Internet Acronyms

Commonly Used Internet Acronyms

Acronyms are shortcuts for heavily-used phrases. They are most often used in newsgroup discussions, e-mail messages and online chats.

• ADN - Any Day Now
• AFAIC - As Far As I'm Concerned
• AFAIK - As Far As I Know
• ASAP - As Soon As Possible
• B4N - Bye for Now
• BBS - Bulletin Board System
• BL - Belly Laugh(ing)
• BMN - But Maybe Not
• BRB - Be Right Back
• BTA - But Then Again
• BTW - By The Way
• CU - see you
• CUL - see you Later
• F2F - Face to Face
• FAQ - Frequently Asked Question
• FAQL - Frequently Asked Questions List
• FITB - Fill In the Blank
• FMPOV - From My Point Of View
• FWIW - For What It's Worth
• FTP - File Transfer Protocol
• FYI - For Your Information
• GAL - Get A Life
• GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out
• GIWIST - Gee, I Wish I'd Said That
• GMTA - Great Minds Think Alike
• HTML - HyperText Markup Language
• HTTP - HyperText Transfer Protocol
• IAE - In Any Event
• IC - I see
• IRC - Internet Relay Chat
• IRL - In Real Life
• IMCO - In My Considered Opinion
• IME - In My Experience
• IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
• IMNSHO - In My Not-So Humble Opinion
• IMO - In My Opinion
• INPO - In No Particular Order
• IOW - In Other Words
• JIC - Just In Case
• KWIM? - Know What I Mean?
• LOL - Laugh(ing) Out Loud
• LTNS - Long Time No See
• MOO - Multi-user Object Oriented
• MUD - Multiple User Dimension (or Dungeon)
• MYOB - Mind Your Own Business
• NBIF - No Basis In Fact
• OHDH - Old Habits Die Hard
• OTOH - On The Other Hand
• PMBI - Pardon My Butting In
• POV - Point Of View
• PTB - Powers That Be
• ROTFL - Rolling On The Floor Laughing
• RPG - Role Playing Games
• RSVP - Repondez Sil Vous Plait (French for "please reply")
• SF - Science Fiction
• SIG - Special Interest Group
• SPAM - Sending Particularly Annoying Messages
• SYSOP - SYstem OPerator
• TIA - Thanks In Advance
• TTBOMK - To The Best Of My Knowledge
• TYMWTK - Thought You Might Want To Know
• URL - Universal Resource Locator
• WAFF - Warm And Fuzzy Feeling
• WFM - Works For Me
• WWW - World Wide Web
• WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get

Smileys

Also called "emoticons" (emotion + icon), they are used to express feelings.

• :) - Smile (without a nose)
• :-) - Smile (with a nose)
• :-D - Grin
• :-( - Frown
• :-O - Shock
• (:-( - Sad, depressed
• :-J - Said with tongue in cheek
• :-b - Sticking my tongue out
• :-X - Not saying a word
• '-) - Said with a wink
• 8-) - Smiley with glasses