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{{Short description|Slang languages used by different people on the Internet}}
'''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, (for example, "u" for "you", "r" for "are", "4" for "for", etc.) 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".
{{About|slang used on the Internet|jargon related to the Internet|Glossary of Internet-related terms|a list of terms|Wiktionary:Appendix:English internet slang}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Internet}}
'''Internet slang''' (also called '''Internet shorthand''', '''cyber-slang''', '''netspeak''', '''digispeak''' or '''chatspeak''') is a non-standard or unofficial form of language used by people on the [[Internet]] to communicate to one another.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zappavigna|first=Michele|title=Discourse of Twitter and Social Media: How We Use Language to Create Affiliation on the Web|year=2012|isbn=9781441138712|location=eBook|pages=127}}</ref> An example of Internet slang is "[[lol]]" meaning "laugh out loud." Since Internet slang is constantly changing, it is difficult to provide a standardized definition.<ref name=Yin>Yin Yan (2006) World Wide Web and the Formation of the Chinese and English[[Internet]] Union". Computer-Assisted Foreign Language Education. Vol. 1. {{ISSN|1001-5795}}</ref> However, it can be understood to be any type of slang that Internet users have popularized, and in many cases, have coined. Such terms often originate with the purpose of saving [[Typing|keystroke]]s or to compensate for small character limits. Many people use the same [[abbreviation]]s in [[text messaging|texting]], [[instant messaging]], and [[social networking websites]]. [[Acronym]]s, [[Computer keyboard|keyboard symbols]], and abbreviations are common types of Internet slang. New dialects of slang, such as [[leet]] or [[Lolcat|Lolspeak]], develop as [[ingroup]] [[Internet meme]]s rather than time savers. Many people also use Internet slang in face-to-face, [[real life]] communication.


==Creation and evolution==
Common disclaimer phrases (or [[parentheticals]]) also often contract into acronyms &mdash; they tend to occur at certain points in a sentence, which can facilitate decoding. Some of these include:


===Origins===
* IMHO (in my humble/honest opinion)
Internet slang originated in the early days of the Internet with some terms predating the Internet.<ref>{{cite web|last=Daw |first=David |url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/248526/web_jargon_origins_revealed.html |title=Web Jargon Origins Revealed |publisher=Pcworld.com |access-date=18 January 2014}}</ref> The earliest forms of Internet slang assumed people's knowledge of programming and commands in a specific language.<ref>{{Cite book|last=McCulloch|first=Gretchen|title=Because Internet: Understanding the Rules of Language|publisher=Riverhead Books|year=2019|isbn=9780735210950|location=New York|pages=88–95}}</ref> Internet slang is used in [[chat room]]s, [[social networking service]]s, [[online game]]s, [[video game]]s and in the [[online community]]. Since 1979, users of communications networks like [[Usenet]] created their own [[shorthand]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Meggyn |url=http://theunderenlightened.com/trolling-for-slang-the-origins-of-internet-werdz/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216224540/http://theunderenlightened.com/trolling-for-slang-the-origins-of-internet-werdz/ |archive-date=16 February 2013 |title=Trolling For Slang: The Origins of Internet Werdz |publisher=Theunderenlightened.com |access-date=18 January 2014 }}</ref>
* AFAIK (as far as I know)
* [[IANAL]] (I am not a lawyer)
* AFK (Away from Keyboard)


===Motivations===
The untrained eye often finds Internet slang difficult to interpret because content in spoken language that speakers convey in the [[intonation]] and [[tone (linguistics)|tone]] of the voice, such as sarcasm, do not readily transfer to written text.
The primary motivation for using a slang unique to the Internet is to ease [[communication]]. However, while Internet slang shortcuts save time for the writer, they take two times as long for the reader to understand, according to a study by the [[University of Tasmania]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Don't be 404, know the tech slang|date=10 December 2008|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7775013.stm|work=[[BBC]]}}</ref> On the other hand, similar to the use of slang in traditional face-to-face speech or written language, slang on the Internet is often a way of indicating [[social group|group membership]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Crystal, David |date=1997|title= The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language|edition= Second |location=Cambridge|publisher= Cambridge University Press}}</ref>
[[Emoticon]]s (or smilies) such as "<nowiki>:)</nowiki>" can go some way towards clarifying emotional intent in Internet messages. As with other Internet slang, [[netizen]]s 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.


Internet slang provides a channel which facilitates and constrains the ability to communicate in ways that are fundamentally different from those found in other semiotic situations. Many of the expectations and practices which we associate with spoken and written language are no longer applicable. The Internet itself is ideal for new slang to emerge because of the richness of the medium and the availability of information.<ref name=bas /> Slang is also thus motivated for the "creation and sustenance of online communities".<ref name=bas /> These communities, in turn, play a role in solidarity or identification<ref name=Yin /><ref name= miao /> or an exclusive or common cause.<ref name=mud />
Certain online personalities, among them [[Jerry Holkins]] of ''[[Penny Arcade (comic)|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." [http://penny-arcade.com/news.php?date=2005-07-06]


David Crystal distinguishes among five areas of the Internet where slang is used- [[World Wide Web|The Web itself]], [[email]], [[asynchronous communication|asynchronous chat]] (for example, [[mailing list]]s), [[synchronous communication|synchronous chat]] (for example, [[Internet Relay Chat]]), and [[virtual world]]s.<ref name=Davidcrystal>{{cite book|author=Crystal, David |date=2001|title= Language and the Internet|url=https://archive.org/details/languageinternet0000crys |url-access=registration |location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn= 0-521-80212-1}}</ref> The [[computer|electronic]] character of the channel has a fundamental influence on the language of the medium. Options for communication are constrained by the nature of the hardware needed in order to gain Internet access. Thus, productive linguistic capacity (the type of information that can be sent) is determined by the preassigned characters on a [[Computer keyboard|keyboard]], and receptive linguistic capacity (the type of information that can be seen) is determined by the size and configuration of the screen. Additionally, both sender and receiver are constrained linguistically by the properties of the internet [[software]], [[computer hardware]], and [[networking hardware]] linking them. Electronic discourse refers to writing that is "very often reads as if it were being spoken – that is, as if the sender were writing talking".<ref>{{cite book |author=Davis, B.H. |author2=Brewer, J. P. |date=1997 |title=Electronic discourse: linguistic individuals in virtual space|location= Albany, NY|publisher= State University of New York Press}}</ref>
Although Internet slang has a close relationship with [[leet|leetspeak]], only online gamers traditionally used leet, whereas much larger groups of Internet users commonly use Internet slang.


==Types of slang==
[[Chat]] [[acronyms]] or ''chaq'' (pronounced "chalk") originally developed on pre-Internet [[bulletin board system]]s. A handful (for example, ASAP, PO'ed) far pre-date computers. The [[TLA|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.
[[File:Buesum molenfeuer lol rofl.JPG|thumb|In this picture, the graffiti represents some examples of the different types of slang. The symbols "X:)" ":)" and "XD" are an example of emoticons. LOL "laugh out loud" and ROFL "rolling on the floor laughing" are examples of letter homophones.]]
Internet slang does not constitute a homogeneous language variety; rather, it differs according to the user and type of Internet situation.<ref name=hohenhaus>Hohenhaus, Peter (2005). Elements of traditional and "reverse" purism in relation to computer-mediated communication. In Langer, Nils and Winifred V. Davies (eds.), Linguistic Purism in the Germanic Languages. Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 203-220.</ref> [[Audience design]] occurs in online platforms, and therefore online communities can develop their own [[sociolects]], or shared linguistic norms.<ref name=pavalanathan>Pavalanathan, Umashanthi, and Jacob Eisenstein. "Audience-modulated variation in online social media." American Speech 90.2 (2015): 187-213.</ref><ref name=lucy>Lucy, Li, and David Bamman. "Characterizing English variation across social media communities with BERT." Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics 9 (2021): 538-556.</ref>


Within the language of Internet slang, there is still an element of [[linguistic prescriptivism|prescriptivism]], as seen in [[style guides]], for example ''Wired Style'',<ref name=hale>[Hale, C. and Scanlon, J (1999). Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age. New York: Broadway Books]</ref> which are specifically aimed at usage on the Internet. Even so, few users consciously heed these prescriptive recommendations on CMC ([[Computer-mediated communication]]), but rather adapt their styles based on what they encounter online.<ref>Baron, Naomi. (2000). ''Alphabet to Email.'' London: Routledge.</ref> Although it is difficult to produce a clear definition of Internet slang, the following types of slang may be observed. This list is not exhaustive.
==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.


{| class="wikitable"
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 [[Internet forum|forum]]s.
|-
! Class !! Description
|-
| Letter homophones || Included within this group are [[abbreviation]]s and [[acronym]]s. An abbreviation is a shortening of a word, for example "CU" or "CYA" for "see you (see ya)". An acronym, on the other hand, is a subset of abbreviations and are formed from the initial components of each word. Examples of common acronyms include "LOL" for "laugh out loud", "BTW" for "by the way" and "TFW" for "that feeling when". There are also combinations of both, like "CUL8R" for "see you later".
|-
| Heterographs || Using one word in place of another, different but similarly sounding, word. Alternatively, a deliberate misspelling. For example, using "sauce" instead of "source" when asking for the source of an image or other posted material online.<ref>[http://ysu.am/files/Liana%20BARSEGHYAN.pdf] Barseghyan, L. (2013). On some aspects of Internet slang. Graduate School of Foreign Languages N, 14, 19-31.</ref> For example, TikTok algorithms monitor 'explicit' content by censoring certain words or promoting videos based on the inclusion of certain hashtags; the intentional misspelling of words bypasses censorship guidelines and subsequently creates a range of platform-specific slang, renders trigger warnings as ineffective and can end up promoting harmful content (e.g. misspelling anorexia, pro-eating disorder content can be featured on the For You page via algorithms that promote popular content).<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sung|first=Morgan|date=31 August 2020|title=It's almost impossible to avoid triggering content on TikTok|url=https://mashable.com/article/tiktok-algorithm-triggers|access-date=26 August 2021|website=Mashable|language=en}}</ref>
|-
| Punctuation, capitalizations, and other symbols || Such features are commonly used for emphasis. Periods or exclamation marks may be used repeatedly for emphasis, such as "........" or "!!!!!!!!!!". Question marks and exclamation marks are often used together in strings such as "?!?!?!?!" when one is angry while asking a question. Grammatical punctuation rules are also relaxed on the Internet. "E-mail" may simply be expressed as "email", and apostrophes can be dropped so that "John's book" becomes "johns book". Examples of capitalizations include "STOP IT", which can convey a stronger emotion of annoyance as opposed to "stop it". Bold, underline and italics are also used to indicate stress. Using a tilde ~ can be a symbol of sarcasm, like "~That was so funny ~".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kimball Leslie|first=Jess|date=5 June 2017|title=The Internet Tilde Perfectly Conveys Something We Don't Have the Words to Explain|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A494472666/ITOF?u=temple_main&sid=ITOF&xid=b51da47c|journal=Science of Us|volume=Science of Us|via=Vox Media, LLC}}</ref> The period can also be used in a way to symbolize seriousness, or anger like "Ok."
|-
| Onomatopoeic or stylized spellings || [[Onomatopoeia|Onomatopoeic]] spellings have also become popularized on the Internet. One well-known example is "hahaha" to indicate laughter. Onomatopoeic spellings are very language specific. For instance, in Spanish, laughter is spelled as "jajaja" instead because J is pronounced as {{IPA|/h/|lang=sp}} (like English "h" in "hahaha") in Spanish. In Thai, it is "55555" because 5 in Thai ("ห้า") is pronounced {{IPA|/haː˥˩/|lang=th}}.
|-
| Keyboard-generated emoticons and smileys || [[Emoticon]]s are generally found in web forums, instant messengers, and online games. They are culture-specific and certain emoticons are only found in some languages but not in others. For example, the Japanese equivalent of emoticons, kaomoji (literally "face marks"), focus on the eyes instead of the mouth as in Western emoticons. They are also meant to be read right-side up, as in ^_^ as opposed to sideways, :3. More recently than face emoticons, other emoticon symbols such as <3 (which is a sideways heart) have emerged. Compared to emoticons used in Western cultures such as the [[United States]], kaomoji play a very distinct social role in online discourse.<ref>Sugimoto, T. and Levin, J. A. (2000), [https://pages.ucsd.edu/~jalevin/S-L/index.html Multiple Literacies and Multimedia: A Comparison of Japanese and American Uses of the Internet], In C. Self & G. Hawisher (Eds), Global literacies and the World-wide Web, London: Routledge</ref><ref>Katsuno, Hirofumi and Christine R. Yano (2002), ''Asian Studies Review'' 26(2): 205-231</ref>
|-
|Emojis
|Emojis are relatively new to internet slang,<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Petra Kralj Novak |author2=Jasmina Smailović |author3=Borut Sluban |author4=Igor Mozetič |title=Sentiment of emojis |journal=PLOS ONE|year=2015|volume=10|issue=12|pages=e0144296|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0144296|pmid=26641093|pmc=4671607|arxiv=1509.07761|bibcode=2015PLoSO..1044296K|s2cid=5526153|doi-access=free | issn = 1932-6203}}</ref> and are much like emoticons in the way that they convey messages in a visual way. However, while emoticons create an image using characters from the keyboard, emojis are a whole new level of communication and slang that portray messages in small cartoons. With culture comes different meaning for different emojis. For example, in 2016, Emojipedia and Prismoji took 571 peach emojis tweets and associated them with six different meanings varying from the fruit, feeling peachy, or sexual connotations.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Azhar|first=Hamden|date=2016|title=How We Really Use The Peach|url=https://blog.emojipedia.org/how-we-really-use-the-peach/}}</ref>
|-
| Leet || [[Leet]]speak, or 1337,<ref>{{cite web|title=1337 - what is it and how to be 1337|url=http://www.1337.net/|access-date=30 April 2012}}</ref> is an alternative alphabet for the English language which uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace Latinate letters. For example, Wikipedia may be expressed as "\/\/1|<1p3[)14". It originated from computer hacking, but its use has been extended to online gaming as well. Leet is often used today to set up effective security password for different accounts.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Li, Zeng|first=Wanda, Jianping|date=January 2021|title=Leet Usage and Its Effect on Password Security|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348361712}}</ref> Leet is also used on social media platforms that employ content control algorithms to censor topics that may be controversial or inappropriate; using leet for potentially problematic terms (e.g. "k1ll"; "s3x"; "ant1s3m1t1sm") can avoid censorship.
|-
| Novel [[syntax|syntactic]] features || Unusual syntactic structures such as "[[I Can Has Cheezburger?]]" and "You are doing me a frighten" have been encouraged and spread by highly successful memes. Pluralization of "[[Internets|the internets]]" is another example, which has become common since it was used by [[George W. Bush]] during a televised event.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Menning|first=Chris|date=2000|title=Internets|url=https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/internets}}</ref>
|-
|}


==Views==
==Common Internet slang==
The vocabulary of Internet slang draws from many different sources &mdash; typically environments that placed value on brevity of communication. Some terms, such as ''[[Snafu|FUBAR]]'' have roots as far back as [[World War II]][http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/f/foo.html]. Other terms come from more recent forms of communication, such as [[Teleprinter|TTY]] and [[Internet Relay Chat|IRC]]. With the rise of [[Instant messenger|instant messaging]] services ([[ICQ]], [[America Online|AOL]], and [[MSN]], among others) the vocabulary has expanded dramatically. Some of the most commonly occurring elements of this slang include:


Many debates about how the use of slang on the Internet influences language outside of the digital sphere go on. Even though the direct causal relationship between the Internet and language has yet to be proven by any scientific research,<ref name=www.newjerseynewsroom.com>{{cite web |url=http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/science-updates/internets-effect-on-language-debated |title=Internet's Effect on Language Debated |publisher=Newjerseynewsroom.com |date=20 January 2010 |access-date=25 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422130830/http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/science-updates/internets-effect-on-language-debated |archive-date=22 April 2012 }}</ref> Internet slang has invited split views on its influence on the standard of language use in non-[[computer-mediated communication]]s.
* [[LOL (Internet slang)|lol]] &ndash; laugh(ing) out loud/laugh on line/lots of laughs
* brb &ndash; be right back/bathroom break
* gtg/g2g &ndash; got to go
* l8r or cul8r &ndash; (see you) later
* lmao &ndash; laugh(ing) my ass/arse off.
* rofl &ndash; rolling on floor laughing
* sry &ndash; sorry
* cya or cu &ndash; see you
* ty &ndash; thank you
* gg/gj &ndash; good game/good job
* ttyl &ndash; talk to you later
* bbl &ndash; be back later
* thx/tx/tnx &ndash; thanks
* ihm &ndash; i hate myself
* wombat &ndash; Waste of Money, Brains, and Time
* nm &ndash; Not much (sometimes never mind)
* nvm &ndash; Never mind


[[Linguistic prescription|Prescriptivists]] tend to have the widespread belief that the Internet has a negative influence on the future of language, and that it could lead to a degradation of standard.<ref name=Davidcrystal /> Some would even attribute any decline of standard formal English to the increase in usage of electronic communication.<ref name=www.newjerseynewsroom.com /> It has also been suggested that the linguistic differences between Standard English and [[Computer-mediated communication|CMC]] can have implications for literacy education.<ref>Hawisher, Gale E. and Cynthia L. Selfe (eds). (2002). Global Literacies and the World-Wide Web. London/New York: Routledge</ref> This is illustrated by the widely reported example of a school essay submitted by a Scottish teenager, which contained many abbreviations and acronyms likened to [[SMS language]]. There was great condemnation of this style by the mass media as well as educationists, who expressed that this showed diminishing literacy or linguistic abilities.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2814235.stm |title=BBC NEWS &#124; UK &#124; Is txt mightier than the word? |publisher=Newsvote.bbc.co.uk |access-date=25 April 2012 |archive-date=3 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903232817/http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2814235.stm }}</ref>
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 [http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/children/kidtalk.mspx article] produced by [[Microsoft]] may help parents begin to understand some of the things their kids say in-game. (Many of the more knowledgeable "[[geek]]s" consider this article a joke, especially for Microsoft's attempts to interpret 1337 speak.)


On the other hand, [[Linguistic description|descriptivists]] have counter-argued that the Internet allows better expressions of a language.<ref name=www.newjerseynewsroom.com /> Rather than established linguistic conventions, linguistic choices sometimes reflect personal taste.<ref name=baron>Baron, Naomi S. (2002). Who sets email style: Prescriptivism, coping strategies, and democratizing communication access. The Information Society 18, 403-413</ref> It has also been suggested that as opposed to intentionally flouting language conventions, Internet slang is a result of a lack of motivation to monitor speech online.<ref>Baron, Naomi (2003) "Why Email Looks Like Speech: Proofreading Pedagogy and Public Face." In New Media Language, ed. Jean Aitchison and Diana M. Lewis, 85–94. London: Routledge.</ref> Hale and Scanlon describe language in emails as being derived from "writing the way people talk", and that there is no need to insist on 'Standard' English.<ref name=hale /> English users, in particular, have an extensive tradition of etiquette guides, instead of traditional prescriptive treatises, that offer pointers on linguistic appropriateness.<ref name=baron /> Using and spreading Internet slang also adds onto the cultural currency of a language.<ref name=Garcia /> It is important to the speakers of the language due to the foundation it provides for identifying within a group, and also for defining a person's individual linguistic and communicative competence.<ref name=Garcia /> The result is a specialized subculture based on its use of slang.<ref name="annemarie">Simon-Vandenbergen, Anne Marie (2008) Deciphering L33t5p34k: Internet Slang on Message Boards. Thesis paper. Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy</ref>
The following lists could usefully expand to include citations of the earliest usage, where references exist.


In scholarly research, attention has, for example, been drawn to the effect of the use of Internet slang in [[ethnography]], and more importantly to how conversational relationships online change structurally because slang is used.<ref name=Garcia>Garcia, Angela Cora, Standlee, Alecea I., Beckhoff, Jennifer and Yan Cui. Ethnographic Approaches to the Internet and Computer-Mediated Communication. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. Vol. 38 No. 1 pp 52–84</ref>
==Special characters==


In German, there is already considerable controversy regarding the use of [[anglicisms]] outside of CMC.<ref>Hohenhaus, Peter. (2002). Standardization, language change, resistance and the question of linguistic threat: 18th-century English and present-day German. In: Linn, Andrew R. and Nicola McLelland (eds.). Standardization - Studies from the Germanic languages. Amsterdam: Benjamins (= Current Issues in Linguistic Theory volume 235), 153-178</ref> This situation is even more problematic within CMC, since the [[jargon]] of the medium is dominated by English terms.<ref name=hohenhaus /> An extreme example of an anti-anglicisms perspective can be observed from the chatroom rules of a Christian site,<ref>[https://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/cilt/main] {{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> which bans all anglicisms ("{{lang|de|Das Verwenden von Anglizismen ist strengstens untersagt!}}" [Using anglicisms is strictly prohibited!]), and also translates even fundamental terms into German equivalents.<ref name=hohenhaus />
* (&gt;")&gt; / (&gt;'.')&gt; &mdash; '[[Kirby]]'
* <(Ò_Ó<) &mdash; Kirby's mad.
* &not;<(Ò_Ó<) &mdash; Kirby's mad and he's got a gun!
* ^H &mdash; 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 &mdash; Similarly, this means erasing the last word. "I mean, who really gives a^W^W cares?"
* &gt; &mdash; Greater than (as in "Linux &gt; Windows" or "Windows &gt; Linux"). Use of an asterisk (*) in this context sometimes denotes a wildcard, for example,. "John &gt; *" 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 ^^ &mdash; an [[emoticon]] signifying happiness, especially used by [[anime]] fans. "Chuckle marks"
* &gt;_&lt; or &gt;&lt; &mdash; an emoticon signifying frustration or embarrassment
* &gt;_&gt; &mdash; an emoticon used to indicate sarcasm or suspicion, sometimes used with &lt;_&lt; to indicate shifty eyes
* T__T or TT_TT &mdash; Crying (often implying crying in a humorous way)
* :3 &mdash; cat face
* =^_^= &mdash; same as above
* \,,/ or \m/ &mdash; [[Mano cornuto|Throwing the horns]]
* u_u &mdash; sad
* x__x &mdash; dead, unconscious, etc.
* ^__~ &mdash; wink, reluctant
* @_@ &mdash; symbol for a very tired person trying to stay awake, going crazy, dizzy.
* $_$ &mdash; Money-hungry
* :-) &mdash; smiley face (as with many things in computerspeak, the reader should view this emoticon sideways)
* ;-) &mdash; winking


===Emoticons===
===Journalism===
In April 2014, ''[[Gawker]]''{{'}}s [[editor-in-chief]] Max Read instituted new writing style guidelines banning internet slang for his writing staff.<ref name="Gawker bans 'Internet slang'">{{cite news|first1=Andrew|last1=Beaujon|url=http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/246113/gawker-bans-internet-slang/|title=Gawker bans 'Internet slang'|work=[[Poynter Institute]]|date=3 April 2014|access-date=4 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141128120629/http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/246113/gawker-bans-internet-slang/|archive-date=28 November 2014}}</ref><ref name="Gawker Rips Buzzfeed in Ban on 'WTF,' 'Epic' and Other Internet Slang From Its Website">{{cite news|first1=James |last1=Crugnale |url=http://www.thewrap.com/gawker-rips-buzzfeed-ban-internet-slang/|title=Gawker Rips Buzzfeed in Ban on 'WTF,' 'Epic' and Other Internet Slang From Its Website|work=[[TheWrap]]|date=3 April 2014|access-date=4 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="'Massive' Attack: Gawker Goes After Whopping Word">{{cite news|first1=Matthew |last1=Kassel |url=http://observer.com/2014/04/massive-attack-gawker-goes-after-whopping-word/|title='Massive' Attack: Gawker Goes After Whopping Word|work=[[The New York Observer]]|date=3 April 2014|access-date=4 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="Gawker Editor Bans 'Internet Slang,' Challenges Staff to 'Sound Like Regular Human Beings'">{{cite news|first1=Alex |last1=Weaver |url=http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2014/04/03/gawker-editor-bans-internet-slang/|title=Gawker Editor Bans 'Internet Slang,' Challenges Staff to 'Sound Like Regular Human Beings'|work=[[BostInno]]|date=3 April 2014|access-date=4 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="A ban on internet slang? That's derp">{{cite news|first1=Steven |last1=Poole |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/10/ban-internet-slang-steven-poole-derp-amazeballs-lulz-wtf|title=A ban on internet slang? That's derp|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=10 April 2014|access-date=4 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="Gawker is Trying to Use 'Adult' Language. Good Luck to Them.">{{cite magazine|first1=John |last1=McWhorter |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/117289/gawker-language-memo-encourages-use-adult-language|title=Gawker is Trying to Use 'Adult' Language. Good Luck to Them.|magazine=[[The New Republic]]|date=7 April 2014|access-date=4 January 2014}}</ref> Internet slang has gained attraction, however in other publications ranging from Buzzfeed to The Washington Post, gaining attention from younger viewers.  Clickbait headlines have particularly sparked attention, originating from the rise of Buzzfeed in the journalistic sphere which ultimately lead to an online landscape populated with social media references and a shift in language use. <ref>{{Cite book |last=Mormol |first=Paulina |title=On the Linguistic Features of Buzzfeed Headlines |date=January 2019 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Rzeszowskiego |year=2019}}</ref>
For an analytical discussion of emoticons, see [[emoticon]].


==Use beyond computer-mediated communication==
Commonly-used emoticons include:
Internet [[slang]] has crossed from being mediated by the computer into other non-physical domains.<ref name=autogenerated1>Crystal, David (20 September 2001). Language and the Internet. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-80212-1}}.</ref> Here, these domains are taken to refer to any domain of interaction where interlocutors need not be geographically proximate to one another, and where the Internet is not primarily used. Internet slang is now prevalent in telephony, mainly through short messages ([[SMS]]) communication. Abbreviations and [[interjection]]s, especially, have been popularized in this medium, perhaps due to the limited character space for writing messages on mobile phones. Another possible reason for this spread is the convenience of transferring the existing mappings between expression and meaning into a similar space of interaction.<ref name=new.bbc.co.uk>"Don't be 404, know the tech slang". BBC. 10 December 2008.</ref>
* :) &mdash; Used to express happiness or content
* :( &mdash; Used to express sadness or discontent
* :O &mdash; Used to express surprise or a sarcastic display of surprise
* :/ &mdash; Used to express indifference
* :o) &mdash; Used to express forum users' ignorance and vanity
* :D &mdash; Used to express strong happiness or joy
* >:( &mdash; Used to express strong anger or discontent
* >:D &mdash; Used to express malicious joy
* >:) &mdash; Used to express malicious contentment
* -__- &mdash; disgusted, annoyed, etc.
* ^o^ &mdash; laughing, cheerful, joyous, similar to ^^
* ^^__^^ &mdash; Angel
* (^_^) &mdash; Happy face
* [*_*] &mdash; Scared, in awe
* &gt;&lt;)))*&gt; &mdash; something appears fishy
* =^__^= &mdash; Cat face, blushing
* -^__^- &mdash; Blushing
* ^__^' &mdash; Embarassed, "Sweatdrop", common among anime fans
* ^__^; &mdash; Embarassed, "Sweatdrop" common among anime fans
* nn\\//o {|^.^|} o\\//nn &mdash; Headphone listening (peaceful)
* \nn/ {|^.^|} \nn/ &mdash; Headphone listening (intensively)
* ^///^ &mdash; Another form of blushing
* =_= &mdash; tired, with bags under eyes
* &lt;^__^;&gt; &mdash; symbol for embarrassment commonly used by anime fans
* _|_ &mdash; an offensive [[emoticon]] signifying the middle finger
* _W_ &mdash; "Whatever", "I do not care"
* &#8249;^&#8250; &mdash; another form of the middle finger
* ..i.. &mdash; yet another form of the middle finger (often seen in pairs)
* ..!., &mdash; another form of the now infamous middle finger
* t('-'t) &mdash; Flipping off with both hands (the "double deuce").
* &lt;3 &mdash; "love"; [[ASCII art]] for a heart, the [[less than|less-than]] symbol and the three resemble a heart tilted on its side.
* &lt;/3 &mdash; "hate"; [[ASCII art]] for a broken heart, similar to &lt;3.
* <nowiki>==</nowiki> &mdash; agreement; from the [[C programming language|C]] equality operator; means "me too" or "what he said"
* <nowiki>!=</nowiki> &mdash; disagreement; from the [[C programming language|C]] inequality operator; means "is not (necessarily) the same as" Sometimes also written as <nowiki>=/=</nowiki> as in mathematical notation.
* ++ &mdash; Used after the manner of the [[C programming language|C]] operator to indicate something "one greater" than itself, for example: "Awesome++"; also used similarly to the "doubleplus" prefix in [[Newspeak]].
* -- &mdash; Opposite of ++, indicating something "one less" than itself.
* @ &mdash; "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) &mdash; 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) &mdash; similar to asterisk, but means underlining of a word or phrase. For example, "Do you _really_ think that?"
* / (forward slash) &mdash; indicates italicized text, similar to the underscore for underlined text
* -0_o- &mdash; an emotion expressing confusion, shock, drunkenness or a "high" state
* 0.o &mdash; an emoticon expressing confusion or shock, signifying the user saying "WHAT!?!?"; also designating a drunken or high state
*d(-_-)b &mdash; a face with headphones on that indicates listening or chilling out to music
* Ô_ô &mdash; an emotion expressing confusion, shock, drunkenness or a "high" state
* 9_9 &mdash; rolling eyes, used to express annoyance
* XD &mdash; Laughing, Crossed Eyes
* XP &mdash; Sticking Tongue Out while Laughing, crossed eyes
* :O &mdash; "Oh" [[Emoticon]]
* :O~ &mdash; Drooling, foaming from the mouth. Commonly used when admiring something.
* \o/ or \^o^/ &mdash; 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 &mdash; similar to the yayman, the 'b' represents a thumbs-up.
* /o\ &mdash; more or less the opposite of the yayman, here the figure puts his hands on his head: 'Oh no!'
* !!!111!!!11!!!11One &mdash; 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 ?! &mdash; 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) &mdash; hysterical laughter
* (Y) &mdash; female genitalia
* (.)(.)&mdash; breasts
* (oYo) &mdash; another form of breasts (fullstops may replace the "o"-symbols)
* (*)(*)&mdash; breasts (augmented)
* 8==&gt; &mdash; male genitalia
* {}==[]:::::::::::::::&gt; &mdash; sword
* &gt;&gt;&gt;-------------&gt; &mdash; arrow
* _ &mdash; showing suspicion or distrust
* <@(((>< &mdash; A fish
* *_* or *.* or even *o* &mdash; admired; in awe; or, distracted by something shiny.
* &#8729; ---»(X_x)«---o(°_°t) &mdash; 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.


At the same time, Internet slang has also taken a place as part of everyday [[offline]] language, among those with digital access.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> The nature and content of [[online]] conversation is brought forward to direct offline communication through the [[telephone]] and direct talking, as well as through [[Orthography|written language]], such as in writing notes or letters. In the case of interjections, such as numerically based and abbreviated Internet slang, are not pronounced as they are written physically or replaced by any actual action. Rather, they become [[Lexicalisation|lexicalized]] and spoken like non-slang words in a "stage direction" like fashion, where the actual action is not carried out but substituted with a verbal signal. The notions of flaming and [[troll (Internet)|trolling]] have also extended outside the computer, and are used in the same circumstances of deliberate or unintentional implicatures.<ref name=bas />
==Abbreviations and acronyms==


The expansion of Internet slang has been furthered through codification and the promotion of digital literacy. The subsequently existing and growing popularity of such references among those online as well as offline has thus advanced Internet slang [[Digital literacy|literacy]] and globalized it.<ref>Wellman, Barry (2004) The glocal village: Internet and community. Arts and Science Review. University of Toronto. Issue 1, Series 1.</ref> Awareness and proficiency in manipulating Internet slang in both online and offline communication indicates digital literacy and teaching materials have even been developed to further this knowledge.<ref>{{cite web |last=Singhal |first= M. |title=The Internet and foreign language education: Benefits and challenges |publisher=The Internet TESL Journal |year=1997 |url=http://iteslj.org/}}</ref> A South Korean publisher, for example, has published a textbook that details the meaning and context of use for common Internet slang instances and is targeted at young children who will soon be using the Internet.<ref>Ashcroft, Brian (2010) Hey Korean Kids, Let's Learn Leetspeak And Internet Slang. Published 11 February 2010. Retrieved from [http://kotaku.com/5469239/hey-korean-kids-lets-learn-leetspeak-and-internet-slang]</ref> Similarly, Internet slang has been recommended as language teaching material in second language classrooms in order to raise communicative competence by imparting some of the cultural value attached to a language that is available only in slang.<ref>Quintana, M. (2004) Integration of Effective Internet Resources for Future Teachers of Bilingual Ed. National Association of African American Studies, 2004</ref>
===Numbers===
*10-4 &mdash; "OK, Acknowledgement", as in the [[Citizens' band radio|CB Radio]] [[Ten-code|10-codes]].
*12B &mdash; "Wannabe"
*10q &mdash; "Thank you"
*10x &mdash; "Thanks"
*1337 &mdash; "[[Leet]]", short for ''élite'', often used ironically.
*20 &mdash; "location"; from CB Radio jargon
*224 &mdash; "today, tomorrow, forever"
*2B &mdash; "to be"
*2B||!2B &mdash; "to be or not to be"; from the [[C programming language]] [[boolean logic|logic]] operations "OR" ("||") and "NOT" ("!").
*2m &mdash; "tomorrow"
*2TM &mdash; "to the max"
*31337 &mdash; "elite", often used ironically
*3Q, 39, 3U, or 999 &mdash; "thank you" ([[Japanese language|Japanese]] [[wordplay]] for "thank you", rendered in [[katakana]] as サンキュー and pronounced ''sanky&#363;' ("3" substitutes for ''san'' and "9" for ''kyu'')
*4 &mdash; "for"
*404; "Couldn't find it", "Clueless" (from the [[HTTP]] [[404]] "Error: Resource not found" response code)
*4649 &mdash; "pleased to meet you", "hi" (from [[Japanese language|Japanese]] "yoroshiku", the four numbers can be pronounced yo-ro-shi-ku)
*46 &mdash; "pleased to meet you" "hi" (short version of 4649)
*4ever, 4eva &mdash; "forever"
*5/5 - "[[five by five]]"
*54 &mdash; "To ignore", from [[Standard Mandarin|Mandarin Chinese]] "wu shi" (&#28961;&#35222;). Mandarin Chinese speakers pronounce the numbers "5" and "4" to "&#28961;" and "&#35222;" respectively in Mandarin Chinese.
*69 &mdash; from the [[69 sex position]]. Often appears as part of [[AOL Instant Messenger | AIM]] [[screenname]]s
*[[666 (number)|666]] &mdash; The triple sixes sequence often represents [[Satan]], on and off of the Internet. It often occurs in screennames.
*8O~ &mdash; Crazy, lost in the mind, drooling in true desire over something.
*8008135 &mdash; 1337 for "boobies".
*807, 8075 &mdash; "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
*88, 881 or 886 &mdash; "bye bye" ([[Chinese language|Chinese]] pronunciation). In some racist chat rooms it means "heil Hitler", because the letter "H" comes eighth in most Roman alphabets
*9494 &mdash; "that's it", "that's right", "you see?" ([[Mandarin language|Mandarin Chinese]] pronunciation, short for &#23601;&#26159;)
*1AB &mdash; wannabe. A person who wants to act/be another person (One-A-Be; 1-A-B).
*143 &mdash; I love you
*7 - When pronounced in Cantonese, it sounds very close to the Cantonese foul, "&#26578;" - used when someone has done something stupid or to refer to someone who looks or dresses ugly


Meanwhile, well-known dictionaries such as the [[Oxford Dictionary of English|ODE]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/category/word-trends-and-new-words/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704113254/http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/category/word-trends-and-new-words/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 July 2011 |title=Oxford Dictionary official blog |publisher=Blog.oxforddictionaries.com |access-date=18 January 2014}}</ref> and [[Merriam-Webster]] have been updated with a significant and growing body of slang jargon. Besides common examples, lesser known slang and slang with a non-English etymology have also found a place in standardized linguistic references. Along with these instances, literature in user-contributed dictionaries such as [[Urban Dictionary]] has also been added to. Codification seems to be qualified through frequency of use, and novel creations are often not accepted by other users of slang.<ref>{{cite web |last=Jones |first=Brian |url=http://www.noslang.com/rejects/ |title=Rejects |publisher=Noslang.com |access-date= 28 November 2017}}</ref>
===A===
;[[ACK]]
:"acknowledged", used frequently in discussion boards
;admin
:short for "administrator", a [[system administrator]] or [[Internet forum|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 from [[computer]] or [[Computer keyboard|keyboard]]"
;AFGE
:"another fucking growth experience"
;AFK
:"away from keyboard", usually in the form ''<AFK>'' in one's [[User (computing)|handle]], or "a free kill" in many [[FPS]] video games
;APG
:"Anti PiratGruppen", the Danish analogue of the [[Recording Industry Association of America|RIAA]]
;AICMFP
:"[[You are X and I claim my five pounds|and I claim my five pounds]]"
;AIM
:"[[AOL Instant Messenger]]"
;AIUI
:"As I understand it"
;[[Aka (initialism)#AK|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
;[[Age sex location|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===
===Present===
Although Internet slang began as a means of "opposition" to mainstream language, its popularity with today's globalized digitally literate population has shifted it into a part of everyday language, where it also leaves a profound impact.<ref>{{Unbulleted list | {{cite web |last= Eller |first= Lara L. |year= 2005 |work= Thesis |title= Instant Message Communication and its Impact upon Written Language |publisher= [[West Virginia University]] |url= http://www.wvu.edu/ }}
;B
{{cite web |title= Alternate source |website= WVU Scholar |url= http://wvuscholar.wvu.edu/ |url-access=subscription }}
:"Bye"
| {{cite web |title= Alternate source |website= University of Hong Kong |url= http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/ER/detail/hkul/3632984 |url-access=subscription }} | {{cite web |format= pdf |title= Alternate source |website= Research Gate |url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267419817 }} }}</ref>
;B&
:"[[Ban (Internet)|Banned]]"
;[[B2B]]
:"business to business"; [[Electronic commerce|ecommerce]] used by businesses to interact with other businesses. It can also mean "bad to the bone".
;B4
:"Before"
;B4N
:"Bye for now"
;B7
:"[[Ban (Internet)|Banned]]" - A derivation of B&amp;, minus the shift key.
;B10
:"Beaten" - Usually said in response to someone beating you to making a particular comment on a forum.
;[[Ban (Internet)|Ban]];
:to deny a particular user access to an Internet resource, typically due to [[Terms of service|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" &mdash; see "OMGWTFBBQ".
;BBS
:"Be back soon", or "[[Bulletin board system|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"
;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"
;[[Big Name Fan|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"
;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.


Frequently used slang also have become conventionalised into memetic "unit[s] of cultural information".<ref name=bas>{{cite web |last=Flamand |first=E |year=2008 |title=The impossible task of dialog analysis in chatboxes |url=http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:D28k7Tswv5wJ:scholar.google.com/+internet+slang+meme&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5}}</ref> These memes in turn are further spread through their use on the Internet, prominently through websites. The Internet as an "information superhighway" is also catalysed through slang.<ref name="annemarie"/> The evolution of slang has also created a 'slang union'<ref name=Yin /> as part of a unique, specialised subculture.<ref name=annemarie /> Such impacts are, however, limited and requires further discussion especially from the non-English world. This is because Internet slang is prevalent in languages more actively used on the [[Internet]], like [[English language|English]], which is the Internet's [[lingua franca]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20332763|title=Learn English online: How the internet is changing language|work=BBC News|date=14 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://jkorpela.fi/lingua-franca.html|title=English - the universal language on the Internet?|quote=English essentially is the universal language of the Internet}}</ref>
===C===
*Careface &mdash; as in "I don't care".
*CBA; Can't be Arsed
*CBF: Can't be fucked
*Cec &mdash; "sex", used to get around Internet chat filters.
*Chown (Ch0wn3d) &mdash; a deliberate mis-spelling of "own" (see "own" entry below). Also "changing ownership"; as derived from the UNIX chown command.
*CID &mdash; "Consider it done"
*CiS &mdash; "Chuckle(ing) in Silence", "chuckling very quietly"; as an alternative to "LOL"
*cig &mdash; Short for cigarette or cigar
*CL &mdash; (NukeZone) Clan Leader.
*cluebie &mdash; A clueless newbie (but sometimes apparently confusingly used to mean "a newbie with a clue, but not close to a guru")
*CMIIW &mdash; "Correct me if I'm wrong"
*CoD &mdash; "[[Call of Duty]]"; World War II first person shooter PC Game*
*CoH &mdash; "[[City of Heroes]]"; comic-book themed massively multiplayer online PC game
*coo &mdash; "Cool"
*CPL &mdash; "Actually standing for [[Cyberathlete Professional League|CyberAthlete Professional League]], the biggest LAN event, but has become an alternative to call some "leet" (good) for example, "OMG you're CPL"
*CS &mdash; "[[Counter-Strike]]"; Widely played First Person Shooter game; Computer Science.
*CSL &mdash; "Can't stop laughing"
*CT &mdash; ([[Counter-Strike]]) Counter Terrorist, (NukeZone) Clan Trustee.
*CTD &mdash; "Crash To Desktop" - Used to indicate that the speaker's game has crashed.
*CTF &mdash; "[[Capture the flag]]". A gaming mode where two teams have a flag each and the objective of capturing the other team's flag.
*ctm. &mdash; "Chuckle to myself"
*CTTOI &mdash; "Come To Think Of It"
*CU &mdash; "see you"; used as a goodbye, commonly together with "l8r" (later), as in "cul8r", often abbreviated to merely "cul". See also "cya".
*CUAD &mdash; "Curl Up and Die", see FOAD
*CUNT &mdash; See You Next Time (C &amp; U are slang for see &amp; you)
*CUWUL &mdash; "Catch up with you later"
*CWOT &mdash; "Complete waste of time"
*CYA &mdash; "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 &mdash; someone who spends too much time on the Internet
*CYFF &mdash; "Change your font fucker!"; used when someone has an annoying and hard to read font.
*CVQ &mdash; "chuckling very quietly"; see CiS
*C&amp;C, CnC &mdash; "[[Command &amp; Conquer]]"; A popular series of Strategy games, originally by [[Westwood Studios]]
*C&amp;V &mdash; "Chapter &amp; verse"; used in newsgroups.
*C|N&gt;K &mdash; "coffee through nose into keyboard"; a [[Unix]]-ism involving the Unix [[command line]] [[Pipe (Unix)|pipe]] (|) and redirect (&gt;) characters.


==Around the world==
===D===
[[File:Grass Mud Horse Seal.svg|thumb|Chinese seal carving work. The character is a combination of three characters, which is done by Chinese [[netizen]]. This is a satire of [[Chinese Internet censorship]]. See [[Grass Mud Horse]].]]
*D2 &mdash; "[[Diablo 2|Diablo_II]]"
*DB4L &mdash; "Drinking buddy for life"
*DC'd, D/C &mdash; "Disconnected"
*DD &mdash; "Don't die". Usually used in online real-time strategy games.
*Dede &mdash; "See Dedish - sometimes used in conjunction - dede dedish."
*Dedish &mdash; "Rarely used term - similar in meaning to W00t. Sometimes used in conjunction with dede - dede dedish."
*dernoe &mdash; "(I) don't know"
*DFC &mdash; "Don't fucking care"
*DGT &mdash; "Don't go there"
*DH &mdash; "Dear husband". Used by housewives posting on Internet forums.
*DH &mdash; "Dickhead"
*DIAF &mdash; "Die in a Fire"
*DING &mdash; To level up
*DLLM "Diu Lei Lo Mo" or "Diu Lay Lo Mo", meaning "fuck your mother" in [[Cantonese (linguistics)|Cantonese]]
*DILLIFC &mdash; "Do I look like I fucking care?"
*DILLIGAF &mdash; "Do I look like I give a fuck?"
*DIRFM &mdash; "Does it really fucking matter?"
*DIY &mdash; "Do it yourself" (Not Internet-specific)
*DKDC &mdash; "Don't know, don't care", usually used when a person is apathetic about something.
*DKLM &mdash; "Diu Kau Lo Mo ([[Cantonese language|Cantonese]]: &#23628;&#40169;&#32769;&#27597;, means fuck mother)"
*DKLMCFH &mdash; "Diu Kau Lo Mo Chau Fa Hai ([[Cantonese language|Cantonese]]: &#23628;&#40169;&#32769;&#27597;&#33261;&#21270;&#38314;, means fuck mother smelly vagina)"
*DL, D/L &mdash; "[[Download]]"; receiving data from a remote host. Usually functions as a noun or verb. Can sometimes mean "[[down-low]]", as taken from [[real life | real-life]] usage.
*DLF &mdash; "Dropping like flies"; said when many participants have left a chat room suddenly
*DM &mdash; "[[Deathmatch]]". A gaming mode with the goal of [[Frag (video gaming)|frag]]ging as many other players as possible during a given time.
*DMY &mdash; "Don't mess yourself"; from an episode of [[The Simpsons]].
*DnD &mdash; "Do not Disturb" or "[[Dungeons_%26_Dragons]]"
*DON &mdash; "Denial-of-Normal"; Originally used on [http://slashdot.org/articles/04/04/01/2241240.shtml?tid=126&tid=95 Slashdot]
*DOTC &mdash; Dancing on the ceiling.
*DoS &mdash; "[[Denial of service|Denial-of-Service]]"; a malicious attack on a computer system.
*DT &mdash; "Double Team"; used in [[GunBound]], a game developed by [[Softnyx]].
*DTA &mdash; "Don't Trust Anyone" (From M.R.Dilligaf in KOKOMO)
*dun &mdash; "Don't"; commonly used by [[Singapore]]ans.
*dunno &mdash; "(I) don't know"
*DUT &mdash; "Don't you think(?)"
*DYK &mdash; "Did you know(?)"
*DW, D/W &mdash; "Dmuh"


In Japanese, the term [[moe (slang)|moe]] has come into common use among slang users to mean something "preciously cute" and appealing.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Moe - Anime News Network|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/lexicon.php?id=77|access-date=1 May 2020|website=www.animenewsnetwork.com}}</ref>
===E===
*E &mdash; Enlightenment, a popular X11 [[X window manager|window manager]]
*EBBOM &mdash; "Engage brain before opening mouth"
*EG &mdash; "Evil grin", normally written *EG* or &lt;EG&gt; to separate it from the surrounding text.
*ehlp &mdash; Deliberate misspelling of "help" (making fun of newbies yelling for help in a [[MMORPG]])
*EIL &mdash; "Explode into laughter"
*El-OH-EL; Another way to write down "lol" which stands for "laughing out loud" or "laugh out loud". Used humorously to imply that people use "lol" too much
*EO;Endless-Online, a popular RPG game
*EOF &mdash; "end of file" &#8212; used to imply the end of something
*EOM &mdash; "End of message"
*EQ &mdash; "[[Everquest]]", a popular [[MMORPG]]
*EQ2 &mdash; "Everquest2", a popular [[MMORPG]]
*ESABATM &mdash; "Eat Shit and Bark at the Moon", a riposte to someone allegedly behaving like an 'SOB'
*ESAD &mdash; "Eat shit and die"
*e-Slang &mdash; Term used to include all abbreviations and coined terms used in e-mail, instant messaging, chatrooms, and online gaming (such as MUDS, MUCKS, etc.) ([[Stacy Crosby]], [[2004]])
*EULA &mdash; End-User License Agreement (a popular topic on many [[MMORPG]]s)
*ETLA &mdash; "Extended three letter acronym", see [[TLA]].
*EZ; Easy. (pre-dates the Internet)


Aside from the more frequent abbreviations, acronyms, and [[emoticon]]s, Internet slang also uses archaic words or the lesser-known meanings of mainstream terms.<ref name="Yin" /> Regular words can also be altered into something with a similar pronunciation but altogether different meaning, or attributed new meanings altogether.<ref name="Yin" /> Phonetic transcriptions are the transformation of words to how it sounds in a certain language, and are used as internet slang.<ref>{{Cite CiteSeerX |last=Wells|first=J.C.|title=Phonetic transcriptions and analysis|citeseerx=10.1.1.693.115}}</ref> In places where [[logograph]]ic languages are used, such as China, a visual Internet slang exists, giving characters dual meanings, one direct and one implied.<ref name="Yin" />
===F===
*FAP &mdash; [[Onomatopoeia]] for the sound produced by male masturbation. Also used as a verb. See ''[[Sexy Losers]]''. Also: Fiction Alley Park.
*[[Fanboy]] &mdash; a guy with an obsession for a [[operating system]] or for a [[game console]].
*[[FAQ]] &mdash; Frequently Asked Question(s), or a list of frequently-asked questions (with answers). Seldom appears written in small letters.
*FCS &mdash; For Christ's sake.
*fcbl; fake chinaman belly-laugh
*FE &mdash; "Fúmate esta", a Spanish expression for "suck my dick"
*FE &mdash; "Fatal error"
*FF &mdash; [[Final Fantasy]]; "Friendly Fire" (especially in [[First Person Shooters]]).
*FFA &mdash; Free For All (especially in [[First Person Shooters]])
*FFO &mdash; "Far Fucking Out", old hippie term
*FFlO &mdash; "Far Flaming Out", old hippie term
*FFS &mdash; "for [[fuck]]'s sake!" (sometimes replaced with FS, "fuck's sake")
*FGI &mdash; "Fucking [[Google]] it"; used in response to a common question
*FK &mdash; "Short for Fuck"
*FKN &mdash; "Short for Fucken" as in FKN Hell (Fucken Hell)
*flames &mdash; see "flamer".
*flamer &mdash; one engaged in [[flaming]]. Also ominously close to the term [[lamer]].
*FLOABT &mdash; "for lack of a better term"
*FO, FOAD &mdash; "Fuck off/Fuck off and die"
*FOAF &mdash; "Friend of a friend"; the dubious attribution given to [[urban legend]]s
*FOIG &mdash; "Find out in game"
*FOOCL &mdash; "Falls out of chair laughing".
*fooding &mdash; the act of acquiring food; often used in conjunction with AFK (EG: "AFK fooding")
*FOTF &mdash; "Fall On The Floor"
*FOTM &mdash; "Flavour of the Month"
*FP &mdash; "[[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 (military)|frag]] &mdash; 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 &mdash; "Frozen Screen of Death"; a [[Phantasy Star Online]] error.
*FTA &mdash; "From the article"
*FTF or F2F &mdash; "Face to face"; referring to a meeting in the real world, not online. In [[Role-playing games|role-playing]] terms, it is the offline predecessor to [[MMORPG]]s and [[MUD]]s.
*FTLOG &mdash; "For the love of God!"
*FTP &mdash; "[[File transfer protocol]]"; or "First to post"
*FTTB &mdash; "For the time being"
*FTW &mdash; "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 &mdash; "Fuck you" (predates Internet)
*[[FUBAR]] &mdash; "Fucked up beyond all repair" or "fucked up beyond all recognition" (predates Internet). (Possibly led to the [[metasyntactic variable]]s ''foo'' and ''bar'')
*FUBAH &mdash; "Fucked up beyond all hope"
*fucktard &mdash; "Fucking Retard"
*[[FUD]] &mdash; "Fear, uncertainty and doubt"; purposeful spread of misinformation.
*FUDIE &mdash; "Fuck you and die"
*FWIW &mdash; "For what it's worth"
*FXP &mdash; "[[File exchange protocol]]"
*FYAD &mdash; "Fuck you and die" (from SomethingAwful.com)
*[[FYI]] &mdash; "For your information" (predates the Internet)
*FFS &mdash; "Fuck Fuck Shit"; "For Fucks Sake"


The Internet has helped people from all over the world to become connected to one another, enabling "global" relationships to be formed.<ref>Barry Wellman (2004). "The Glocal Village: Internet and Community." ''Ideas&s'' Vol 1:1</ref> As such, it is important for the various types of slang used online to be recognizable for everyone. It is also important to do so because of how other languages are quickly catching up with English on the Internet, following the increase in Internet usage in predominantly non-English speaking countries. In fact, as of January 2020, only approximately 25.9% of the online population is made up of English speakers.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Johnson|first=Joseph|date=27 January 2021|title=Most common languages used on the internet as of January 2020, by share of internet users|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/262946/share-of-the-most-common-languages-on-the-internet/#:~:text=Most%20common%20languages%20used%20on%20the%20internet%202020&text=As%20of%20January%202020%2C%20English,percent%20of%20global%20internet%20users.|website=Statista}}</ref>
===G===
*G &mdash; "Grin", normally written *G* or &lt;G&gt; to separate it from the surrounding text
*G1 &mdash; "Good one".
*G2G, GTG &mdash; "Got to go", also "good to go"; popularized in [[MMORPG]]s and [[MUD]]s.
*G4Y, GFY &mdash; "Good for you", or "go fuck yourself"; the ambiguity of this acronym calls for care. G4Y can also mean "gay".
*GA &mdash; "Go Ahead"
*GAGF &mdash; "Go and get fucked"
*GAL &mdash; "Get a life"
*gamez &mdash; Illegally obtained games (see [[warez]]).
*GAWD &mdash; A variant spelling of the word "God", taken to the Internet.
*GBTW &mdash; "Get Back To Work"; commonly used in conjunction with other acronyms, as in "STFU GBTW".
*GCAD &mdash; "Get cancer and die"
*&lt;g,d&amp;r&gt; &mdash; "Grins, ducks and runs"; used after a particularly bad joke, seemingly to try to avoid comments about it.
*GF &mdash; "Girlfriend", also means "get [[fuck]]ed"
*GFI &mdash; "Good fucking idea"
*GFY &mdash; "Go fuck yourself"
*GG &mdash; "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 &mdash; "Go, go, go!" A command to tell players to attack.
*GGL &mdash; [[Google]]
*GGMF &mdash; "Great Godzilla Motherfuckers!", first quoted in Dealer McDope No. 1 (drawn by Dave Sheridan)
*GGPO &mdash; "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 &mdash; "Good half", used in online round-based games such as [[Counter-Strike]].
*Ghey &mdash; "Gay"
*GIS &mdash; Google Image Search; searching for images through the Google search engine
*GIYF &mdash; "Google is your friend", implying "search the web rather than asking questions".
*GJ &mdash; "Good job" (often used sarcastically)
*GL &mdash; "Good luck"
*Gl hf &mdash; "Good luck, have Fun." Usually used in online gaming.
*GMTA &mdash; "Great minds think alike"
*gnite, GN8 &mdash; "Good night"
*"gno" &#8212; Gonna (Going to)
*Godo &mdash; 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.
*Gosu &mdash; Korean for ''Exceptional'' or ''Superior''
*GR8 &mdash; "Great", sometimes spelled gre8t even though it doesn't make the word any shorter.
*Grats &mdash; Abbreviation of "congratulations". Used in [[MMORPG]]s when a played reaches a new rank or level
*GTFO &mdash; "Get the fuck out"
*GTG &mdash; "Got to go"
*GTH &mdash; "Go to hell"
*GTP &mdash; "Got to Pee"
*[[guru]] &mdash; An expert in some technical topic, such as [[C programming language|C programming]] or [[Unix]] system administration
*GW &mdash; "Good work", often used sarcastically.
*GYTOYA &mdash; "Get your thumb outta your ass." Sometimes used during chat sessions when one of the chatters become unresponsive for some time.


Different cultures tend to have different motivations behind their choice of slang, on top of the difference in language used. For example, in [[Chinese Internet slang|China]], because of the tough Internet regulations imposed, users tend to use certain slang to talk about issues deemed as sensitive to the government. These include using symbols to separate the characters of a word to avoid detection from manual or automated text pattern scanning and consequential [[censorship]].<ref>Zhou Shuguang (2008). "Notes On The Net." ''Index on Censorship'' Vol 37:2</ref> An outstanding example is the use of the term [[river crab (Internet slang)|river crab]] to denote censorship. River crab (hexie) is pronounced the same as "harmony"—the official term used to justify political discipline and censorship. As such Chinese netizens reappropriate the official terms in a sarcastic way.<ref>Nordin, Astrid and Richaud, Lisa (2014), "Subverting official language and discourse in China? Type river rrab for harmony," ''China Information'' 28, 1 (March): 47–67.</ref>
===H===
*H8 &mdash; "Hate", or "H1" to "H9" to indicate how much a person hates something.
*HAI &mdash; A purposeful misspelling of "hi"; Japanese for "yes"
*HAMMRD* &mdash; "Hammered, also meaning pwn/pwned/owned. See [[pwn]]"
*HAND &mdash; "Have a nice day"
*Hawt &mdash; 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 &mdash; "Hurry back"
*HB &mdash; "Herremange Byte" Danish expression for a large amount of data. Also abbreviated to "H", it may appear in various other expressions, like "HP &#8212; Herremange Pornofilm" (large amount of pornographic movies), etc.
*HBD &mdash; "Happy birthday"
*HC &mdash; "Holy Crap"
*HF &mdash; "Have fun"
*HGC &mdash; "Hum Ga Chan", cursing one's family to die in [[Cantonese (linguistics)|Cantonese]]
*hijack &mdash; To start an off-topic discussion; "hijack a thread" on a message board.
*hmwk, hwk, hw &mdash; "Homework"
*HNG &mdash; "Horny net geek"
*H/O &mdash; "Hold on"
*HoBO &mdash; Person who plays games, especially HoB (www.heatofbattle.net)
*HPB &mdash; "High ping bastard" or "High ping bait", reference to those with high latency (ping) usually in online games. The opposite of LPB
*HPL &mdash; "High ping llama", an alternate form of HPB.
*HSS &mdash; "Horse shit and splinters"
*[[HTH]] &mdash; "Hope this (or that) helps"
*HTF &mdash; "How the fuck"; derivative of WTF.
*HTF &mdash; hitting the fridge
*hysterical raisins &mdash; 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 &mdash; "Hug, Wave, Poof"; A way of saying "goodbye"


[[Abbreviations]] are popular across different cultures, including countries like [[Japan]], [[China]], [[France]], [[Portugal]], etc., and are used according to the particular language the Internet users speak. Significantly, this same style of slang creation is also found in non-alphabetical languages<ref name=Yin /> as, for example, a form of "[[Kuso#Compared to e'gao|e gao]]" or alternative political discourse.<ref name=mud>Meng Bingchun (2011) "From Steamed Bun to Grass Mud Horse: E Gao as alternative political discourse on the Chinese Internet." ''Global Media and Communication'' April 2011 vol. 7 no. 1 33–51</ref>
===I===
*[[IANAL]] &mdash; "I am not a lawyer"; usually used before a non-lawyer gives legal advice, as a (sometimes humorous) disclaimer.
*IANARS &mdash; "I am not a rocket scientist"
*IBDTSFY - "I've been doin this (stuff) for years" (sometimes with an "M" ("man") appended)
*IC &mdash; "I see", also "in character" in [[MMORPG]] or [[MUD]] settings.
*ICURNS2 &mdash; "I see, you're an ass, too".
*ICYDK / ICYDN / ICUDK &mdash; "In case you didn't know"
*[[Idk|IDK]] &mdash; "I don't know"
*ID10T &mdash; "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 &mdash; "Idiot"
*IDNHSWTW "I did not have sex with that woman", a reference to president Clinton. Quite obscure
*IHAC &mdash; "I have a customer"
*IIRC &mdash; "If I recall correctly", or "if I remember correctly"
*IIUC &mdash; "If I understand correctly"
*IKON &mdash; "[[ikonBoard]], also spelled as IKN"
*I'D HIT IT &mdash; "I'd have sex with that person", originated on [[Fark]]
*I like pie &mdash; Used to express apathy or confusion towards the present subject matter, invented by YINever of the GameFAQs message boards
*ILOTIBINLIRL &mdash; "I'm laughing on the Internet, but I'm not laughing in real life"
*I'LL RATE IT &mdash; 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 &mdash; "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 &mdash; "In my ever so humble opinion", as opposed to [[IMHO]] (In my humble opinion)
*IMO &mdash; "In my opinion"
*IMAO &mdash; "In my arrogant opinion"
*[[IMHO]] &mdash; "In my humble opinion", or "in my honest opinion"
*IMHPO &mdash; "In my humble public opinion", used by public accounts (accounts owned by more than one persons).
*IMHE &mdash; "In my humble experience"
*IMNSHO &mdash; "In my not so humble opinion", as opposed to [[IMHO]] (In my humble opinion)
*INMP &mdash; "It's not my problem"
*Internetica &mdash; General term describing about anything related to the Internet. First used on Premier BBS in 1992
*INTPFPOTM &mdash; "I nominate this post for post of the month"; incredibly obscure.
*IOH &mdash; "I'm outta here"
*IOKIYAR &mdash; "It's OK If You're A Republican", usually used on [[Democratic Party (United States) | Democratic]] blogs referring to hypocritical things [[Republican Party (United States) | Republican]]s allegedly do
*IOW &mdash; "In other words"
*IPB &mdash; [[Invision Power Board]]
*IRC &mdash; [[Internet Relay Chat]]
*IRL &mdash; "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 (film)|The Net]]" starring [[Sandra Bullock]]
*IRT &mdash; "In reply to"
*ISTR &mdash; "I seem to remember/recall"
*ITT &mdash; "In this thread"; first used on forum.canucks.com in White Noise.
*ITYM &mdash; "I Think You Mean"; usually prefacing a humorous "correction"
*IYDMMA &mdash; "If you don't mind me asking"
*IYKWIM &mdash; "If you know what I mean"


The difference in language often results in miscommunication, as seen in an [[Onomatopoeia|onomatopoeic]] example, "555", which sounds like "crying" in Chinese, and "laughing" in Thai.<ref name=lovelovechina.com>{{cite web |author=Crystal Tao |date=6 May 2010 |url=http://www.lovelovechina.com/entertainment/why-thai-laugh-when-chinese-cry/ |title=Why Thai Laugh When Chinese Cry? |publisher=Lovelovechina.com |access-date=25 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420091421/http://www.lovelovechina.com/entertainment/why-thai-laugh-when-chinese-cry/ |archive-date=20 April 2012 }}</ref> A similar example is between the English "haha" and the Spanish "jaja", where both are onomatopoeic expressions of laughter, but the difference in language also meant a different consonant for the same sound to be produced. For more examples of how other languages express "laughing out loud", see also: [[LOL]]
===J===
*JAHOYFT &mdash; "Just ask him/her out you fucking tool", used to motivate persons suffering from unnecessary trepidation
*Jaja &mdash; This is the correct spelling of "Haha" in several languages, however, this is occasionally used online as slang for laughing.
*JAK &mdash; "Jazak Allah Khair", Arabic expression for thank you
*JC, J/C &mdash; "Just curious"
*JJ &mdash; "Just joking"
*JJ &mdash; Short form of male sexual organ in recent spoken [[Cantonese (linguistics)|Cantonese]] in [[Hong Kong]] (''Jer Jer'' &#38592;&#38592;; the little bird), believed to have originated on the famous [[HK Golden Forum]]. ''JJ'' refers to male masturbation too.
*JJable &mdash; Derived from the slang "JJ" (see above), ''JJable'' in [[Cantonese (linguistics)|Cantonese]] slang means "sexy" or "hot"
*JK, J/K &mdash; "Just kidding"
*JOOC &mdash; "Just out of curiosity"
*j00, j00s, j00r &mdash; [[Leet]] speak for "you" or "your"
*JW, J/W &mdash; "Just wondering"


In terms of culture, in Chinese, the numerically based onomatopoeia "770880" ({{Zh|c = |s = 亲亲你抱抱你|t = 親親你抱抱你|p = qīn qīn nǐ bào bào nǐ}}), which means to 'kiss and hug you', is used.<ref name=lovelovechina.com /> This is comparable to "XOXO", which many Internet users use. In French, "pk" or "pq" is used in the place of pourquoi, which means 'why'. This is an example of a combination of onomatopoeia and shortening of the original word for convenience when writing online.
===K===
*1k &mdash; "One Thousand"- 2k=2000 10k=10000 etc
*K &mdash; "OK/Okay"
*keekles &mdash; Usually used while deliberately acting like a newbie. Otherwise used as an alphabetical substitute for the [[^__^]] emoticon.
*kewl, kool &mdash; Alternate forms of "cool".
*[[KISS principle|KISS]] &mdash; "Keep it simple, stupid" (predates the Internet)
*KITFO &mdash; "Knock it the fuck off"
*KK &mdash; "Ok Kool"
*[[Kernel Normal Form|KNF]] &mdash; "Kernel normal form"; kernel source file style guide ([[OpenBSD]]'s [http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=style&sektion=9&format=html style(9)] man page)
*KNN &mdash; "Fuck your mother" ([[Mandarin language|Mandarin Chinese]]) <!-- What is the full, non-abbreviated phrase? -->
*KO &mdash; A common misspelling of ok.
*KOTC &mdash; "Kiss on the cheek"
*[KOL|KOTL] &mdash; "Kiss on lips" or "[[Kingdom of Loathing]]", a free online RPG.
*KOS &mdash; "Kill on Sight"; used to designate enemies in online games whom -- based on their prior actions -- one should kill
*KREE! &mdash; "Attention!" (from [[Jaffa (Stargate)|Jaffa]] language in [[Stargate]])
*KS &mdash; "Kill steal"; used in online games with an experience (EXP) system, when one player defeats an enemy already weakened by another player.
*KTHXBYE &mdash; "Okay, thanks, goodbye" &#8212; usually used to end a conversation abruptly and rudely
*ku &mdash; alternate form of "cool"


In conclusion, every different country has their own language background and cultural differences and hence, they tend to have their own rules and motivations for their own Internet slang. However, at present, there is still a lack of studies done by researchers on some differences between the countries.
===L===
*L8, L8R &mdash; "Late", "later"; as in "see you later", often used together with CU, as in CUL8R.
*LAFFO &mdash; Signifying laughter
*LAL &mdash; "Laugh a little", weaker form of LOL used only by a select few
*Llama &mdash; Lame player (see also HPL); Lower League Manager (used on SiGames Message boards)
*LATN &mdash; "Laugh at the newbs"
*LBR &mdash; "Little boy's room"
*LD &mdash; "Link dead"; used in online games when a disconnected user's persona or character remains in the game.
*LEO &mdash; "Law enforcement officer"
*Leef &mdash; "Leave", go now !
*[[Leet|LEET, L33T, 1337, 31337]] &mdash; "Elite", used ironically; also another kind of slang where numbers and symbols replace similar-looking characters.
*Lewt &mdash; "Loot" Often used as "Lewt fast 'n' Bewt ass".
*LIGAFF &mdash; "Like I give a flying fuck"
*LIGAS &mdash; "Like I give a shit"
*Linkage &mdash; Link
*LION &mdash; "Like it or not..."
*LIUY &mdash; "Look it up yourself"
*LKY &mdash; "Lee Kuan Yew, Minister Mentor of Singapore"
*LMAO &mdash; "Laughing my ass off"
*LMAOnade &mdash; A homophonous extension of LMAO that humorously refers to "lemonade"
*Chairman LMAO &mdash; similar to above, referring to the first Communist ruler of China.
*LMAYONNAISE &mdash; The precurser to LMAOnade referring to mayonnaise. Inspired by the game [[ROFL Attack]].
*LMFAO &mdash; "Laughing my fucking ass off"
*LMTFA &mdash; "Leave me the fuck alone"
*LOFL &mdash; "A recursive play on ROFL; LOFL on floor LOFLing"
*[[LOL (Internet slang)|LOL]] &mdash; "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")
*[[lolcity]] &mdash; Something so funny the entire city laughs out loud.
*[[lollercaust]] &mdash; An extreme event of hilarity.
*[[lollerskates]] &mdash; Pun on the word "rollerskates"; similar usage to LOL.
*Lolly Roffles &mdash; Laughing Out Loud and rolling on the floor laughing (used when something seems particularly funny)
*L@@K &mdash; "Look", from [http://www.ebay.com eBay]. Used by sellers who have nothing interesting to say about their item, but who try to attract attention anyway
*Loxxen &mdash; An altered form of LOL, with virtually the same meaning, but slightly enhanced.
*LPB &mdash; "Low ping bastard", reference to those with low latency (ping) usually in online games. The opposite of HPB.
*LPL &mdash; "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 &mdash; "Less Suitable for Work"
*LTID &mdash; "Laugh 'til I die"
*LTNS &mdash; "Long time no see"
*lurker &mdash; One who reads an email list or a message board but does not participate in the discussion.
*[[luser]] &mdash; Punny cross between [[loser]] and [[user]], can mean either of the two. Usually denotes users of [[Microsoft Windows]].
*LYL &mdash; "Love ya lots"
*LYLAS/LYLAB &mdash; Love you like a Sister/ Love ya like a Brother
*LYK, LYKE &mdash; "Like"
*LYSM &mdash; love you so much


On the whole, the popular use of Internet slang has resulted in a unique online and offline community as well as a couple sub-categories of "special internet slang which is different from other slang spread on the whole internet... similar to jargon... usually decided by the sharing community".<ref name=miao>Wei Miao Miao (2010) "Internet slang used by online Japanese anime fans." ''3PM Journal of Digital Researching and Publishing''. Session 2 2010 pp 91–98</ref> It has also led to virtual communities marked by the specific slang they use<ref name=miao /> and led to a more homogenized yet diverse online culture.<ref name=Yin /><ref name=miao />
===M===
*M473z &mdash; "Mates" pronounced may-tez, a term referring to a good friend, closer than a m8
*M8 &mdash; "Mate"; as in "buddy" or "pal"
*[[Merge From Current|MFC]] &mdash; "Merge from current"
*Micro$oft, M$ &mdash; Satirical alternative spellings of "[[Microsoft]]", used to poke fun at that company's alleged commercial monopolizing
*MLOD &mdash; "Mega LOL of doom"
*MML &mdash; "Make mine Linux", comeback to 'élitist' Windows users
*[[MMORPG]] &mdash; "Massively multiplayer online role playing game", a game played online with (potentially) thousands of other people from (potentially) across the world
*[[Moderator (communications)|Mod]] &mdash; "Moderator" (usually referring to a forum) or "modification"
*Mookies Law &mdash; on the SiGames message board means to post a pic of the subject under discussion
*MOTD &mdash; "Message of the day"
*MSAR &mdash; "My Socks are Rocked" see RMS
*MT &mdash; "Miss tell" ("I intended to send the previous message to another user or via a different channel")
*MUD &mdash; "Multi User Dungeon" (or Dimension / Domain), a type of online computer game (''see [[MUD]]'')
*MUSH &mdash; "Multi User Shared Habitat", a text-based online social environment (''see [[MUSH]]'')
*MYOB &mdash; "Mind your own business" - Also the brand name of accounting software [http://www.myob.com.au MYOB (Australia)]. See also [http://www.supportforum.com.au MYOB Support Forum]


== Internet slang in advertisements ==
===N===
{{One source|date=March 2024|section}}
*N1 &mdash; "Nice one"
Internet slang can make [[Advertising|advertisements]] more effective.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Liu S, Gui DY, Zuo Y, Dai Y |date=7 June 2019|title=Good Slang or Bad Slang? Embedding Internet Slang in Persuasive Advertising|journal=Frontiers in Psychology|volume=10|page=1251|doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01251|pmid=31231278|pmc=6566129|doi-access=free}}</ref> Through two empirical studies, it was proven that Internet slang could help promote or capture the crowd's attention through advertisement, but did not increase the sales of the product. However, using Internet slang in advertisement may attract a certain demographic, and might not be the best to use depending on the product or goods. Furthermore, an overuse of Internet slang also negatively effects the brand due to quality of the advertisement, but using an appropriate amount would be sufficient in providing more attention to the ad. According to the experiment, Internet slang helped capture the attention of the consumers of necessity items. However, the demographic of luxury goods differ, and using Internet slang would potentially have the brand lose credibility due to the appropriateness of Internet slang.<ref name=":0" />
*N/A &mdash; "Not applicable" or "not available"
*NAP &mdash; "Necessary action please"
*NB &mdash; Short for "nabei", commonly used in [[mmorpg]]s as a swear word. Closest approximation of meaning &#8212; see CB.
*NBD &mdash; "No big deal"
*NFBSK &mdash; "Not for British school kids", originally from message boards at [[snopes.com]], used sometimes in place of NSFW.
*NFI &mdash; "No fucking idea"
*NFS ; "Not for sale". Commonly used in MMORPGs when someone wants to buy another player's equipment
*newb &mdash; Short for "[[newbie]]"; meaning someone who is new, usually at a game
*NFAHRU? &mdash; "Not from around here R U?"
*NG &mdash; "Newsgroup"
*NG &mdash; "No good"
*NG &mdash; "Also used to refer to the flash site [http://www.newgrounds.com NewGrounds]
*Ngaaaah &mdash; 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 &mdash; "Nice hand"; used in online card games.
*NI &mdash; "No idea"
*NIB &mdash; "New In Box", from [http://www.ebay.com eBay] auctions.
*N1994, N199312 &mdash; [[Leet]] speak for "nigga/nigger"
*NIFOC &mdash; [[Nudity|Naked]] in front of Computer
*NM or N/M or nm &mdash; "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 &mdash; 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 [http://www.badlydrawnkitties.com/d/20031111.html the BDK Comic.]
*NMNHNLM &mdash; Acronym for "no money no honey nobody loves me" originating from HWZ forums
*NN &mdash; "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 &mdash; Shorthand/leet spelling of "[[newbie]]". Also spelled "n00b", with two zeroes rather than two Os (see [[leet]])"nub" or "newb". 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 &#8212; even given the ready availability of the information &#8212; 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 &mdash; "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 &mdash; from pr0n. Used to discreetly speak of pornography without alerting the attention of others (less obvious in meaning than ''pr0n'')
*[[Norwich|NORWICH]]; "Knickers off ready when I come home" (UK, pre-Internet)
*NOYB &mdash; "None of your business"
*NP &mdash; "[[No problem]]"; Neopoints, currency on the free web game [[Neopets]]
*NPA &mdash; "Not paying attention"
*NR &mdash; "No reserve"
*NR4U &mdash; "Not right for you"
*NS &mdash; "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]] &mdash; "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.com|Fark]] and on some message boards. See also [[SFW]].
*[[nsh]] &mdash; "No" and "shhhh"; indicates good-natured denial.
*NPNT &mdash; "No picture, no talk", originlly from Hardwarezone &#8212; EDMW
*NT &mdash; "No text"; used on [[Internet forum]]s or [[Usenet]] to indicate that a post has no content. Also, "nice try"; used by gamers.
*NTH &mdash; "Not totally here"
*NVM &mdash; "Never mind"
*NWS &mdash; "Not work safe"; see NSFW.
*Nyo &mdash; 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===
== See also ==
{{Portal|Linguistics|Society}}
*O &mdash; "Oh"
<!-- alphabetical order please [[WP:SEEALSO]] -->
*OAR &mdash; On a roll &mdash; referring to someone's luck during Internet games. Winning several games in a row (3 or more) would constitute an OAR.
<!-- please add a short description [[WP:SEEALSO]], via {{subst:AnnotatedListOfLinks}} or {{Annotated link}} -->
*OBTW &mdash; "Oh, by the way"
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
*OS &mdash; "Oh, shit!"
* {{Annotated link |African-American Vernacular English||abbreviation=AAVE}}
*OGM &mdash; "Oh God My!!" Sometimes intentional misspelling of OMG.
* {{Annotated link |Cyberculture}}
*oh noes!!!!111 &mdash; An exaggerated expression of despair, often used for humorous effect.
* {{Annotated link |Internet industry jargon}}
*OIC &mdash; "Oh, I see"
* {{Annotated link |English-language spelling reform}}
*OMD &mdash; Exclamation; varient of OMG. A "bastardization" of ''OMG'', as well as standing for "Oh my dog"
* {{Annotated link |Internet linguistics}}
*OMG &mdash; Exclamation, "Oh my God/goodness!"
* {{Annotated link |Internet meme}}
*OMFG &mdash; Exclamation, "Oh my fucking God!"
* {{Annotated link |Internet minute}}
*OMGWTFBBQ &mdash; "Oh my God, what the fuck, bar-be-que."; used in a humorous manner in reference to those who abuse Internet slang.
* {{Annotated link |Jargon File}}
*OMGWTFNIPPLES &mdash; "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
* {{Annotated link |Languages used on the Internet}}
*OMFL &mdash; Exclamation, "oh my fucking [[lag]]!"
* {{Annotated link |Lists of acronyms}}
*OMW &mdash; "On my way"
* {{Annotated link |Glossary of Generation Z slang}}
*On9 &mdash; "moron", originated from colloquial [[Cantonese (linguistics)|Cantonese]], written as &#25095;&#40169; in Chinese characters. &#25095; has a pronunciation similar to "On" in Cantonese, whereas the number "9" when spoken in Cantonese sounds close to the word &#40169;.
* {{Annotated link |Netiquette}}
*OOC &mdash; "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".
* Roman and medieval abbreviations used to save space on manuscripts and epigraphs:
*OOF &mdash; "Out of oFfice"; used primarily at [[Microsoft]]. Sometimes said to be from "Out Of Facility".
** {{Annotated link |Scribal abbreviation|Scribal abbreviations}}
*OOO &mdash; "Out of the office"; Used similarly to [[MIA]]. "Ken is OOO today." Also, [[OpenOffice.org]].
** {{Annotated link |Tironian notes}}
*OOM &mdash; "out of mana" (used in games with a "[[mana]]" or "energy" bar)
** {{Annotated link |Typographic ligature}}
*OP &mdash; Original poster
* {{Annotated link |TL;DR}}
*Op &mdash; Operator, a moderator or moderators of a [[chat room]]
{{div col end}}
*orz &mdash; 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.
<!-- alphabetical order please [[WP:SEEALSO]] -->
*OSIB &mdash; "Open skull, insert brain"
*OT &mdash; "Off-topic"
*OTC &mdash; "Over the counter" - items bought from stores without a permit or without requiring a permit. (Pre-dates the Internet)
*OTP &mdash; "One true pairing", meaning two characters believed to be perfect together, usually not [[canon (fiction)|canon]]. Used in [[fanfiction]]
*OTOH &mdash; "On the other hand"
*OTTOMH &mdash; "Off the top of my head"
*OTW &mdash; "On the way"
*OUACOWA &mdash; "Open Up A Can Of Whoop-Ass", meaning an amazing thing. Coined from the roleplay game [[Unknown Armies]].
*OU812? &mdash; "Oh you ate one too?", reference [[Van Halen]] for "You're stoned too?" druggie slang.
*OXO (oxa, oxå) &mdash; Norwegian/Danish (Swedish) shortening of the word "også" ("också"), which translates to "too" or "also"
*own, owned, OWN3D, ownt &mdash; (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 &mdash; One who "owns" (see [[own]])
*OYATM &mdash; "One Year Ago This Month" used in [[Usenet]] binary groups when posting content that has just recently become old enough to post.
*OQC &mdash; "Only Quality Crap"


===P===
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
*P911 &mdash; "Parents are here, don't type sumthin' stupid!"
*P2P &mdash; "[[Peer-to-peer|Peer-to(2)-Peer]]". Also "pay-to-play" for games with subscription fees like [[Everquest]], [[RuneScape]], or [[Dark Age of Camelot]].
*PAW &mdash; "Parents are watching" (Also see "POS")
*PCBD &mdash; "Page cannot be displayed"; [[Internet Explorer]] error when attempting to visit an invalid link or URL, or when a Web server times out.
*PCC &mdash; Short for ''par-chiew-cheng''. In [[Min Nan|Min Nan Chinese]], short for the act of male masturbation.
*PEBKAC &mdash; "Problem exists between keyboard and chair", referring to in human error. See PICNIC and ID10T.
*PFO &mdash; "Please [[fuck]] off"
*PICNIC &mdash; "Problem in chair, not in computer", referring to in human error. See PEBKAC and ID10T.
*[[Piconjo]] &mdash; 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 &mdash; 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 &mdash; "Put it in da butt" (referring to anal sex)
*[[ping]] &mdash; "Are you there?", derived from the program of the same name.
*PITA &mdash; "Pain in the ass"
*PLS, PLZ, PLX &mdash; "Please" &mdash; predates Internet
*PK &mdash; "Player killer", or "Pok Gai" (cursing a person to die on the street in [[Cantonese language|Cantonese]])
*PM &mdash; "Private message"
*PMG &mdash; Can sometimes be seen instead of "omg", which means "oh my God"
*PMIBD &mdash; "Pardon me I'm brain dead!"
*PMSL &mdash; "Pissing myself laughing", synonymous with "LMAO", above and "ROFL", below.
*PO, PO'd &mdash; "Piss off", or "pissed off"
*POA &mdash; 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 &mdash; "Parents over shoulder"; a warning, by kids, that parents may be watching. Also, "piece of shit". (Also see "PAW")
*[[POV]] &mdash; "Point of view"
*ppl, ppls &mdash; "People".
*ppor; "Post proof or recant."
*pro, pr0 &mdash; "Professional"; meaning someone is really good, usually at a game.
*pRO; "Philippine Ragnarok Online" MMORPG
*pron, [[pr0n]] &mdash; "Porn" (short for [[pornography]]); intentional misspelling used to avoid automated filters on certain words.
*protal, pr0tal &mdash; a misspelling of "[[portal]]", an automated system used on websites such as [[Newgrounds]] to manage submitted content.
*prv &mdash; "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 &mdash; Player versus environment
*[[Player versus player|PvP]] &mdash; Player versus player
*PvM &mdash; "Player versus Monster"
*[[pwn]], pwned (also p0wn or pwnt) &mdash; An accidental or intentional mistyping of "own". Sometimes used to speak of illegal activities. See "own" above.
*P07; Another way to type "[[Cannabis (drug)|pot]]" as in "weed" or "grass". other ways to say this include: w33d, po7 q07 qot and \/\/33d. More abbreviations exist: see [[leetspeak]]


===Q===
==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last= Baron |first= Naomi S. |title= [[Alphabet to E-mail|''Alphabet to E-mail: How Written English Evolved and Where It's Heading'']] |location= London; New York |publisher= Routledge |date= 2000 |isbn= 0-415-18685-4 }}
*QFE &mdash; "quoted for emphasis", see QFT
* {{cite book |last= Aunger |first= Robert |date= 2002 |title= The Electric Meme: A new theory of how we think |url= https://archive.org/details/electricmemenewt0000aung |url-access= registration |location= New York |publisher= Free Press |isbn= 9781451612950 }}
*QFT &mdash; "quoted for truth", means something along the lines of "I second that statement!". Sometimes stated more emphatically as ''QFMFT''.
* {{cite journal |first= Jannis |last= Androutsopoulos |date= 2006 |title= Introduction: Sociolinguistics and computer-mediated communication |journal= Journal of Sociolinguistics |volume= 10 |issue= 4 |pages= 419–438 |doi= 10.1111/j.1467-9841.2006.00286.x }}
*ql, qool, qoolz &mdash; "Cool" (in the [[United States|American]] sense)
* {{cite book |author-link= Naomi Baron |last= Baron |first= Naomi S. |url= https://archive.org/details/alwaysonlanguage00baro_0 |url-access= registration |title= Always on: language in an online and mobile world |location= Oxford; New York |publisher= Oxford University Press |date= 2008 |isbn= 978-0-19-531305-5 }}
*qwn, qwnt, qwned &mdash; Deliberate typo of "pwn" (which see), which is a deliberate typo of "own"
* {{cite journal |first= Jurgita |last= Vizgirdaite |date= 2009 |url= http://www.socsc.ktu.lt/index.php/Social/issue/archive |title= Filling the Child-Parent Relationship Gap via the Parent Self-Education and Intergenerational Education on Internet Slang |volume= 64 |issue= 2 |pages= 57–66 |issn= 1392-0758 |journal= Socialiniai Mokslai [Social Sciences] |publisher= Kaunas University of Technology |archive-date= 28 December 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191228050344/http://www.socsc.ktu.lt/index.php/Social/issue/archive <!-- contact author --> }} [http://www.kf.vu.lt/en/studies/93-lecturers/1414-dr-jurgita-vizgirdaite Alt URL]
*QQ &mdash; "Crying eyes" (of perhaps Hong Kong Origin) meaning "oh poor baby" (false pity)
* {{cite journal |last= Garber |first= Megan |date= 2013 |title= English Has a New Preposition, Because Internet |access-date= 31 January 2014 |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/english-has-a-new-preposition-because-internet/281601/ |journal= [[The Atlantic]] }}
* {{cite web |last1=Pringle |first1=Ramona |title=Emojis are Everywhere and They're Changing How We Communicate |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/emojis-forever-pringle-1.4577456 |website=CBC News |publisher=CBC |access-date=30 October 2020}}


===R===
==External links==
{{Wiktionary|Wiktionary:Other dictionaries on the Web}}
*R &mdash; "Are"
{{Commons category}}
*r0x0rz (also rox0rs and other forms) &mdash; Leet speak for "rocks".
* Dictionaries of slang and abbreviations:
*R8 &mdash; "Right", "rate"
<!-- Alphabetical, NPOV -->
*RBP &mdash; "Read Before Posting"
** [http://www.allacronyms.com/_Internet_slang All Acronyms]
*RCT &mdash; RollerCoaster Tycoon
** [http://foldoc.org/ FOLDOC], computing
*RD &mdash; [[Red Dwarf (TV series)|Red Dwarf]]
** [http://internetslang.com/ InternetSlang.com]
*RE &mdash; rematch; often used in online games
** [http://www.slanginternet.com/ SlangInternet.com]
*re/rehi &mdash; "Hello again", used on IRC, especially popular with Europeans. Mentioned in the [[Jargon File]].
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20140623010444/http://www.internetslangs.net/ Internet Slangs]
*refl &mdash; Deliberate mistype of "ROFL"
** [http://www.noslang.com/dictionary/ Slang Dictionary]
*reflectoporn &mdash; from [[eBay]] auctions created by [[Exhibitionism|exhibitionists]] who sell various metal/glass dishes, bowls, spoons, with themselves reflected nude on the surface of the item.
** [https://www.slanglang.net/ SlangLang.net]
*rents - short for "parents"
** [https://slang.net/ Slang.net]
*rgr &mdash; "Roger" aka "affirmative" or "10-4", radio talk; "Roger that", meaning "message acknowledged".
*rifk &mdash; Deliberate mistype of "ROFL"
*RIFY &mdash; Read if You Like; often used such that 'if you like __ you will probably like this'
*RL &mdash; "[[Real life]]"; often used in online games to refer to life outside of the game (which some would see as fictional!), see IRL.
*rly &mdash; "really"; usually used as "o rly" to signify one's stupidity at not knowing the topic at hand.
*RMS &mdash; "Rocks my Socks", expresses amusement or being impressed by something. For example, "Religion RMS." Often used to express indifference or unenthusiasm
*ROFL, ROTFL, ROFLMAO &mdash; "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|ROFLCOPTER]] &mdash; The superlative of ROFL
*roffle &mdash; Alternate version of "ROFL", based on the latter's supposed verbalisation.
*roffle out loud &mdash; A form of "ROFL" or "LOL", intended to mock those who use many acronyms in speech.
*roj &mdash; "Roger" aka "affirmative"
*[[ROR]] &mdash; "Raughing out roud", an [[Engrish]] variant of [[LOL]].
* ROLF &mdash; "Rolling on the laughing floor", a misspelling of "ROFL".
*RS &mdash; [[RuneScape]], one of the many [[MMORPG]]s.
*RSN &mdash; "Real soon now", sense of sarcasm.
*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"
*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
*ROFLMOO &mdash; "Rolling on the Floor Laughing my Organs Out"
*ROFLKMD &mdash; "Rolling On the Floor Laughing [[Kazaa]] Media Desktop" or "Rolling on the floor laughing kicking my dog"; another alternative to ROFL
*RTFA &mdash; "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 &mdash; "Read the fucking [[Request for Comments|RFC]]", similar to [[RTFM]], telling someone to read an RFC to find his or her answer.
*[[RTFM]] &mdash; "Read the fucking/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 &mdash; "Read the fucking manual fucking moron"; derived from RTFM with slightly more emphasis on the newbie's lack of intelligence.
*RTFP &mdash; "Read the fucking post"; derived from RTFA and also used on [[Slashdot]].
*RTFS &mdash; "Read the fucking/fine source", frequently used when documentation for a software program is lacking or absent.
*RTL &mdash; "Report the loss"; usually used in online gaming; used sarcastically when one loses or gets fragged
*RtR &mdash; "Raise the Roof"; usually followed by an exclamation mark
*RTSD &mdash; "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 &mdash; "Are you"
*RUT &mdash; "Are you there?"


{{Internet dialects}}
===S===
{{Internet slang}}
*S &mdash; "Smile", usually written *S* or &lt;S&gt; to separate it from the surrounding text. See "G".
{{Authority control}}
*SB &mdash; "[[Strong Bad]]", a cartoon character on [[Homestar Runner]]
*S2R &mdash; "Send-to-receive"; indicates that one expects to receive a file (usually an image) before he or she sends his or hers.
*SFLA &mdash; "Stupid Four Letter Acronym"
*sif &mdash; "As if"
*sifn't &mdash; "As if not", used in reply to "sif".
*SCNR &mdash; "Sorry, could not resist"
*SH &mdash; "Shit happens"
*SLAGIATT &mdash; "Seemed like a good idea at the time" Helpful for comments when refactoring embarrassing software design decisions. Pre-Internet.
*SMD &mdash; "Suck my [[penis|dick]]"
*SMDVQ &mdash; "Suck my dick very quick"
*Smeg &mdash; Derived from the word ''smegma'', meaning the same as "fuck" or "bugger" (popularized by ''[[Red Dwarf (television)|Red Dwarf]]'', a British TV [[sitcom]]).
*SMF &mdash; "Simple Machines Forums"
*SO &mdash; "[[Significant other]]"; a termed encapsulating a girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse.
*SOB &mdash; ''[[Son of a bitch]]''
*Soz &mdash; "Sorry", apparently only used in the [[United Kingdom|UK]].
*[[SFW]] &mdash; "Safe for work"; material (pictures, webpages) that is safe for the office. Used at [[Fark.com|Fark]]. See also [[NSFW]]. Alternate meaning (which may not be appropriate in the office): "So fucking what?"
*SOW &mdash; Abbreviation of Spirit of the Wolf, a commonly asked-for spell in [[EverQuest]], which makes a player run faster.
*sroucks &mdash; 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 &mdash; "Sorry"
*srsly &mdash; "Seriously", usually used as an interjection; to signal a sarcastic response to an inane remark.
*SSDD &mdash; "Same shit, different day."
*[[SSIA]] &mdash; "Subject says it all"; used in newsgroup postings and the like.
*SSTS &mdash; "Snickering softly to self"
*STFD &mdash; "Sit the fuck down", often used after STFU and often targets someone expressing an unpopular opinion
*STFM &mdash; "Search the fucking manual"
*STFNG &mdash; "Search the fucking newsgroup" &#8212; variant on STFW
*STFU &mdash; "Shut the fuck up"
*STFW &mdash; "Search the fucking Web"
*stooge &mdash; 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 &mdash; "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 &mdash; "Shut up and get out of my life"
*sugarpic &mdash; A digital erotic, nude or suggestive image of one's self, usually sent online to a lover or to a friend
*sup? &mdash; "What is up?"
*sux, sux0rs, suxxor &mdash; Leet speak for "sucks", "suckers"
*SWAK &mdash; "Sealed with a kiss"
*SWALK &mdash; "Sealed with a loving kiss" (pre-Internet)
*SWIM; "someone who isn`t me"
*SWMBO &mdash; "She who must be obeyed"

===T===
*T &mdash; ([[Counter-Strike]]) Terrorist
*T3h &mdash; See [[teh]].
*TA &mdash; "Thanks again"; also [[England|English]] and [[Australia]]n slang for thanks, pronounced ''taa'', predating the Internet.
*TBH &mdash; "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)
*TC &mdash; "Take care!"
*thanx, thx, thxs, thz &mdash; "Thanks"; this can form combinations such as "kthx" (OK, thanks), "plzkthx" (Please, OK, thanks), and "kthxbye" (OK, thanks, goodbye).
*[[teh]] &mdash; A ''usually'' deliberate typo of "the" &mdash; 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 &mdash; "The fucking article"; a shorter form of "RTFA", mostly used on [[Slashdot]]
*T,FTFY &mdash; "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 &mdash; "though"
*TIA &mdash; "Thanks in advance"
*TITFO &mdash; "Turn It The Fuck Off" &mdash; common in [[Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six | Rainbow Six]] series games
*TK &mdash; Team kill (or killing, killer, depending on context)
*[[TLA]] &mdash; "Three letter [[acronym]]". ''TLA'' exemplifies a TLA.
*[[TL;DR]] &mdash; "Too long, didn't read"
*TMAI &mdash; "Tell me about it"
*TMR@IA &mdash; "The monkeys are at it again"; usually used to blame the staff of online gaming communities for any screw ups in-game.
*TMI &mdash; "Too much information"
*TMTOWTDI &mdash; "There's more than one way to do it"; usually used as one of the mottos of the [[Perl]] programming language.
*TNG &mdash; "That's Not Good"
*ToS &mdash; "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 &mdash; "Tales of Symphonia Forums", a recently growing center of popularity on the Internet. http://tales.namco.com/forums
*TP &mdash; "Town Portal", in [[Diablo (computer game)|Diablo]] and [[Diablo II|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.
*TPTB &mdash; "The powers that be"
*[[Internet troll|troll]] &mdash; A person who deliberately stirs up trouble.
*tr00 &mdash; "True" (used in the [[black metal]] community to refer to a supposed "true" hardcore, underground fan of the genre)
*TT &mdash; Emoticon signifying sadness or a [http://members.teamtg.com/excalibur/koricons.htm crying face]
*TTBOMK &mdash; "To the best of my knowledge"
*TTFN &mdash; "Ta ta for now" (bye, originated with [[Winnie The Pooh]])
*TTIUWIOP &mdash; "This thread is useless without pics"
*TTT &mdash; Third Tier Toilet
*TTYL &mdash; Talk to you later
*TTYS &mdash; Talk to you soon"
*TY &mdash; "Thank you"
*TY4P &mdash; "Thank you for playing"

===U===
*u &mdash; "You"
*UA &mdash; User agreement
*[[UFIA]] &mdash; "Unsolicited finger in the anus"
*ul &mdash; Unlucky (gaming term)
*UL, U/L &mdash; "[[Upload]]"; sending data to a remote host.
*ur &mdash; "You're" or "your"
*URT &#8212; "Urban Terror"; A mod for Quake III
*URYYFM &mdash; "You are too wise (two Ys) for me"
*UST&mdash; "unresolved sexual tension"; usually referring to fanfiction
*USUX &mdash; "You suck"
*UT &mdash; "[[Unreal Tournament]]"; usually referring to the GOTY (Game of the Year) edition. Also used: UT2003 for "[[Unreal Tournament 2003]]", and UT2004 for "[[Unreal Tournament 2004]]".
*UTFG &mdash; "Use the fucking Google"; as an answer to a common question.
*Über &mdash; German for "over" but interpreted in English as "super" or "hyper"; often used in video games to describe someone's talent at the game. As in "I'm an Über player". Also seen written as "Uber", "Üb3r" and "Ül33R"
*Übern00b &mdash; (from German 'über', super-/hyper- and a corruption of newb) "Fat newbie"

===V===
*v &mdash; "We"
*VFM &mdash; "value for money"
*VoIP &mdash; "Voice over Internet protocol", or phone conversations over broadband connections.
*VWEG &mdash; "Very wicked evil grin". See "G"

===W===
*w &mdash; Japanese version of LOL (laugh out loud). ''Warai''(&#31505;&#12356;) in Japanese means "laughter".
*W/ &mdash; "With", predates Internet
*[[w00t]], woot &mdash; [[Leet]]-speak exclamation of excitement or happiness or applauditory whistle; Used after gaining [[superuser|root]] control of a computer, can stand for "woohoo" or for "We owned the other team"
*w012d &mdash; "Word" (a generally positive interjection)
*W8 &mdash; "Wait"
*WAI &mdash; "What an idiot"; also, Japanese for "yay" as influenced by the [[anime]] culture
*WAD &mdash; "Without a doubt"
*[[WADR]] &mdash; With all due respect.
*waffles &mdash; Pun on "ROTFLMAO"; used similarly. In full: "Roffle my waffles"
*[[warez]] &mdash; Illegally obtained software.
*wat &mdash; "What"
*WB, wibs, wibbles, wibbers &mdash; "Welcome back"
*WBAGNFARB &mdash; "Would be a good name for a rock band. Inspired by columnist [[Dave Barry]] and used broadly by his fans.
*WCG &mdash; "World_Cyber_Games" an international cyber game festival runs by International Cyber Marketing.
*WC3 &mdash; "Warcraft III"
*WD &mdash; "Well done"
*WDUWTA &mdash; "What do you want to talk about?"
*w/e &mdash; "Whatever"
*WFM &mdash; "Works for me"
*WG, WEG &mdash; "Wicked (evil) grin"
*Whoamg &mdash; "Whoa my God", used as a sarcastic "Whoa".
*W/O &mdash; "Without", predates Internet
*WoW &mdash; "World of Warcraft"
*WOMBAT &mdash; "Waste of money, brains, and time"
*WoS &mdash; "Waste of Space"
*wot, wut &mdash; "What", predates Internet
*WP &mdash; "Well Played" (Usually used in Internet gaming)
*WRT &mdash; With respect to, with regard to
*WRU or wru &mdash; A very simplified "Where are you". Example: Wru from?
*[[WTF]] &mdash; "What the fuck?"; Also "who the fuck?", "why the fuck?", etc. given the context.
*Wruu2 &mdash; "What are you up to?"
*WTFPWND &mdash; See [[pwn]]
*WTG &mdash; "Way to go!", often sarcastic.
*WTFH &mdash; "What the fucking hell?"
*WTH &mdash; "What the heck?" or "what the hell?"
*WUD &mdash; "what you doing"
*[[WYSIAYG]] &mdash; "What you see is ''all'' you get". Like WYSIWYG, with a derogatory suggestion as to the incompleteness of the software.
*WYSITWIRL &mdash; (pron. "wizzy twirl") "What you see is totally worthless in real life." A derogatory term indicating that a claim of [[WYSIWYG]] has little validity.
*[[WYSIWYG]] &mdash; (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]], [[Macromedia Dreamweaver | Dreamweaver]], etc., in which context it implies that the output may appear crude and does not transfer well across all settings
*WYGIWYGAINUC-"what you get is what you're given and it's no use complaining"

===X===
* X&gt;* &mdash; Definition of something [X] as better than everything [*]. Often [X] stands for a user's handle and [*] for an organization or for another user. Sometimes [[Security cracking|crackers]] will use this as a boast and an insult when defacing a Web site, implying their superiority over the victim-organization and/or the Web site's administrators.
*XD &mdash; An [[emoticon]] resembling someone laughing when rotated clockwise 90&deg;. Also xD
*ecks-dee &mdash; Another form of "XD" that emphasizes its pronunciation.
*-x0r &mdash; A suffix used by [[H4X0R]]s to emphasize a point.
*xOMG &mdash; OMG^3
*XOXO &mdash; Hugs and kisses

===Y===
*y &mdash; "Why"
*y2k &mdash; "Year 2000"
*YAF &mdash; "You're a fag!"
*YGM &mdash; "You've got mail"
*YGO &mdash; Stands for [[Yu-Gi-Oh!]], a popular [[manga]], [[anime]], and [[trading card game]].
*YGP &mdash; [[AOLese]] "You've got pictures"
*YGPM &mdash; "You've got a private message"
*YHBT &mdash; "You have been [[Internet troll|trolled]]"
*YHL &mdash; "You have lost"
*YHPM &mdash; "You have a private message"
*YIM &mdash; [[Yahoo! Messenger]]
*YM &mdash; "Your mom!"
*YMMV &mdash; "[[Your mileage may vary]]" or "you make me vomit"
*[[YMSTICPC]] &mdash; "You Might Say That, I Couldn't Possibly Comment"
*YNK &mdash; "You never know"
*YOMANK &mdash; "You owe me a new keyboard" (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 &mdash; "Your" or "you're"
*YS &mdash; "You suck"
*YSSIA &mdash; "Your spelling says it all!"
*yuo &mdash; A ''usually'' deliberate typo of "you" &mdash; Possible origins include fast and/or careless typers hitting the keys out of sequence. Like "[[teh]]", it sometimes adds emphasis to a phrase (often pairing with "teh" in doing so), for example, "Yuo are teh suck"
*YW &mdash; "you're welcome"

===Z===
*z00t; also "zoot" &mdash; bastardization of "w00t"
*[[Zero day|0day]] &mdash; 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 &mdash; "Cigarette".
*[[ZOMG]] &mdash; 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]]).

<!-- ==Concepts==
The text originally said "Others express concepts peculiar to the Net. Many of these terms are considered [[leet]]". However, almost all of them are not exclusive to the net and there is no reason not to fold them into the lists above, especially since several of them have become duplicated by the artificial separation.
-->

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

==See also==
*[[Jargon File]]
*[[Avatar (virtual reality)]]
*[[Abbreviation]]
*[[Acronym]]
*[[African American Vernacular English]]
*[[Emoticon]]
*[[Leet]]
*[[List of computing and IT abbreviations]]
*[[Slang]]
*[[List of phrases inspired by currently stationary]]
*[[Txt]]

==External links==
*[http://www.sharpened.net/glossary/acronyms.php E-mail and Online Chat Acronyms]
*[http://www.noslang.com Internet Slang Translator & Dictionary]
*[http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/ Jargon File webpage]
*[http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/index.html FOLDOC &mdash; Free On-line Dictionary of Computing]
*[http://www.acronymfinder.com/ Acronym Finder]&mdash;searchable acronyms and abbreviations site (over 400,000 entries with over 25,000 slang/chat/Internet entries)
*[http://www.geocities.com/ben-fuzzybear/acronyms.html BIBLIA &mdash; Ben's Incredible Big List of Initialisms and Acronyms]
*[http://www.urbandictionary.com/ UrbanDictionary.com] ('''Warning:''' Possibly offensive and sexual words on this site.)
*[http://www.netlingo.com NetLingo.com The Internet Dictionary]
*[http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/children/kidtalk.mspx Parents' primer to computer slang] from [[Microsoft]]


[[Category:Internet slang| ]]
[[Category:Internet slang| ]]
[[Category:Acronyms]]
[[Category:Computer-mediated communication]]
[[Category:Internet memes]]

[[Category:Occupational cryptolects]]
[[da:Internet-jargon]]
[[Category:Slang by language]]
[[de:Netzjargon]]
[[fr:Argot Internet]]
[[ko:&#51064;&#53552;&#45367; &#50976;&#54665;&#50612;]]
[[he:&#1511;&#1497;&#1510;&#1493;&#1512;&#1497; &#1502;&#1497;&#1500;&#1497;&#1501; &#1500;&#1513;&#1497;&#1502;&#1493;&#1513; &#1489;&#1488;&#1497;&#1504;&#1496;&#1512;&#1504;&#1496;]]
[[nl:Internetjargon]]
[[pl:Slang internetowy]]
[[pt:Internetês]]
[[simple:Internet slang]]
[[sl:Internetni sleng]]
[[fi:Nettislangi]]
[[zh:&#32593;&#32476;&#35821;&#35328;]]

Latest revision as of 07:22, 10 December 2024

This article is about slang used on the Internet. For jargon related to the Internet, see Glossary of Internet-related terms. For a list of terms, see Wiktionary:Appendix:English internet slang.

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Internet slang (also called Internet shorthand, cyber-slang, netspeak, digispeak or chatspeak) is a non-standard or unofficial form of language used by people on the Internet to communicate to one another.[1] An example of Internet slang is "lol" meaning "laugh out loud." Since Internet slang is constantly changing, it is difficult to provide a standardized definition.[2] However, it can be understood to be any type of slang that Internet users have popularized, and in many cases, have coined. Such terms often originate with the purpose of saving keystrokes or to compensate for small character limits. Many people use the same abbreviations in texting, instant messaging, and social networking websites. Acronyms, keyboard symbols, and abbreviations are common types of Internet slang. New dialects of slang, such as leet or Lolspeak, develop as ingroup Internet memes rather than time savers. Many people also use Internet slang in face-to-face, real life communication.

Creation and evolution

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Origins

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Internet slang originated in the early days of the Internet with some terms predating the Internet.[3] The earliest forms of Internet slang assumed people's knowledge of programming and commands in a specific language.[4] Internet slang is used in chat rooms, social networking services, online games, video games and in the online community. Since 1979, users of communications networks like Usenet created their own shorthand.[5]

Motivations

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The primary motivation for using a slang unique to the Internet is to ease communication. However, while Internet slang shortcuts save time for the writer, they take two times as long for the reader to understand, according to a study by the University of Tasmania.[6] On the other hand, similar to the use of slang in traditional face-to-face speech or written language, slang on the Internet is often a way of indicating group membership.[7]

Internet slang provides a channel which facilitates and constrains the ability to communicate in ways that are fundamentally different from those found in other semiotic situations. Many of the expectations and practices which we associate with spoken and written language are no longer applicable. The Internet itself is ideal for new slang to emerge because of the richness of the medium and the availability of information.[8] Slang is also thus motivated for the "creation and sustenance of online communities".[8] These communities, in turn, play a role in solidarity or identification[2][9] or an exclusive or common cause.[10]

David Crystal distinguishes among five areas of the Internet where slang is used- The Web itself, email, asynchronous chat (for example, mailing lists), synchronous chat (for example, Internet Relay Chat), and virtual worlds.[11] The electronic character of the channel has a fundamental influence on the language of the medium. Options for communication are constrained by the nature of the hardware needed in order to gain Internet access. Thus, productive linguistic capacity (the type of information that can be sent) is determined by the preassigned characters on a keyboard, and receptive linguistic capacity (the type of information that can be seen) is determined by the size and configuration of the screen. Additionally, both sender and receiver are constrained linguistically by the properties of the internet software, computer hardware, and networking hardware linking them. Electronic discourse refers to writing that is "very often reads as if it were being spoken – that is, as if the sender were writing talking".[12]

Types of slang

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In this picture, the graffiti represents some examples of the different types of slang. The symbols "X:)" ":)" and "XD" are an example of emoticons. LOL "laugh out loud" and ROFL "rolling on the floor laughing" are examples of letter homophones.

Internet slang does not constitute a homogeneous language variety; rather, it differs according to the user and type of Internet situation.[13] Audience design occurs in online platforms, and therefore online communities can develop their own sociolects, or shared linguistic norms.[14][15]

Within the language of Internet slang, there is still an element of prescriptivism, as seen in style guides, for example Wired Style,[16] which are specifically aimed at usage on the Internet. Even so, few users consciously heed these prescriptive recommendations on CMC (Computer-mediated communication), but rather adapt their styles based on what they encounter online.[17] Although it is difficult to produce a clear definition of Internet slang, the following types of slang may be observed. This list is not exhaustive.

Class Description
Letter homophones Included within this group are abbreviations and acronyms. An abbreviation is a shortening of a word, for example "CU" or "CYA" for "see you (see ya)". An acronym, on the other hand, is a subset of abbreviations and are formed from the initial components of each word. Examples of common acronyms include "LOL" for "laugh out loud", "BTW" for "by the way" and "TFW" for "that feeling when". There are also combinations of both, like "CUL8R" for "see you later".
Heterographs Using one word in place of another, different but similarly sounding, word. Alternatively, a deliberate misspelling. For example, using "sauce" instead of "source" when asking for the source of an image or other posted material online.[18] For example, TikTok algorithms monitor 'explicit' content by censoring certain words or promoting videos based on the inclusion of certain hashtags; the intentional misspelling of words bypasses censorship guidelines and subsequently creates a range of platform-specific slang, renders trigger warnings as ineffective and can end up promoting harmful content (e.g. misspelling anorexia, pro-eating disorder content can be featured on the For You page via algorithms that promote popular content).[19]
Punctuation, capitalizations, and other symbols Such features are commonly used for emphasis. Periods or exclamation marks may be used repeatedly for emphasis, such as "........" or "!!!!!!!!!!". Question marks and exclamation marks are often used together in strings such as "?!?!?!?!" when one is angry while asking a question. Grammatical punctuation rules are also relaxed on the Internet. "E-mail" may simply be expressed as "email", and apostrophes can be dropped so that "John's book" becomes "johns book". Examples of capitalizations include "STOP IT", which can convey a stronger emotion of annoyance as opposed to "stop it". Bold, underline and italics are also used to indicate stress. Using a tilde ~ can be a symbol of sarcasm, like "~That was so funny ~".[20] The period can also be used in a way to symbolize seriousness, or anger like "Ok."
Onomatopoeic or stylized spellings Onomatopoeic spellings have also become popularized on the Internet. One well-known example is "hahaha" to indicate laughter. Onomatopoeic spellings are very language specific. For instance, in Spanish, laughter is spelled as "jajaja" instead because J is pronounced as /h/ (like English "h" in "hahaha") in Spanish. In Thai, it is "55555" because 5 in Thai ("ห้า") is pronounced /haː˥˩/.
Keyboard-generated emoticons and smileys Emoticons are generally found in web forums, instant messengers, and online games. They are culture-specific and certain emoticons are only found in some languages but not in others. For example, the Japanese equivalent of emoticons, kaomoji (literally "face marks"), focus on the eyes instead of the mouth as in Western emoticons. They are also meant to be read right-side up, as in ^_^ as opposed to sideways, :3. More recently than face emoticons, other emoticon symbols such as <3 (which is a sideways heart) have emerged. Compared to emoticons used in Western cultures such as the United States, kaomoji play a very distinct social role in online discourse.[21][22]
Emojis Emojis are relatively new to internet slang,[23] and are much like emoticons in the way that they convey messages in a visual way. However, while emoticons create an image using characters from the keyboard, emojis are a whole new level of communication and slang that portray messages in small cartoons. With culture comes different meaning for different emojis. For example, in 2016, Emojipedia and Prismoji took 571 peach emojis tweets and associated them with six different meanings varying from the fruit, feeling peachy, or sexual connotations.[24]
Leet Leetspeak, or 1337,[25] is an alternative alphabet for the English language which uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace Latinate letters. For example, Wikipedia may be expressed as "\/\/1|<1p3[)14". It originated from computer hacking, but its use has been extended to online gaming as well. Leet is often used today to set up effective security password for different accounts.[26] Leet is also used on social media platforms that employ content control algorithms to censor topics that may be controversial or inappropriate; using leet for potentially problematic terms (e.g. "k1ll"; "s3x"; "ant1s3m1t1sm") can avoid censorship.
Novel syntactic features Unusual syntactic structures such as "I Can Has Cheezburger?" and "You are doing me a frighten" have been encouraged and spread by highly successful memes. Pluralization of "the internets" is another example, which has become common since it was used by George W. Bush during a televised event.[27]

Views

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Many debates about how the use of slang on the Internet influences language outside of the digital sphere go on. Even though the direct causal relationship between the Internet and language has yet to be proven by any scientific research,[28] Internet slang has invited split views on its influence on the standard of language use in non-computer-mediated communications.

Prescriptivists tend to have the widespread belief that the Internet has a negative influence on the future of language, and that it could lead to a degradation of standard.[11] Some would even attribute any decline of standard formal English to the increase in usage of electronic communication.[28] It has also been suggested that the linguistic differences between Standard English and CMC can have implications for literacy education.[29] This is illustrated by the widely reported example of a school essay submitted by a Scottish teenager, which contained many abbreviations and acronyms likened to SMS language. There was great condemnation of this style by the mass media as well as educationists, who expressed that this showed diminishing literacy or linguistic abilities.[30]

On the other hand, descriptivists have counter-argued that the Internet allows better expressions of a language.[28] Rather than established linguistic conventions, linguistic choices sometimes reflect personal taste.[31] It has also been suggested that as opposed to intentionally flouting language conventions, Internet slang is a result of a lack of motivation to monitor speech online.[32] Hale and Scanlon describe language in emails as being derived from "writing the way people talk", and that there is no need to insist on 'Standard' English.[16] English users, in particular, have an extensive tradition of etiquette guides, instead of traditional prescriptive treatises, that offer pointers on linguistic appropriateness.[31] Using and spreading Internet slang also adds onto the cultural currency of a language.[33] It is important to the speakers of the language due to the foundation it provides for identifying within a group, and also for defining a person's individual linguistic and communicative competence.[33] The result is a specialized subculture based on its use of slang.[34]

In scholarly research, attention has, for example, been drawn to the effect of the use of Internet slang in ethnography, and more importantly to how conversational relationships online change structurally because slang is used.[33]

In German, there is already considerable controversy regarding the use of anglicisms outside of CMC.[35] This situation is even more problematic within CMC, since the jargon of the medium is dominated by English terms.[13] An extreme example of an anti-anglicisms perspective can be observed from the chatroom rules of a Christian site,[36] which bans all anglicisms ("Das Verwenden von Anglizismen ist strengstens untersagt!" [Using anglicisms is strictly prohibited!]), and also translates even fundamental terms into German equivalents.[13]

Journalism

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In April 2014, Gawker's editor-in-chief Max Read instituted new writing style guidelines banning internet slang for his writing staff.[37][38][39][40][41][42] Internet slang has gained attraction, however in other publications ranging from Buzzfeed to The Washington Post, gaining attention from younger viewers.  Clickbait headlines have particularly sparked attention, originating from the rise of Buzzfeed in the journalistic sphere which ultimately lead to an online landscape populated with social media references and a shift in language use. [43]

Use beyond computer-mediated communication

[edit]

Internet slang has crossed from being mediated by the computer into other non-physical domains.[44] Here, these domains are taken to refer to any domain of interaction where interlocutors need not be geographically proximate to one another, and where the Internet is not primarily used. Internet slang is now prevalent in telephony, mainly through short messages (SMS) communication. Abbreviations and interjections, especially, have been popularized in this medium, perhaps due to the limited character space for writing messages on mobile phones. Another possible reason for this spread is the convenience of transferring the existing mappings between expression and meaning into a similar space of interaction.[45]

At the same time, Internet slang has also taken a place as part of everyday offline language, among those with digital access.[44] The nature and content of online conversation is brought forward to direct offline communication through the telephone and direct talking, as well as through written language, such as in writing notes or letters. In the case of interjections, such as numerically based and abbreviated Internet slang, are not pronounced as they are written physically or replaced by any actual action. Rather, they become lexicalized and spoken like non-slang words in a "stage direction" like fashion, where the actual action is not carried out but substituted with a verbal signal. The notions of flaming and trolling have also extended outside the computer, and are used in the same circumstances of deliberate or unintentional implicatures.[8]

The expansion of Internet slang has been furthered through codification and the promotion of digital literacy. The subsequently existing and growing popularity of such references among those online as well as offline has thus advanced Internet slang literacy and globalized it.[46] Awareness and proficiency in manipulating Internet slang in both online and offline communication indicates digital literacy and teaching materials have even been developed to further this knowledge.[47] A South Korean publisher, for example, has published a textbook that details the meaning and context of use for common Internet slang instances and is targeted at young children who will soon be using the Internet.[48] Similarly, Internet slang has been recommended as language teaching material in second language classrooms in order to raise communicative competence by imparting some of the cultural value attached to a language that is available only in slang.[49]

Meanwhile, well-known dictionaries such as the ODE[50] and Merriam-Webster have been updated with a significant and growing body of slang jargon. Besides common examples, lesser known slang and slang with a non-English etymology have also found a place in standardized linguistic references. Along with these instances, literature in user-contributed dictionaries such as Urban Dictionary has also been added to. Codification seems to be qualified through frequency of use, and novel creations are often not accepted by other users of slang.[51]

Present

[edit]

Although Internet slang began as a means of "opposition" to mainstream language, its popularity with today's globalized digitally literate population has shifted it into a part of everyday language, where it also leaves a profound impact.[52]

Frequently used slang also have become conventionalised into memetic "unit[s] of cultural information".[8] These memes in turn are further spread through their use on the Internet, prominently through websites. The Internet as an "information superhighway" is also catalysed through slang.[34] The evolution of slang has also created a 'slang union'[2] as part of a unique, specialised subculture.[34] Such impacts are, however, limited and requires further discussion especially from the non-English world. This is because Internet slang is prevalent in languages more actively used on the Internet, like English, which is the Internet's lingua franca.[53][54]

Around the world

[edit]
Chinese seal carving work. The character is a combination of three characters, which is done by Chinese netizen. This is a satire of Chinese Internet censorship. See Grass Mud Horse.

In Japanese, the term moe has come into common use among slang users to mean something "preciously cute" and appealing.[55]

Aside from the more frequent abbreviations, acronyms, and emoticons, Internet slang also uses archaic words or the lesser-known meanings of mainstream terms.[2] Regular words can also be altered into something with a similar pronunciation but altogether different meaning, or attributed new meanings altogether.[2] Phonetic transcriptions are the transformation of words to how it sounds in a certain language, and are used as internet slang.[56] In places where logographic languages are used, such as China, a visual Internet slang exists, giving characters dual meanings, one direct and one implied.[2]

The Internet has helped people from all over the world to become connected to one another, enabling "global" relationships to be formed.[57] As such, it is important for the various types of slang used online to be recognizable for everyone. It is also important to do so because of how other languages are quickly catching up with English on the Internet, following the increase in Internet usage in predominantly non-English speaking countries. In fact, as of January 2020, only approximately 25.9% of the online population is made up of English speakers.[58]

Different cultures tend to have different motivations behind their choice of slang, on top of the difference in language used. For example, in China, because of the tough Internet regulations imposed, users tend to use certain slang to talk about issues deemed as sensitive to the government. These include using symbols to separate the characters of a word to avoid detection from manual or automated text pattern scanning and consequential censorship.[59] An outstanding example is the use of the term river crab to denote censorship. River crab (hexie) is pronounced the same as "harmony"—the official term used to justify political discipline and censorship. As such Chinese netizens reappropriate the official terms in a sarcastic way.[60]

Abbreviations are popular across different cultures, including countries like Japan, China, France, Portugal, etc., and are used according to the particular language the Internet users speak. Significantly, this same style of slang creation is also found in non-alphabetical languages[2] as, for example, a form of "e gao" or alternative political discourse.[10]

The difference in language often results in miscommunication, as seen in an onomatopoeic example, "555", which sounds like "crying" in Chinese, and "laughing" in Thai.[61] A similar example is between the English "haha" and the Spanish "jaja", where both are onomatopoeic expressions of laughter, but the difference in language also meant a different consonant for the same sound to be produced. For more examples of how other languages express "laughing out loud", see also: LOL

In terms of culture, in Chinese, the numerically based onomatopoeia "770880" (simplified Chinese: 亲亲你抱抱你; traditional Chinese: 親親你抱抱你; pinyin: qīn qīn nǐ bào bào nǐ), which means to 'kiss and hug you', is used.[61] This is comparable to "XOXO", which many Internet users use. In French, "pk" or "pq" is used in the place of pourquoi, which means 'why'. This is an example of a combination of onomatopoeia and shortening of the original word for convenience when writing online.

In conclusion, every different country has their own language background and cultural differences and hence, they tend to have their own rules and motivations for their own Internet slang. However, at present, there is still a lack of studies done by researchers on some differences between the countries.

On the whole, the popular use of Internet slang has resulted in a unique online and offline community as well as a couple sub-categories of "special internet slang which is different from other slang spread on the whole internet... similar to jargon... usually decided by the sharing community".[9] It has also led to virtual communities marked by the specific slang they use[9] and led to a more homogenized yet diverse online culture.[2][9]

Internet slang in advertisements

[edit]

Internet slang can make advertisements more effective.[62] Through two empirical studies, it was proven that Internet slang could help promote or capture the crowd's attention through advertisement, but did not increase the sales of the product. However, using Internet slang in advertisement may attract a certain demographic, and might not be the best to use depending on the product or goods. Furthermore, an overuse of Internet slang also negatively effects the brand due to quality of the advertisement, but using an appropriate amount would be sufficient in providing more attention to the ad. According to the experiment, Internet slang helped capture the attention of the consumers of necessity items. However, the demographic of luxury goods differ, and using Internet slang would potentially have the brand lose credibility due to the appropriateness of Internet slang.[62]

See also

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References

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Further reading

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[edit]
Look up Wiktionary:Other dictionaries on the Web in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Internet slang.
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