Computer Slang and Abbreviations

Did you know that the Oxford English Dictionary now recognizes certain Internet-slang acronyms as REAL WORDS? Time for parents to catch up!

 

These are some common acronyms used on the Internet. This is by no means an exhaustive list. For more slang, check out NetLingo.

admin - Short for administrator, commonly refers to the person in charge of a computer system, chat room, or forum. Also called sysadmin.

AFAIK - As Far As I Know

Anonymous or Anon - an individual, or group of individuals working together, who use the Internet and technology to promote free expression, often creating mayhem in the process. Usually depicted as a stick-figure wearing a Guy Fawkes mask

ASL or a/s/l - Tell me your age, sex, and location

BFF - Best Friend Forever

BRB - Be Right Back

BTW - By The Way

CID - Crying In Disgrace

CNP - Continued Next Post

CP - Chat Post

CSG - Chuckle Snicker Grin

CYA - See Ya

dot - What people say instead of period. "The domain is cc dot ukans dot edu."

emoticon - A way to describe emotion on­line. Look at this list immediately beneath the definition with your head tilted to the left. These are examples there are hundreds more.
    :­)
- I’m smiling
    :­D - I’m laughing
    ;­) - I’m winking
    :­X - No comment
    :­( - I’m frowning

f2f - Face to face. - What happens when you meet people in real life who you have been talking to online

Flame - A heated remark, yell, or scream, directed at a person on the ’net with the intention of provoking confrontation. People who flame are called flamers. When a newsgroup erupts in flames it is called a flame war.

G2G or GTG - Got to go

GFN - Gone for Now

GTSY - Glad to See You

HOYEW - Hanging On Your Every Word.

Hacker - On the 'net this is not a bad person, simply someone who enjoys stretching their hardware and software to the limits, as opposed to someone who learns only the minimum to do a task. The derogatory usage of hacker is cracker, someone who maliciously and illegally circumvents systems.

Holy Wars - Arguments which can never be solved, but continue to be thrashed out, i.e., Mac vs. PC, etc.

H&K - Hugs and Kiss

HAGN - Have a Good Night

HHIS - Hanging Head in Shame

IMHO - In my humble opinion.

IC - I See

IDK - I Don't Know

ILY or ILU - I Love You

IM - Instant Message

IRL - In Real Life

J/K - Just Kidding

L8R - Later

LMAO - Laughing My A** Off

LOL - Laughing Out Loud

lurk - Reading messages on Usenet or a BBS without posting.

MIRL - Meet in Real Life

mod - Short for moderator, similar to admin. Refers to a person in charge of an online forum or chat who regulates activity and filters out offensive content.

OIC - Oh, I See

PIR - Parent In Room

PM - Private Message

POS - Parent Over Shoulder

ROFL - Rolling On Floor Laughing

SO - Significant Other

STFU - Shut The F*** Up

SUP - Whats Up?

Spam - To cause a newsgroup to be flooded with irrelevant or inappropriate messages. Unwanted or solicited email.

tl;dr - Too long; didn't read

Troll - A person who deliberately leaves inflammatory comments to get a reaction

TTYL - Talk To You Later

TY or TYVM - Thank You or Thank You Very Much

u - you

ur - your or you're

Worm -  A program that propagates over a network, reproducing itself as it goes.

WTF - What The F***

 

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