business"; ecommerce used by businesses to interact with other businesses. It can also mean "bad to the bone".
B4: "Before"
B4N: "Bye for now"
B7: "Banned" - A derivation of B&, minus the shift key.
B10: "Beaten" - Usually said in response to someone beating you to making a particular comment on a forum.
Ban;: to deny a particular user access to an Internet resource, typically due to TOS violations.
BB: "Bye bye"
BBIAB: "Be back in a bit"
BBIAW: "Be back in a while"
BBL: "Be back later"
BBQ: "Be back quick", eventually corrupted to "Bar-B-Que" — see "OMGWTFBBQ".
BBS: "Be back soon", or "bulletin board system/service"
BBT: "Bubble Tea"
BBW: "be back whenever"
BC, B/C: "Because"
Bewt: "Boot" Often used as "Lewt fast 'n' Bewt ass".
BIO: "Bio Break, Biological Break, Bathroom Break" (Usually used following the BRB abbreviation)
B00lean!: A term adapted for the use of annoyance - when spoken the B00 in b00lean becomes exaggerated to make this annoying term
B00t: Opposite of "w00t". Can also describe kicking people from game or chat servers
BF: "Boyfriend"
BFD: "Big fucking deal"
BFF: "Best friend forever"
BFG/BFG9000: "Big Fucking Gun (9000)" (found in id Software games such as Doom)
BFN: "Bye for now"
BFU: "Bloody fucking user"
BGS: An institution responsible for the creation of various colloquialisms, such as dede, dedish and ngaaah
BJ: blowjob
BL: "Bad luck"
BLNT: "Better luck next time"
Blog: Short for "weblog" from "Web log". Often used as a verb, as in "I was blogging today".
blogger: "Web logger": someone who writes or posts articles or messages on a blog.
BNOL: "Be nice or leave"
BNF: "Big Name Fan"
BOFH: "Bastard operator from hell". A series of funny stories about UNIX system administration written by Simon Travaglia.
BOHICA: "Bend over, here it comes again." Originally U.S. Army slang.
B0rk, b0rked, to b0rk: broken, to break. A b0rked system refuses to work.
BRB: "Be right back"
BRT: "Be right there" (especially used in multiplayer games)
BS: "Bullshit". battle.net specific: backstab. EVE Online specific: Battleship"
BSOD: "Blue screen of death"
BT: "Big talk" as in big talk and no work
BTDT: "Been there, done that"
BTTT: "back to the top"
btw or BTW: "by the way"
BTW (2): "Better Than Working", refers to an activity that can be done at work that is better than working. Like reading a blog or a humorous website, etc...
Bump: to comment for the sole purpose of bringing a thread to the top of the page. Used in forums.
BURMA: "Be Undressed Ready My Angel" (dates back to World War II; pre-Internet)
BUTTSECKS: Alternative spelling to "Buttsex", often used in the phrase "Y HELO THAR, BUTTSECKS?".
BW: "bandwidth" battle.net specific: broodwar.
B/T, BT: "Between" or the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol.
BYOC: "Bring your own computer". Often used in connection with computer gaming events. May also stand for Build Your Own Computer. For example, Quakecon is a BYOC Lan Party in North America.

C

Careface: as in "I don't care".
CBA: Can't be Arsed
CBF: Can't be fucked
CE: Critical Error (especcialy in UT-engine-based games)
Cec: "sex", used to get around Internet chat filters.
chol: Chuckled Out Loud
Chown (Ch0wn3d): a deliberate mis-spelling of "own" (see "own" entry below). Also "changing ownership"; as derived from the UNIX chown command.
CID: "Consider it done"
CiS: "Chuckle(ing) in Silence", "chuckling very quietly"; as an alternative to "LOL"
cig: Short for cigarette or cigar
CL: (NukeZone) Clan Leader.
cluebie: A clueless newbie (but sometimes apparently confusingly used to mean "a newbie with a clue, but not close to a guru")
CMIIW: "Correct me if I'm wrong"
CoD: "Call of Duty"; World War II first person shooter PC Game*
CoH: "City of Heroes"; a comic-book themed massively-multiplayer online PC game
coo: "Cool"
CPL: "Actually standing for CyberAthlete Professional League, the biggest LAN event, but has become an alternative to call some "leet" (good) for example, "OMG you're CPL"
CS: "Counter-Strike"; Widely played First Person Shooter game; Computer Science.
CSL: "Can't stop laughing"
CT: (Counter-Strike) Counter Terrorist, (NukeZone) Clan Trustee.
CTD: "Crash To Desktop" - Used to indicate that the speaker's game has crashed.
CTF: "Capture the flag". A gaming mode where two teams have a flag each and the objective of capturing the other team's flag.
ctm.: "Chuckle to myself"
CTTOI: "Come To Think Of It"
CU: "see you"; used as a goodbye, commonly together with "l8r" (later), as in "cul8r", often abbreviated to merely "cul". See also "cya".
CUAD: "Curl Up and Die", see FOAD
CUNT: See You Next Time (C & U are slang for see & you)
CUWUL: "Catch up with you later"
CWOT: "Complete waste of time"
CYA: "See you"; used as a goodbye (see "cu"). Also, "check(ing) your ass", or "cover your ass", as in taking some precautionary measure just for safety's sake, or to avoid blame in a risky (but necessary) action (predates the Internet).
cyberbug: someone who spends too much time on the Internet
CYFF: "Change your font fucker!"; used when someone has an annoying and hard to read font.
CVQ: "chuckling very quietly"; see CiS
C&C, CnC: "Command & Conquer"; A popular series of Strategy games, originally by Westwood Studios
C&V: "Chapter & verse"; used in newsgroups.
C|N>K: "coffee through nose into keyboard"; a Unix-ism involving the Unix command line pipe (|) and redirect (>) characters.

D

DB4L: "Drinking buddy for life"
DC'd, D/C: "Disconnected"
DD: "Don't die". Usually used in online real-time strategy games.
dernoe: "(I) don't know"
DFC: "Don't fucking care"
DFAAI: "Don't fucking ask about it"
DGT: "Don't go there"
DH: "Dear husband". Used by housewives posting on Internet forums.
DH: "Dickhead"
DIAF: "Die in a Fire"
ding: To level up
DILLIFC: "Do I look like I fucking care?"
DILLIGAF: "Do I look like I give a fuck?"
DIRFM: "Does it really fucking matter?"
DIY: "Do it yourself" (pre-dates the Internet)
DKDC: "Don't know, don't care", usually used when a person is apathetic about something.
DL, D/L: "Download"; receiving data from a remote host. Usually functions as a noun or verb. Can sometimes mean "down-low", as taken from real-life usage.
DLF: "Dropping like flies"; said when many participants have left a chat room suddenly
DLLM: "Diu Lei Lo Mo" or "Diu Lay Lo Mo", meaning "fuck your mother" in Cantonese
DM: "Deathmatch", A gaming mode with the goal of fragging as many other players as possible during a given time.
DnD: "Do not Disturb" or "Dungeons & Dragons"
DOTC: Dancing on the ceiling.
DoS: "Denial of service"; a malicious attack on a computer system.
dun: "Don't"; commonly used by Singaporeans.
dunno: "(I) don't know"
DUT: "Don't you think(?)"
DYK: "Did you know(?)"
DW, D/W: "Don't worry"

E

E: Enlightenment, a popular X11 window manager
EBBOM: "Engage brain before opening mouth"
EG: "Evil grin", normally written *EG* or <EG> to separate it from the surrounding text.
ehlp: Deliberate misspelling of "help" (making fun of newbies yelling for help in a MMORPG)
EIL: "Explode into laughter"
EO: Endless-Online, a popular RPG game
EOF: "end of file", used to imply the end of something
EOM: "End of message"
EQ, EQ2: "Everquest" and Everquest2, popular MMORPGs
ESABATM: "Eat Shit and Bark at the Moon", a riposte to someone allegedly behaving like an 'SOB'
ESAD: "Eat shit and die"
ETLA: "Extended three letter acronym", see TLA.
EULA: End-User License Agreement
evar: Common mis-spelling of 'ever', used for emphasis, as in for example: "the best thing EVAR!!"
EZ: Easy (pre-dates the Internet)

F

FAP — Onomatopoeia for the sound produced by male masturbation. Also used as a verb. See Sexy Losers. Also: Fiction Alley Park.
Fanboy — a guy with an obsession for a operating system or for a game console.
FAQ — Frequently Asked Question(s), or a list of frequently-asked questions (with answers). Seldom appears written in small letters.
FCS — For Christ's sake.
fcbl; fake chinaman belly-laugh
FE — "Fúmate esta", a Spanish expression for "suck my dick"
FE — "Fatal error"
FF — Final Fantasy; "Friendly Fire" (especially in First Person Shooters).
FFA — Free For All (especially in First Person Shooters)
FFO — "Far Fucking Out", old hippie term
FFlO — "Far Flaming Out", old hippie term
FFS — "for fuck's sake!" (sometimes replaced with FS, "fuck's sake")
FGI — "Fucking Google it"; used in response to a common question
FK — "Short for Fuck"
FKN — "Short for Fucken" as in FKN Hell (Fucken Hell)
flames — see "flamer".
flamer — one engaged in flaming. Also ominously close to the term lamer.
FLOABT — "for lack of a better term"
FO, FOAD — "Fuck off/Fuck off and die"
FOAF — "Friend of a friend"; the dubious attribution given to urban legends
FOIG — "Find out in game"
FOOCL — "Falls out of chair laughing".
fooding — the act of acquiring food; often used in conjunction with AFK (EG: "AFK fooding")
FOTF — "Fall On The Floor"
FOTM — "Flavour of the Month"
FP — "First post"; originally used on Slashdot
FPS; "First Person Shooter", games such as Quake and Unreal Tournament exemplify First Person Shooters; (Computing) Frames per second
frag — To kill or tear to pieces. Its origin comes the Vietnam War or earlier, from "fragmentation grenade". It had a particular application to "fragging" 2nd lieutenants or hated officers, especially in the jungle.
FSOD — "Frozen Screen of Death"; a Phantasy Star Online error.
FTA — "From the article"
FTF or F2F — "Face to face"; referring to a meeting in the real world, not online. In role-playing terms, it is the offline predecessor to MMORPGs and MUDs.
FTLOG — "For the love of God!"
FTP — "File transfer protocol"; or "First to post"
FTTB — "For the time being"
FTW — "For the win"; Indicates the end of the game, it is often used to reference the object responsible for victory. Also sometimes shown as 4tw.
FU — "Fuck you" (predates Internet)
FUBAR — "Fucked up beyond all repair" or "fucked up beyond all recognition" (predates Internet). (Possibly led to the metasyntactic variables foo and bar)
FUBAH — "Fucked up beyond all hope"
fucktard — portmanteau of "fucking retard"
FUD — "Fear, uncertainty and doubt"; purposeful spread of misinformation.
FUDIE — "Fuck you and die"
FWIW — "For what it's worth"
FXP — "File exchange protocol"
FYAD — "Fuck you and die" (from SomethingAwful.com)
FYI — "For your information" (predates the Internet)
FFS — "Fuck Fuck Shit"; "For Fucks Sake"

G

G — "Grin", normally written *G* or <G> to separate it from the surrounding text
G1 — "Good one".
G2G, GTG — "Got to go", also "good to go"; popularized in MMORPGs and MUDs.
G4Y, GFY — "Good for you", or "go fuck yourself"; the ambiguity of this acronym calls for care. G4Y can also mean "gay".
GA — "Go Ahead"
GAGF — "Go and get fucked"
GAL — "Get a life"
gamez — Illegally obtained games (see warez).
GAWD — A variant spelling of the word "God", taken to the Internet.
GB/GBWC — Gunbound/Gunbound World Champion
GBTW — "Get Back To Work"; commonly used in conjunction with other acronyms, as in "STFU GBTW".
GCAD — "Get cancer and die"
<g,d&r> — "Grins, ducks and runs"; used after a particularly bad joke, seemingly to try to avoid comments about it.
GF — "Girlfriend", also means "get fucked"
GFI — "Good fucking idea"
GFY — "Go fuck yourself"
GG — "Good going" or "good game"; used sincerely in competitive and cooperative online games, or used sarcastically when someone has done something foolish. Also "genuine girl", used on chat sites to indicate that the user is female, rather than simply pretending to be.
GGG — "Go, go, go!" A command to tell players to attack.
GGL — Google
GGMF — "Great Godzilla Motherfuckers!", first quoted in Dealer McDope No. 1 (drawn by Dave Sheridan)
GGPO — "Good Game, Peace Out" originating from underground Street Fighter gaming communities. Namely, http://www.shoryuken.com. Possibly also rooted in Ebonics. Used to convey either good games, or losing games. (e.g. drinking + driving = ggpo). Often shortened to just "peaced out" (e.g. He was driving drunk, hit a wall, and got peaced out.)
GH — "Good half", used in online round-based games such as Counter-Strike.
Ghey — "Gay"
GIS — Google Image Search; searching for images through the Google search engine
GIYF — "Google is your friend", implying "search the web rather than asking questions".
GJ — "Good job" (often used sarcastically)
GL — "Good luck"
Gl hf — "Good luck, have Fun." Usually used in online gaming.
GMTA — "Great minds think alike"
gnite, GN8 — "Good night"
"gno" — Gonna (Going to)
Godo — an unintentional misspelling of the word "good" in an Internet videogame, which then turned into an inside joke within the JJ2 (Jazz Jackrabbit 2) community and spread from there.
Godwin's Law — The longer a thread, the more likely someone will post a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler. When participants in an argument make such a comparison, their opponents commonly invoke Godwin's "law" to claim victory.
Gosu — Korean for Exceptional or Superior
GR8 — "Great", sometimes spelled gre8t even though it doesn't make the word any shorter.
Grats — Abbreviation of "congratulations". Used in MMORPGs when a played reaches a new rank or level
GTFO — "Get the fuck out"
GTG — "Got to go"
GTH — "Go to hell"
GTP — "Got to Pee"
guru — An expert in some technical topic, such as C programming or Unix system administration
GW — "Good work", often used sarcastically.
GYTOYA — "Get your thumb outta your ass." Sometimes used during chat sessions when one of the chatters become unresponsive for some time.

H

H8 — "Hate", or "H1" to "H9" to indicate how much a person hates something.
HAI — A purposeful misspelling of "hi"; Japanese for "yes"
HAMMRD* — "Hammered, also meaning pwn/pwned/owned. See pwn"
HAND — "Have a nice day"
Hawt — variation of "hot", used to suggest that someone seems attractive
HAX, H4X; "Hacks, term most commonly used in multiplayer games by new players (see n00bs) to accuse someone of hacking, more commonly than not because of their own lack of skill. (see pwned)"
HAXOR, H4X0R; "Hacker"
HB — "Hurry back"
HB — "Herremange Byte" Danish expression for a large amount of data. Also abbreviated to "H", it may appear in various other expressions, like "HP — Herremange Pornofilm" (large amount of pornographic movies), etc.
HBD — "Happy birthday"
HC — "Holy Crap"
HF — "Have fun"
HGC — "Hum Ga Chan", cursing one's family to die in Cantonese
hijack — To start an off-topic discussion; "hijack a thread" on a message board.
hmwk, hwk, hw — "Homework"
HNG — "Horny net geek"
H/O — "Hold on"
HoBO — Person who plays games, especially HoB (www.heatofbattle.net)
HPB — "High ping bastard" or "High ping bait", reference to those with high latency (ping) usually in online games. The opposite of LPB
HPL — "High ping llama", an alternate form of HPB.
HSS — "Horse shit and splinters"
HTH — "Hope this (or that) helps"
HTF — "How the fuck"; derivative of WTF.
HTF — hitting the fridge
hysterical raisins — Phonetic-based variation of the term "historical reasons". Used to dismisses given reasons as absurd, obsolete and/or detrimental to progress
HWG Here We Go
HWGA Here we go again
HWP — "Hug, Wave, Poof"; A way of saying "goodbye"

I

IANAL — "I am not a lawyer"; usually used before a non-lawyer gives legal advice, as a (sometimes humorous) disclaimer.
IANARS — "I am not a rocket scientist"
IAWTC — "I agree with this comment"; netizens can substitute other letters/words for C/comment, such as 'post' or 'article'.
IBDTSFY — "I've been doin this (stuff) for years" (sometimes with an "M" ("man") appended)
IC — "I see", also "in character" in MMORPG or MUD settings.
ICURNS2 — "I see, you're an ass, too".
ICYDK / ICYDN / ICUDK — "In case you didn't know"
IDK — "I don't know"
ID10T — "Idiot"; generally pronounced eye-dee-ten-tee, its meaning is not obvious until viewed in written form. Example: "We've got an ID10T error!"
idjit, ijit — "Idiot"
IDNHSWTW "I did not have sex with that woman", a reference to president Clinton. Quite obscure
IHAC — "I have a customer"
IIRC — "If I recall correctly", or "if I remember correctly"
IIUC — "If I understand correctly"
IKON — "ikonBoard, also spelled as IKN"
I'D HIT IT — "I'd have sex with that person", originated on Fark
I like pie — Used to express apathy or confusion towards the present subject matter, invented by YINever of the GameFAQs message boards
ILOTIBINLIRL — "I'm laughing on the Internet, but I'm not laughing in real life"
I'LL RATE IT — A term used when judging something to have a high degree of excellence or brilliance ; term used to complement a joke-teller on a job well done.
ILU; i love u' - saying you love a person
IM — "Instant message", can be used as a noun ("Send an IM") or a verb ("I'll IM him"). Past tense is "IM'd" or "IMed".
IMESHO — "In my ever so humble opinion", as opposed to IMHO (In my humble opinion)
IMO — "In my opinion"
IMAO — "In my arrogant opinion"
IMHO — "In my humble opinion", or "in my honest opinion"
IMHPO — "In my humble public opinion", used by public accounts (accounts owned by more than one persons).
IMHE — "In my humble experience"
IMNSHO — "In my not so humble opinion", as opposed to IMHO (In my humble opinion)
INMP — "It's not my problem"
Internets — Sarcastic way of referring to the Internet. Allegedly coined by George W. Bush during an election campaign debate.
Internetica — General term describing about anything related to the Internet. First used on Premier BBS in 1992
Interweb/Intarweb — Sarcastic mangling of the separate concepts 'Internet' and 'world-wide web'
INTPFPOTM — "I nominate this post for post of the month"; incredibly obscure.
IOH — "I'm outta here"
IOKIYAR — "It's OK If You're A Republican", usually used on Democratic blogs referring to hypocritical things Republicans allegedly do
IOW — "In other words"
IPB — Invision Power Board
IRC — Internet Relay Chat
IRL — "In real life"; often used in online games to refer to life outside of the game, see RL. Made famous by the movie "The Net" starring Sandra Bullock
IRT — "In reply to"
ISTR — "I seem to remember/recall"
ITT — "In this thread"; first used on forum.canucks.com in White Noise.
ITYM — "I Think You Mean"; usually prefacing a humorous "correction"
IYDMMA — "If you don't mind me asking"
IYKWIM — "If you know what I mean"

J

JAHOYFT: "Just ask him/her out you fucking tool", used to motivate persons suffering from unnecessary trepidation
Jaja: This is the correct spelling of "Haha" in several languages, however, this is occasionally used online as slang for laughing. However, jaja in Polish means "eggs", or "big fun".
JAK: "Jazak Allah Khair", Arabic expression for "thank you"
JC, J/C: "Just curious"
JFC: "Jesus Fucking Christ"
JFTR: "Just for the record"
JJ: "Just joking"
JJ: Short form of male sexual organ in recent spoken Cantonese in Hong Kong (Jer Jer 雀雀; the little bird), believed to have originated on the famous HK Golden Forum. JJ refers to male masturbation too. Mandarin jījī 雞雞 also means 'penis', and sounds like the baby word for 'chicken'.
JJable: Derived from the slang "JJ" (see above), JJable in Cantonese slang means "sexy" or "hot"
JK, J/K: "Just kidding"
JOOC: "Just out of curiosity"
j00, j00s, j00r: Leet speak for "you" or "your"
JTOL: "Just thinking out loud"
JW, J/W: "Just wondering"

K

1k — "One Thousand"- 2k=2000 10k=10000 etc
K — "OK/Okay"
keekles — Usually used while deliberately acting like a newbie. Otherwise used as an alphabetical substitute for the ^__^ emoticon.
kewl, kool — Alternate forms of "cool".
KHITBASH — "Kick her in the box and shove her"
KISS — "Keep it simple, stupid" (predates the Internet)
KITFO — "Knock it the fuck off"
KK — "Ok Kool"
KNF — "Kernel normal form"; kernel source file style guide (OpenBSD's style(9) man page)
KNN — "Fuck your mother" (Mandarin Chinese)
KO — A common mis-spelling of OK; also "Knock out"
KOTC — "Kiss on the cheek"
[KOL|KOTL] — "Kiss on lips" or "Kingdom of Loathing", a free online RPG.
KOS — "Kill on Sight"; used to designate enemies in online games whom -- based on their prior actions -- one should kill
KREE! — "Attention!" (from Jaffa language in Stargate)
KS — "Kill steal"; used in online games with an experience (EXP) system, when one player defeats an enemy already weakened by another player.
KTHXBYE — "Okay, thanks, goodbye" — usually used to end a conversation abruptly and rudely, to indicate that the preceding has had the last word on a subject, alternatively "KTHXBAI."
ku — alternate form of "cool"

L

L8, L8R — "Late", "later"; as in "see you later", often used together with CU, as in CUL8R.
LAFFO — Signifying laughter
LAL — "Laugh a little", weaker form of LOL used only by a select few
Llama — Lame player (see also HPL); Lower League Manager (used on SiGames Message boards)
LATN — "Laugh at the newbs"
LBR — "Little boy's room"
LD — "Link dead"; used in online games when a disconnected user's persona or character remains in the game.
LEO — "Law enforcement officer"
Leef — "Leave", go now !
LEET, L33T, 1337, 31337 — "Elite", used ironically; also another kind of slang where numbers and symbols replace similar-looking characters.
Lewt — "Loot" Often used as "Lewt fast 'n' Bewt ass".
LIGAFF — "Like I give a flying fuck"
LIGAS — "Like I give a shit"
Linkage — Link
LION — "Like it or not..."
LIUY — "Look it up yourself"
LKY — "Lee Kuan Yew, Minister Mentor of Singapore"
LMAO — "Laughing my ass off"
LMao Zedong — Varient of LMAO that refers to the first ever Chinese communist leader, Mao Zedong
LMAOnade — A homophonous extension of LMAO that humorously refers to "lemonade"
Chairman LMAO — similar to above, referring to the first Communist ruler of China.
LMAYONNAISE — The precurser to LMAOnade referring to mayonnaise. Inspired by the game ROFL Attack.
LMFAO — "Laughing my fucking ass off"
LMTFA — "Leave me the fuck alone"
LOFL — "A recursive play on ROFL; LOFL on floor LOFLing"
LOL — "Laughing out loud", or "lots of laughs"; as a reply to something amusing. Also "lots of love" (not as common). Alternatively allegedly derived from the Dutch word lol ("fun")
lolarious — hilarious
lolcity — Something so funny the entire city laughs out loud.
lollercaust — An extreme event of hilarity.
lollerskates — Pun on the word "rollerskates"; similar usage to LOL.
LOLZ — noun form of 'LOL'
Lolly Roffles — Laughing Out Loud and rolling on the floor laughing (used when something seems particularly funny)
L@@K — "Look", from eBay. Used by sellers who have nothing interesting to say about their item, but who try to attract attention anyway
Loxxen — An altered form of LOL, with virtually the same meaning, but slightly enhanced.
LPB — "Low ping bastard", reference to those with low latency (ping) usually in online games. The opposite of HPB.
LPL — "Like Penny Lane", reference to a song from The Beatles, which includes the line "Penny Lane is in my ears, and in my eyes". It implies something very strange or weird.
LSFW — "Less Suitable for Work"
LTID — "Laugh 'til I die"
LTNS — "Long time no see"
lulz — See 'LOLZ', used mainly in reference to Internet drama
lurker — One who reads an email list or a message board but does not participate in the discussion.
luser — Punny cross between loser and user, can mean either of the two. Usually denotes users of Microsoft Windows.
LYL — "Love ya lots"
LYLAS/LYLAB — Love you like a Sister/ Love ya like a Brother
LYK, LYKE — "Like"
LYSM — love you so much

M

M473z: "Mates" pronounced may-tez, a term referring to a good friend, closer than a m8
M8: "Mate"; as in "buddy" or "pal"
mA: "my ASS"
Meh: word signaling indifference towards a subject or general apathy, used as a typed version of a shoulder shrug or a sigh.
MFC: "Merge from current"
Micro$oft, M$: Satirical alternative spellings of "Microsoft", used to poke fun at that company's alleged commercial orientation and monopolizing tendency
MILF: "Mom I'd Like to Fuck"; popularized by the movie 'American Pie'
MLOD: "Mega LOL of doom"
MML: "Make mine Linux", comeback to 'élitist' Windows users; Million Man Lan, held in Louisville, KY once a year. See also MML WebSite
MMORPG: "Massively multiplayer online role playing game", a game played online with (potentially) thousands of other people from (potentially) across the world
Mod: "Moderator" (usually referring to a forum) or "modification"
Mookies Law: on the SiGames message board means to post a pic of the subject under discussion
MOTD: "Message of the day"
MSAR: "My Socks are Rocked" see RMS
MT: "Miss tell" ("I intended to send the previous message to another user or via a different channel")
MUD: "Multi User Dungeon" (or Dimension / Domain), a type of online computer game (see MUD)
MUSH: "Multi User Shared Habitat", a text-based online social environment (see MUSH)
MYOB: "Mind your own business" - Also the brand name of accounting software MYOB (Australia). See also MYOB Support Forum

N

N1 — "Nice one"
N/A — "Not applicable" or "not available"
NAP — "Necessary action please"
NB — Short for "nabei", commonly used in mmorpgs as a swear word. Closest approximation of meaning — see CB.
NBD — "No big deal"
NFBSK — "Not for British school kids", originally from message boards at snopes.com, used sometimes in place of NSFW.
NFI — "No fucking idea"
NFS ; "Not for sale". Commonly used in MMORPGs when someone wants to buy another player's equipment
newb — Short for "newbie"; meaning someone who is new, usually at a game
NFAHRU? — "Not from around here R U?"
NG — "Newsgroup"
NG — "No good"
NG — "Also used to refer to the flash site NewGrounds
Ngaaaah — A cry of frustration or triumph, which one can speak out loud by using the throat and nasal passage to produce a loud and at times annoying sound. Used comonly in some school environments to annoy a teacher as a class unit. This cry can also gain the attention of ones peers
Nh — "Nice hand"; used in online card games.
NFI — "No fucking idea"
NI — "No idea"
NIB — "New In Box", from eBay auctions.
N1994, N199312 — Leet speak for "nigga/nigger"
NIFOC — Naked in front of Computer
NM or N/M or nm — "Never mind" or "not/nothing much". Also "no message", used on message boards to indicate that all the text is in the post's title, and that it need not be opened itself.
NM U: "Nothing much, you?" (generally said after sup)
NMFYS — Unknown acronym from comic Badly Drawn Kitties, a webcomic. User-created "solutions" include "Not Mentioned For Your Sanity" and "Not My First Yellow Submarine," see the BDK Comic.
NMNHNLM — Acronym for "no money no honey nobody loves me" originating from HWZ forums
NN — "Night night" like "good night" Also: "Nerf Noodle" (someone who doesn't belong on a computer), or "Nazi Newbie" (a know-it-all newbie who corrects everyone), or "non-nude" (in the context of photos)
noob, n00b, nub, newb — Shorthand or leet spelling of "newbie". In some Internet circles, the term "noob" or "n00b" has a negative connotation, generally not associated with "newb" or "newbie", where being a n00b carries a connotation of ignorance and laziness. N00bs may lack the energy or the gumption to RTFM or otherwise attempt to find out about a subject themselves — even given the ready availability of the information — and instead choose to bother others. A newbie, on the other hand, simply comes fresh to a subject, with no particularly negative connotations. Internet Games such as "Call of Duty", "Counter-Strike", the Battlefield Series, and "Medal of Honor" commonly use the term "n00b".
n0083127z — "Nooberts" a mutation of n00b, often used to describe someone who not only demonstrates stupidity, but is also has less esteem or less power than the speaker
NORE; "No Rematch" (Usually said by the victor)
Norp — from pr0n. Used to discreetly speak of pornography without alerting the attention of others (less obvious in meaning than pr0n)
NORWICH; "Knickers off ready when I come home" (UK, pre-Internet)
NOYB — "None of your business"
NP — "No problem"; Neopoints, currency on the free web game Neopets
NPA — "Not paying attention"
NR — "No reserve"
NR4U — "Not right for you"
NS — "Nice shot"; used sincerely in competitive and cooperative online games such as GunBound, or Medal of Honor. Also, "No Shit"; sometimes used as "NSS" for "No Shit, Sherlock"
NSFW — "Not safe for work"; indicates that one should avoid using a link from a workplace due to the presence of pornography or of other unsuitable content. Used at Fark and on some message boards. See also SFW.
nsh — "No" and "shhhh"; indicates good-natured denial.
NPNT — "No picture, no talk", originlly from Hardwarezone — EDMW
NT — "No text"; used on Internet forums or Usenet to indicate that a post has no content. Also, "nice try"; used by gamers.
NTH — "Not totally here"
NVM — "Never mind"
NWS — "Not work safe"; see NSFW.
Nyo — A usually meaningless word/particle attached to the end of sentences, similar to the word "hiyo" used by Johnny Carson; from the anime Di Gi Charat

O

O — "Oh"
OAR — On a roll — referring to someone's luck during Internet games. Winning several games in a row (3 or more) would constitute an OAR.
OBTW — "Oh, by the way"
ODL — "Oh dear lord"
OGM — "Oh God My!!" Sometimes intentional misspelling of OMG.
oh noes!!!!111 — An exaggerated expression of despair, often used for humorous effect.
OIC — "Oh, I see"
OL — "Online"
OMD — Exclamation; varient of OMG. A "bastardization" of OMG, as well as standing for "Oh my dog"
OMG — Exclamation, "Oh my God/goodness!"
OMFG — Exclamation, "Oh my fucking God!"
OMGWTFBBQ — "Oh my God, what the fuck, bar-be-que."; used in a humorous manner in reference to those who abuse Internet slang.
OMGWTFNIPPLES — "Oh my God, what the fuck, nipples", used in a humorous manner in reference to those who string together too much Internet slang in one word
OMFL — Exclamation, "oh my fucking lag!"
OMW — "On my way"
On9 — "moron", originated from colloquial Cantonese, written as 戇鳩 in Chinese characters. 戇 has a pronunciation similar to "On" in Cantonese, whereas the number "9" when spoken in Cantonese sounds close to the word 鳩.
OOC — "Out-of-character"; usually in MMORPG or MUD settings when a player isn't acting out his/her part. It was also used in fanfiction to indicate likewise. Also, "out of curiosity".
OOF — "Out of oFfice"; used primarily at Microsoft. Sometimes said to be from "Out Of Facility".
OOO — "Out of the office"; Used similarly to MIA. "Ken is OOO today."
OOo — OpenOffice.org.
OOM — "out of mana" (used in games with a "mana" or "energy" bar)
OP — Original poster
Op — Operator, a moderator or moderators of a chat room
orz — used to express frustration. The characters taken together as a single glyph depict a person slamming his head into the ground while on hands and knees.
OS — "Oh, shit", "Operating System"
OSIB — "Open skull, insert brain"
OT — "Off-topic"
OTC — "Over the counter" - items bought from stores without a permit or without requiring a permit. (Pre-dates the Internet)
OTP — "One true pairing", meaning two characters believed to be perfect together, usually not canon. Used in fanfiction
OTOH — "On the other hand"
OTTOMH — "Off the top of my head"
OTW — "On the way"
OUACOWA — "Open Up A Can Of Whoop-Ass", meaning an amazing thing. Coined from the roleplay game Unknown Armies.
OU812? — "Oh you ate one too?", reference Van Halen for "You're stoned too?" druggie slang.
OXO (oxa, oxå) — Norwegian/Danish (Swedish) shortening of the word "også" ("också"), which translates to "too" or "also"
own, owned, OWN3D, ownt — (see also pwn) To defeat someone (used commonly when playing Counter-Strike) or to humiliate someone tactically in a debate; to exhibit extreme coolness (for example: "BMWs totally own").
ownzer — One who "owns" (see own)
OYATM — "One Year Ago This Month" used in Usenet binary groups when posting content that has just recently become old enough to post.
OQC — "Only Quality Crap"

P

P911 — "Parents are here, don't type sumthin' stupid!"
P2P — "Peer-to(2)-Peer". Also "pay-to-play" for games with subscription fees like Everquest, RuneScape, or Dark Age of Camelot.
PAW — "Parents are watching" (Also see "POS")
PCBD — "Page cannot be displayed"; Internet Explorer error when attempting to visit an invalid link or URL, or when a Web server times out. See also 404 error
PCC — Short for par-chiew-cheng. In Min Nan Chinese, short for the act of male masturbation.
PEBKAC — "Problem exists between keyboard and chair", referring to in human error. See PICNIC and ID10T.
PFO — "Please fuck off"
Photoshop — Popular software for creating and editing artwork and pictures; commonly used as a verb describing the process of photomanipulation -- "Will you photoshop this picture for me?"
PICNIC — "Problem in chair, not in computer", referring to in human error. See PEBKAC and ID10T.
Piconjo — A shared account on www.newgrounds.com. Large numbers of people, under the guise of Piconjo accounts, submit explicit animations of NG animators, in an attempt to "pwn" them. Piconjo speaks in fluent 1337 and claims to have "pen0r power".
Pic(s), pix — Used in reference to a picture. Usually posted when someone wants another person to post a picture. This could be used in many different situations, but is most prominent when someone is talking about a woman or girl.
PIIDB — "Put it in da butt" (referring to anal sex)
ping — "Are you there?", derived from the program of the same name.
PITA — "Pain in the ass"
PLS, PLZ, PLX — "Please" — predates Internet
PK — "Player killer", or "Pok Gai" (cursing a person to die on the street in Cantonese)
PM — "Private message"
PMG — Can sometimes be seen instead of "omg", which means "oh my God"
PMI — "Pardon my ignorance"
PMIBD — "Pardon me I'm brain dead!"
PMSL — "Pissing myself laughing", synonymous with "LMAO", above and "ROFL", below.
PO, PO'd — "Piss off", or "pissed off"
POA — Plan of Action;
POTAS; Person Of The Appropriate Sex, that is, a person of the sex that one finds attractive. A more politically correct term than "person of the opposite sex"
POS — "Parents over shoulder"; a warning, by kids, that parents may be watching. Also, "piece of shit". (Also see "PAW")
POV — "Point of view"
ppl, ppls — "People".
ppor — "Post proof or recant."
prawned — A derivation of "pwn" (see below), used comically, especially for vocal use, rather than typed.
pro, pr0 — "Professional"; meaning someone is really good, usually at a game.
pRO — "Philippine Ragnarok Online" MMORPG
pron, pr0n — "Porn" (short for pornography); intentional misspelling used to avoid automated filters on certain words.
protal, pr0tal — a misspelling of "portal", an automated system used on websites such as Newgrounds to manage submitted content.
prv — "Private" similar to PM; usually used for IRC private messaging
pshlut — The P and the H are silent, thus equaling slang for "slut"
PTBB — "Pass the barf bag," coined in the Childfree.net discussion list in the '90s.
PvE — Player versus environment
PvP — Player versus player
PvM — "Player versus Monster"
pwn, pwned (also p0wn or pwnt) — An accidental or intentional mistyping of "own". Sometimes used to speak of illegal activities. See "own" above.
P07 — Another way to type "pot" as in "weed" or "grass". other ways to say this include: w33d, po7 q07 qot and \/\/33d. More abbreviations exist: see leetspeak

Q

QFE: "quoted for emphasis", see QFT
QFT: "quoted for truth", means something along the lines of "I second that statement!". Sometimes stated more emphatically as QFMFT.
ql, qool, qoolz: "Cool" (in the American sense)
qwn, qwnt, qwned: Deliberate typo of "pwn" (which see), which is a deliberate typo of "own"
QQ: "Crying eyes" (of perhaps Hong Kong Origin) meaning "oh poor baby" (false pity)

R

R — "Are"
r0x0rz (also rox0rs and other forms) — Leet speak for "rocks".
R8 — "Right", "rate"
RBP — "Read Before Posting"
RCT — RollerCoaster Tycoon
RD — Red Dwarf
RE — rematch; often used in online games
re/rehi — "Hello again", used on IRC, especially popular with Europeans. Mentioned in the Jargon File.
refl — Deliberate mistype of "ROFL"
reflectoporn — from eBay auctions created by exhibitionists who sell various metal/glass dishes, bowls, spoons, with themselves reflected nude on the surface of the item.
rents - short for "parents"
rgr — "Roger" aka "affirmative" or "10-4", radio talk; "Roger that", meaning "message acknowledged".
rifk — Deliberate mistype of "ROFL"
RIFY — Read if You Like; often used such that 'if you like __ you will probably like this'
RL — "Real life"; often used in online games to refer to life outside of the game (which some would see as fictional!), see IRL.
rly — "really"; usually used as "o rly" to signify one's stupidity at not knowing the topic at hand.
RMS — "Rocks my Socks", expresses amusement or being impressed by something. For example, "Religion RMS." Often used to express indifference or unenthusiasm
ROFL, ROTFL, ROFLMAO — "Rolling on the floor laughing (my ass off)"; as a reply to something extremely amusing.
ROFLMAOPIMP; "Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off peeing in my pants"
ROFLCOPTER — The superlative of ROFL
roffle — Alternate version of "ROFL", based on the latter's supposed verbalisation.
roffle out loud — A form of "ROFL" or "LOL", intended to mock those who use many acronyms in speech.
roj — "Roger" aka "affirmative"
ROR — "Raughing out roud", an Engrish variant of LOL.
ROLF — "Rolling on the laughing floor", a misspelling of "ROFL".
ROTFLAHAHA — "Rolling on the floor laughing and having a heart-attack"
ROTFFLMFAO — "Rolling on the fucking floor laughing my fucking ass off." A more vulgar version of ROTFLMAO.
ROTFLBTC — "Rolling on the floor laughing, biting the carpet"
ROTFLMAO — "Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off"
ROTFLMHO — "Rolling on the floor laughing my head off"; alternative to ROTFLMAO. Some people may leave out the "T" so it will be ROFLMHO
ROTFLMAOSTC — "Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off scaring the cats"; another alternative to ROTFLMAO
ROFLMOO — "Rolling on the Floor Laughing my Organs Out"
ROFLKMD — "Rolling On the Floor Laughing Kazaa Media Desktop" or "Rolling on the floor laughing kicking my dog"; another alternative to ROFL
RNTGLRN — "Really Need to Get Laid Right Now" Very commonly used on porn forums.
RS — RuneScape, one of the many MMORPGs.
RSN — "Real soon now" (carrying overtones of sarcasm)
RTFA — "Read the fucking article"; applies mostly to Slashdot threads, in response to users who make comments on a story without having read it first.
RTFRFC — "Read the fucking RFC", similar to RTFM, telling someone to read an RFC to find his or her answer.
RTFM — "Read the fucking/freakin'/friendly/fine manual", the frequent reply to a request for basic help from newbies who have not attempted to find the answer for themselves.
RTFMFM — "Read the fucking manual fucking moron"; derived from RTFM with slightly more emphasis on the newbie's lack of intelligence.
RTFP — "Read the fucking post"; derived from RTFA and also used on Slashdot.
RTFS — "Read the fucking/fine source", frequently used when documentation for a software program is lacking or absent.
RTL — "Report the loss"; usually used in online gaming; used sarcastically when one loses or gets fragged
RtR — "Raise the Roof"; usually followed by an exclamation mark
RTSD — "Rush That Shit Down" originating from underground Street Fighter gaming communities. Namely, http://www.shoryuken.com. Possibly also rooted in Ebonics. Used to convey taking advantage of a good thing. (e.g. Filet-O-Fish only $0.99 on Fridays? RTSD!). Originally used to describe a play style where one overwhelms the opponent with many quick and up close attacks.
RU — "Are you"
RUT — "Are you there?"

S

S — "Smile", usually written *S* or <S> to separate it from the surrounding text. See "G".
SB — "Strong Bad", a cartoon character on Homestar Runner
S2R — "Send-to-receive"; indicates that one expects to receive a file (usually an image) before he or she sends his or hers.
SFLA — "Stupid Four Letter Acronym"
sif — "As if"
sifn't — "As if not", used in reply to "sif".
SCNR — "Sorry, could not resist"
SH — "Shit happens"
SLAGIATT — "Seemed like a good idea at the time" Helpful for comments when refactoring embarrassing software design decisions. Pre-Internet.
SMD — "Suck my dick"
SMDVQ — "Suck my dick very quick"
Smeg — Derived from the word smegma, meaning the same as "fuck" or "bugger" (popularized by Red Dwarf, a British TV sitcom).
SMF — "Simple Machines Forums"
SO — "Significant other"; a termed encapsulating a girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse.
SOB — Son of a bitch
Soz — "Sorry", apparently only used in the UK.
SFW — "Safe for work"; material (pictures, webpages) that is safe for the office. Used at Fark. See also NSFW. Alternate meaning (which may not be appropriate in the office): "So fucking what?"
SOW — Abbreviation of Spirit of the Wolf, a commonly asked-for spell in EverQuest, which makes a player run faster.
sroucks — Means even when something rocks, it sucks (or something in between), or vice versa. Often used in a sarcastic way, as to let others remain in doubt if it's praising or just the opposite.
sry — "Sorry"
srsly — "Seriously", usually used as an interjection; to signal a sarcastic response to an inane remark.
SSDD — "Same shit, different day."
SSIA — "Subject says it all"; used in newsgroup postings and the like.
SSTS — "Snickering softly to self"
STFD — "Sit the fuck down", often used after STFU and often targets someone expressing an unpopular opinion
STFM — "Search the fucking manual"
STFNG — "Search the fucking newsgroup" — variant on STFW
STFU — "Shut the fuck up"
STFW — "Search the fucking Web"
stooge — Referring to an idiot, which can be spelled st00g3. A variant exists as "stoogewagger", which means more of a n00b and a "stooge".
STW / STK — "Share The Wealth" or "Share The Knowledge". Most commonly used on Warez sites, it is a request that another user share a serial number or cracked software download. On Hacker forums, often refers to sharing information about a new exploit.
SUAGOOML — "Shut up and get out of my life"
sugarpic — A digital erotic, nude or suggestive image of one's self, usually sent online to a lover or to a friend
sup? — "What is up?"
sux, sux0rs, suxxor — Leet speak for "sucks", "suckers"
SWAK — "Sealed with a kiss"
SWALK — "Sealed with a loving kiss" (pre-Internet)
SWIM; "someone who isn`t me"
SWMBO — "She who must be obeyed"
Swoot, a combination of Sweet and Woot.

T

T — (Counter-Strike) Terrorist
T3h — See teh.
TA — "Thanks again"; also English and Australian slang for thanks, pronounced taa, predating the Internet.
TBH — "To be honest"; also used within organizational charts to mean "To be hired", equivalent to TBD (to be determined) or to TBA (to be announced)
TBQH — "To be quite honest"; used interchangeably with TBH
TC — "Take care!"
thanx, thx, thxs, thz — "Thanks"; this can form combinations such as "kthx" (OK, thanks), "plzkthx" (Please, OK, thanks), and "kthxbye" (OK, thanks, goodbye).
teh — A usually deliberate typo of "the" — its popularity stemmed from the often-misspelled original word due to its natural frequency in English sentences. When deliberate, it sometimes serves to emphasise the following adjective, for example, "You are teh fat". It can also function to dismiss a subject, as in: "Teh, I don't care".
TFA — "The fucking article"; a shorter form of "RTFA", mostly used on Slashdot
T,FTFY — "There, fixed that for you", used when displaying an edited version of another's post, to correct an error or make a humorous word (or phrase) substitution
tho — "though"
TIA — "Thanks in advance"
TIFM — "This is from memory"
TITFO — "Turn It The Fuck Off" — common in Rainbow Six series games
TK — Team kill (or killing, killer, depending on context)
TLA — "Three letter acronym". TLA exemplifies a TLA.
TL;DR — "Too long, didn't read"
TMAI — "Tell me about it"
TMR@IA — "The monkeys are at it again"; usually used to blame the staff of online gaming communities for any screw ups in-game.
TMI — "Too much information"
TMTOWTDI — "There's more than one way to do it"; usually used as one of the mottos of the Perl programming language.
TNG — "That's Not Good"
ToS — "Terms of service"; "Tales of Symphonia", a video game for the Gamecube and PS2 (the latter only in Japan), often referring to the official website's forums.
ToSF — "Tales of Symphonia Forums", a recently growing center of popularity on the Internet. http://tales.namco.com/forums
TP — "Town Portal", in Diablo and Diablo_II, a magical scroll for getting back into town; safety. Pronounced "teepee", and may occur as a verb ("Hey, TP me!"). Also, less frequently, "Take Point" in other games, thereby conserving a team member's health while the one "taking point" takes most of the damage. TP also stands for "team player" in many online rts games.
TPTB — "The powers that be"
troll — A person who deliberately stirs up trouble.
tr00 — "True" (used in the black metal community to refer to a supposed "true" hardcore, underground fan of the genre)
TT — Emoticon signifying sadness or a crying face
TTBOMK — "To the best of my knowledge"
TTFN — "Ta ta for now" (bye, originated with Winnie The Pooh)
TTIUWIOP — "This thread is useless without pics"
TTT — Third Tier Toilet
TTYL — Talk to you later
TTYS — Talk to you soon"
TY — "Thank you"
TY4P — "Thank you for playing"
TYA, TYG — "There you are", "there you go"
TYCLI — "Then you can learn it"

U

u: "You"
UA: User agreement
UFIA: "Unsolicited finger in the anus"
ul: Unlucky, used in gaming
UL, U/L: "Upload"
ur: "You're" or "your"
URT: "Urban Terror", a mod for Quake III
URYYFM: "You are too wise for me", where the "two Ys" become "too wise".
UST: "unresolved sexual tension"; usually referring to fanfiction
USUX: "You suck"
UT: Unreal Tournament; usually referring to the Game of the Year edition. Also used with a year suffix, as in UT2003 or "UT2K3" for Unreal Tournament 2003 or UT2004 or "UT2K4 for Unreal Tournament 2004.
UTFG: "Use the fucking Google"; as an answer to a common question.
Über: German for "over" but interpreted in English as "super" or "hyper". Used in many contexts for emphasis or as a superlative, as in, "I'm an über player". Also seen written as "uber", "üb3r", "ül33R" and other leet variations.

V

v: "We"
VFM: "value for money"
VoIP: "Voice over Internet protocol", or phone conversations over broadband connections.
VWEG: "Very wicked evil grin". See "G"

W

w: Japanese version of LOL (laugh out loud). Warai (笑い) in Japanese means "laughter".
W/: "With", predates Internet
w00t, woot: Leet-speak exclamation of excitement or happiness or applauditory whistle; Used after gaining root control of a computer, can stand for "woohoo" or for "We owned the other team"
w012d: "Word" (a generally positive interjection)
W8: "Wait"
Waaahmbulance: An exclamation used when a user attempts to elicit pity from others
WAI: "What an idiot"; also, Japanese for "yay" as influenced by the anime culture
WAD: "Without a doubt"
WADR: With all due respect.
waffles: Pun on "ROTFLMAO"; used similarly. In full: "Roffle my waffles"
warez: Illegally obtained software.
WB, wibs, wibbles, wibbers: "Welcome back"
WBAGNFARB: "Would be a good name for a rock band. Inspired by columnist Dave Barry and used broadly by his fans.
WC3: "Warcraft III"
WD: "Well done"
WDUWTA: "What do you want to talk about?"
w/e: "Whatever"
WFM: "Works for me"
WG, WEG: "Wicked (evil) grin"
Whoamg: "Whoa my God", used as a sarcastic "whoa".
w/o: "Without", pre-dates Internet
WoW: "World of Warcraft"
WOMBAT: "Waste of money, brains, and time"
WoS: "Waste of Space"
wot, wut: "What", predates Internet
WP: "Well Played", used in Internet gaming
WRT, w/rt: With respect to, with regard to
WRU: A very simplified "Where are you". For example, "Wru from?"
WTF: "What the fuck?"; Also "who the fuck?", "why the fuck?", and so on, depending on context.
Wruu2: "What are you up to?"
WTG: "Way to go!", often sarcastic.
WTH: "What the heck?" or "what the hell?"
WUD: "what you doing"
WYSIAYG: "What you see is all you get". Like WYSIWYG, with a derogatory suggestion as to the incompleteness of the software.
WYSITWIRL: Pronounced "wizzy twirl", "What you see is totally worthless in real life." A derogatory term indicating that a claim of WYSIWYG has little validity.
WYSIWYG: Pronounced "wizzywig", "What you see is what you get". In the print industry, it means that printed output will look identical to its screen representation. More recently used to refer to the style of making webpages that arose through the use of HTML-generators such as Nvu, Microsoft FrontPage, and Dreamweaver in which context it implies that the output may appear crude and does not transfer well across all settings.

X

X>*: The subject, X, surpasses anything else. For example, "gentoo>*" would mean, "Gentoo outclasses any other Linux distribution.
XD: An emoticon resembling someone laughing when rotated clockwise 90°. Also written xD.
-x0r: A suffix used by leet-speakers to emphasize a point.
XOXO: Hugs and kisses

Y

y: "Why"
y2k: "Year 2000"
YGM: "You've got mail"
YGO: Stands for Yu-Gi-Oh!, a popular manga, anime, and trading card game.
YGP: "You've got pictures" (AOLese)
YGPM, YHPM: "You've got a private message", "you have a private message"
YHBT: "You have been trolled"
YHL: "You have lost"
YIM: Yahoo! Messenger
YM: "Your mom!"
YMMV: "Your mileage may vary"
YMSTICPC: "You Might Say That, I Couldn't Possibly Comment"
YNK: "You never know"
YOMANK: "You owe me a new keyboard". Said after a joke causes explosive expulsion of beverage from one's mouth or after masturbation to a pornographic image causes one to ejaculate on said keyboard.
yr: "Your" or "you're"
YS: "You suck"
YSSIA: "Your spelling says it all!"
yt: "You there?"
yuo: A usually deliberate typo of "you". Possible origins include careless typers hitting the keys out of sequence. Like "teh", it can add emphasis to a phrase, for example, "Yuo are teh suck".
YW: "you're welcome"

Z

z00t, zoot: bastardization of "w00t"
0day: Software or media obtained illegally before or on the day of its official release. In the hacker community this can refer to exploit code obtained before or on the day of the publication of the vulnerability.
zig: Cigarette. Also it's something that has to be moved, for great justice, if you know what you doing.
ZOMG: Bastardization of "OMG", meaning "oh my God". Derived from the accidental use of the "z" key when the typist intended to use the Shift function. Pronounced "zoe my God", "zee oh em gee", or "zed oh em gee" (the last two varying on the regional pronunciation of the name of the letter Z).

Effects on wider language use

Users sometimes make up Internet abbreviations on the spot, therefore many of them can seem confusing, obscure, whimsical, or even nonsensical. This type of on-the-spot abbreviating leads to such things as: OTP (on the phone) or the less common, OPTD (outside petting the dog). Another feature common to Internet communication is the truncation and morphing of words to forms that users can type more readily. These may one day creep into common usage and end up in the dictionary. Examples of this include:

addy — "Address" (plural: "addys")
compy — "Computer" (already has made the leap to common spoken usage)
dun — "Don't"
ima — "I'm going to", "I'm a gonna" (predates the Internet).
lappy — "Laptop"
pic — "Picture" ("pics", "pix" or "piccies" for plural)
proggy — "Computer program"
prolly — "Probably" (The Oxford English Dictionary traces this usage back as far as 1962)
awsum — "Awesome"
siggy — "Signature"

The form "teh" offers a special case of this transformation. This originated as a corruption of "the", and often pops up spontaneously when typing fast. So common has it become, in fact, that it has made the jump to purposeful usage. Typically it occurs in situations where the writer presents as 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. It occurs most commonly in "teh suck", "teh lame", and "teh shit", although "teh shit" has the same meaning as cool or "teh cool". This sarcastic usage originates with JeffK.

Similarly, netizens may use the word "liek" or "leik" as sarcastic mis-spellings of the word "like", as in "I LIEK PIE". It often implies an insult to one's intelligence and/or typing ability.

The word newbie occurs almost exclusively to refer to all sorts of new users of an Internet forum or starters in a particular field of activity. It does not function as a pejorative term per se, but can do so when combined with RTFM, etc. "n00b" has much more derogatory implications than "newbie".

"own" has become a mainstream word for "to completely dominate". It probably pre-dates the Internet in some usages. It also sometimes appears spelt "pwn" owing to a common typing error due to the proximity of the "p" and "o" keys on a QWERTY keyboard. This spelling "error" sometimes get verbally pronounced "Pone" or "Pawn", although more commonly Internet users simply pronounce it as "Own". "Pwn" originally came from the game Quake, from the phrase "Pistol Owned".

External links

E-mail and Online Chat Acronyms
Internet Slang Translator & Dictionary
Jargon File webpage
FOLDOC — Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
Acronym Finder—searchable acronyms and abbreviations site (over 400,000 entries with over 25,000 slang/chat/Internet entries)
BIBLIA — Ben's Incredible Big List of Initialisms and Acronyms
UrbanDictionary.com (Warning: Possibly offensive and sexual words on this site.)
NetLingo.com The Internet Dictionary
Parents' primer to computer slang from Microsoft

@@ Line 1,031: / Line 1,031: @@
 *ROTFFLMFAO &mdash; "Rolling on the fucking floor laughing my fucking ass off."  A more vulgar version of ROTFLMAO.
 *ROTFLBTC &mdash; "Rolling on the floor laughing, biting the carpet"
+*ROTFLMAO &mdash; "Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off"
 *ROTFLMHO &mdash; "Rolling on the floor laughing my head off"; alternative to ROTFLMAO. Some people may leave out the "T" so it will be ROFLMHO
 *ROTFLMAOSTC &mdash; "Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off scaring the cats"; another alternative to ROTFLMAO