An acronym is a string of letters, where each letter represents a word. They are
used simply because it looks neater and is easier to say and/or type. The difference
between an 'abbreviation' and 'acronym' is that an abbreviation has each letter
pronounced (Eye Are See) whereas an acronym has the letters pronounced as a word
(NASA for example). Acronym is allowed to be used generically however.
Example: Internet Relay Chat
This is what the abbreviation 'IRC' means - but imagine if that abbreviation didn't
exist, you would have to keep typing 'Internet Relay Chat' all the time - extremely
tedious! If you are to successfully muddle along through the world of IRC you are
going to have to understand most, if not all, of the acronyms you are likely to come
across. It is impossible for you to chat for more than one hour without coming across
at least one acronym.
But fear not, this document aims to list some of the most common, less common and
plain rare acronyms that you will come across on IRC, aswell as some miscellaneous
acronyms that you'll see simply because IRC is very 'Internet related' and it's
impossible to exclude more technical acronyms when talking of IRC! Please note that
all acronyms in this document are written in capital letters, simply for the sake
of being technically accurate. Typing them on IRC in capital letters is not always
necessary - for example, typing 'LOL' in caps emphasises something is funny - if
something is only mildly amusing you would just do 'lol' in lowercase.
So, here we go....
These are the acronyms you're certain to see at some point on IRC...
LOL - Laughing Out Loud
LMAO - Laughing My Ass Off
LMFAO - Laughing My Flippin' Ass Off (The 'F' is often associated with the
'F' word)
ROTFL - Rolling On The Floor Laughing (also written ROFL)
BRB - Be Right Back
BBS - Be Back Soon
BBL - Be Back Later
AFK - Away From Keyboard
NP - No Problem
YW - You're Welcome
JK - Just Kidding (also written J/K and can be intended to mean "Joke")
TY - Thank You
WB - Welcome Back
WTF - What The F***
WTG - Way To Go
These acronyms are often used on IRC but they are not, unlike "lol", used every 5
seconds! You are very likely going to come across these at some point, just maybe
not your first day on IRC.
AFAIK - As Far As I Know
BBIAF - Be Back In A Few
IMO - In My Opinion (Also can be 'IMHO' which is In My Honest/Humble Opinion)
IRL - In Real Life
ATM - At The Moment
BTW - By The Way
OIC - Oh I See
LTNS - Long Time No See
G - Grin (Often written *G*)
EG - Evil Grin (Again, written *EG*)
TYT - Take Your Time
TTYL - Talk To You Later
DL - Download (Also written D/L)
NM - Nothing Much (Also written N/M)
CYA - See You (Ya)
FYI - For Your Information
FWIW - For What It's Worth
RTFM - Read The Flippin' Manual (The 'F' is often associated with the other 'F'
word)
WTH - What The Hell (Sometimes 'Who The Hell' depends on the context)
BF - Boy Friend
GF - Girl Friend
CTCP - Client To Client Protocol
DCC - Direct Client to Client
These acronyms are uncommon - you are unlikely to see them but you might and so
knowing them may come in handy!
AYF - All Your Fault
BAK - Back At Keyboard (AFK is used much more)
BTDT - Been There Done That
GSOH - Good Sense Of Humour
TTFN - Ta-Ta For Now
GMTA - Great Minds Think Alike
CUL - Catch You Later (Might not want to say this in French speaking
channels!)
CIAO - This is not an acronym, it's Italian for 'Goodbye'.
MYOB - Mind Your Own Business
OTW - On The Whole
TM - Trust Me
POV - Point Of View
| General Internet Acronyms |
Due to the very nature of IRC you cannot explain some of the more technical
acronyms that are brought about by the Internet itself - you may see them in
your travels around IRC channels. Don't worry too much about them though :) Note
that there are literally THOUSANDS of acronyms related to the computer world, it
would be impossible to cover them all. This is just a small fraction of them and
the ones that, whilst on IRC, you're more likely to come across in conversations
with techy people.
WWW - World Wide Web
HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language
PHP - Programmed Hypertext Preprocessor
HD - Hard Drive
CPU - Central Processing Unit
RAM - Random-Access Memory
GB - Gigabyte
MB - Megabyte
KB - Kilobyte
Mhz - MegaHertz
Ghz - GigaHertz
MS - Microsoft (Also written 'M$' by cynics)
MSN - Microsoft Network
SP - If you see someone say something such as "Windows XP SP1" it means
Service Pack.
LAN - Local Area Network
WAN - Wide Area Network
BW - Bandwidth (Also written B/W)
CD - Compact Disc
DVD - Digital Video Disc
DoS - Denial of Service (attack)
DDoS - Distributed Denial of Service (attack)
I thought I would include some just plain silly acronyms - unbelievably these
are actually written and documented on the Internet as acronyms, but they are so
ridiculous they are never used. Purely here for enjoyment, you do not need to
know these!
OTTOMHAROOB - Off the Top of My Head and Rolling Out of Bounds
PMYMHMMFSWGAD - Pardon Me, You Must Have Mistaken Me for Someone Who Gives A Damn
TNOTVS - There's Nothing on Television, So...
WYLABOCTGWTR - Would You Like a Bowl of Cream to go with That Remark?
MCBTY(SN) - My Computer is Better than Yours (So Nyerrr)
IITYWTMWYBMAD - If I Tell You What This Means Will You Buy Me A Drink?
IARTPFWTSIOWIM - I am Repeating this Parrot Fashion Without The Slightest Idea Of What It Means
With exception of the latter, I hope you find this document useful. Acronyms,
whilst one of the much more simplistic areas of IRC is one of the most important.
If all your acronym knowledge was wiped from your brain you'd find it extremely
hard to deal with IRC - it is absolutely FULL of them! If you find an acronym
and don't know what it means, and it's not listed here, you could use
AcronymFinder.com it's a good acronym resource.
HC! (Happy Chatting! *G*)
