Keeping up-to-date with the latest online jargon can be hard work, so as Social Media Week kicks of today in London, we thought it was time to put all those confusing letters together in one place, explaining them as best we can. So if you don't know your BTW from your WTF, read on for some insight...
Dollymix Dictionary of internet acronyms and abbreviations
AFAIK - 'as far as I know' (see also 'AFAICT - 'as far as I can tell' etc)
ATM - 'at the moment'
BRB 'Be Right Back' - started up on old-school internet 'talkers' in the 90s, still occasionally used on instant messenger (IM).
BTW 'By the way'
DH/DS/DD - 'dear husband, dear son, dear daughter': a rather nauseating reference to family members
DTMFA 'Dump the motherf*cker already!' Popular refrain aimed at women who moan about their abusive boyfriends (it may also be aimed at men in some situations but I've never seen it done)
FFS 'For f*ck's sake'
FML 'F*ck my life'!
FSVO - 'for suitable values of': only used by hardcore geeks but still out there.
FWIW - 'for what it's worth'
FTW - 'for the win!'
GPOY - 'Gratuitous Picture of Yourself' - oddly, this now translates better into English as 'me too' (cf. AOL - 'me too!) .
IANAL/IANAD/IANA [x] - 'I am not a lawyer/I am not a doctor/I am not a [profession x]. Used by people who want to sound clever but want to avoid being sued/arrested for giving amateur advice.
IDK: 'I don't know' (often a more sensible alternative to the above)
IM(H)O - 'In my (humble) opinion' - often used to make an aggressive point in a 'flame war'!
IIRC - 'If I recall correctly'
IRL - 'In real life'
IYSWIM - 'If you see what I mean': internet for 'innit'!
JFGI - 'Just f*cking Google it!' - addressed to 'ppl' who ask 'obvs' questions on forums
L33t - from 'elite', i.e. 'great'; 'amaze' and the word from which L33t Speak; a sub-genre of internet jargon, takes its name.
LMAO - laughing my ass off
LOL - originally 'laughing out loud' - now used for general internet punctuation. Use 'ALOL' (actually laughing out loud) if you really want to make the distinction.
MSG 'message'
NSFW - 'not safe for work'
OBVS. 'obviously', 'obvious'
OH 'other half' (or 'SO' - significant other' if you are an American, or think you are)
OMG - 'Oh My God'
OMFG - 'Oh My F*cking God' - reserved for occasions where a link may actually reveal Justin Bieber naked.
OTOH - 'on the other hand'
PMSL - piss(ing) myself laughing
PPL - people
Pr0n - 'pornography. A deliberate mis-spelling of 'porn', perhaps to deter censorship
ROTFL - rolls on the floor laughing
Srsly - 'Seriously'
Totes 'Totally': not normally seen without being followed by 'amaze' these days.
TTFN - tata for now (also BFN - 'bye for now')
TL;DR - 'Too long, didn't read'. Confusingly, this tern is normally used by the author of a 'thread' to introduce a summary of their lengthy diatribe, intended for lazy readers.
TMI - 'Too much information': product of the 'internet overshare' phenomenon
W00t - originally 'We own the other team' - now mostly just a general victory noise. (another exmaple of l33t speak)
WTF - What the f*uck?
YMMV - 'Your mileage may vary', used in discussions to mean something like 'it worked out this way for me, but your experience may differ'.
[Image: Tatty Devine 'OMG' necklace available for £27 via this link ]
