February 3, 2024 7 min to read

Acronyms

Do you know acronyms you are using?

No matter if you are working in IT or just using a computer and the internet, you are undoubtedly exposed to many acronyms. Sometimes you know what they mean; other times, you only think you do.

Unfortunately, many people use terms without knowing their meanings, leading to humorous situations. Below, you will find a list of common acronyms. I hope this helps you better understand them and not feel like a novice during chats on any type of messenger, forum, etc.

Internet and IT acronyms

AFAIC - “as far as I’m concerned”, or “as far as I care”, or “as far as I can…”
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”
ATM - “at the moment”
BBL - “be back later”
BBS - “be back soon”
BRB - “be right back” (usually used in chats and on an instant messenger service).
BTW - “by the way”
B2B - “Business to Business”
C&V - Chapter & Verse. Used in newsgroups.
C|N>K - a Unix -ism meaning “coffee through the nose into keyboard”
cya - “see you”, used as a goodbye.
CU - “see you”, used as a goodbye.
CYS - “Check your settings”. A phrase often said by a technical support staff of a certain Australian ISP.
ETA- estimated time of arrival
FAQ - “Frequently Asked Question”
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.
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. Also, it is now becoming customary for all players to say “gg” when the game is over in such games as Counter-Strike unless a player is profoundly displeased with the outcome.
GJ - Good Job
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.”
IDK- I don’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 eg., “IYDMMA, are you a graduate?”
JK - just kidding
JJ or JK (j/k) - “just joking”, “just kidding”
Joo - a synonym of you. Also spelt j00 with a lower case j and two zeroes rather than two O’s.
JOOC - “just out of curiosity”
k - short for “OK”
l8 - a shorthand spelling of “late”.
l8r - a shorthand spelling of “later”, meaning “see you later” (see leet )
LIEK - a synonym of like, as in “I like that website”.
LOL - “laughing out loud”, or “lots of laughs” (a reply to something amusing)
MYOB - “Mind your own business”
NM (n/m) - “never mind” or “not much”
NOYB - “none of your business”
NP - “No Problem”
NSFW - “Not safe for work.” Material (pictures, webpages) not suitable for the office, but for the home instead. Used by Fark. This content can contain swear words and other not politically correct statements. See SFW.
NT - “No Text”, used on Internet forums or Usenet to indicate that a post has no content
O - “oh”
OIC - “oh, I see”
OMG - Exclamation, “Oh my God!!”
OMW - on my way
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).
PO (PO’d) - “piss off” (“pissed off”)
prog - “computer program” (progz in plural)
prolly - a 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 )
P2P - Person to Person
qoolz - something that is “cool” in the American sense.
R - shorthand spelling of “are”
RL - “real life”. Used in MUD settings.
RN - “right now”
ROFL (or ROTFL) - “rolling on the floor laughing” (a reply to something extremely amusing).
RU - Are You?
R8 - right
SFW - safe for work
SPOF - “single point of failure”
TBH - “to be honest”
thx - shorthand spelling of “thanks” - this can be combined into “kthx” (OK, thanks), “plzkthx” (Please, OK, thanks), and “kthxbye” (OK, thanks, goodbye)
TTFN - Ta Ta For Now
TIA - “thanks in advance”
TTYL - “talk to you later”
U - a shorthand spelling of “you”
ur - a shorthand spelling of “you’re”
w/e - slang/abbreviation for whatever
w/o - without
WDUWTA – “what do u wanna talk about?”
YMMV - “ Your mileage may vary “ (you may see different results)
w00t - exclamation of excitement or happiness; closely related to, “hell yeah!” (short for woohoo) or We Owned the Other Team
w8 - shorthand spelling of “wait”.
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.
2B - To be
4 - for

Others express concepts peculiar to the Net:

cluebie - a newbie with a clue, but not close to a guru.
guru - an expert in some technical topic, such 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.
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.
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.
newbie - a new user. Not a pejorative term (like the acronym RTFM is).
noob - a new user. Also spelt n00b, with two zeroes rather than two O’s

Do you knowe more?

I you have the feeling that something really popular is missing above, please let me know. We can improve it together to ahve all necessary ones in one place.