Common Internet Acronyms and Abbreviations
One of the more challenging aspects of internet communications, especially in instant messages or texts, is the use of unfamiliar abbreviations. Here, then, is a partial list of some of the more common ones that you may come across.
A
AATK – Always At The Keyboard
ABT – About
ACK – Acknowledge, Acknowledged
ADSL – Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
AFAICR – As Far As I Can Recall
AFAICT – As Far As I Can Tell
AFAIK – As Far As I Know
AFK – Away From Keyboard
AKA – Also Known As
AOL – American OnLine
ASAP – As Soon As Possible
ASL – Age, Sex, Location
B
B4 – Before
BBL – Be Back Later
BBS – Bulletin Board System
BCC – Blind Carbon Copy
BF – Best Friend, Boyfriend
BFF – Best Friends Forever
BFN – Bye For Now
BTW – By The Way
C
CC – Carbon Copy
CD – Compact Disc
CD-ROM – Compact Disc – Read Only Memory
CUL8R – See You Later
CYM – Check Your Mail
D
DBA – Doing Business As
DHTML – Dynamic Hyper Text Markup Language
DIY – Do It Yourself
DL – Download
DNS – Domain Name Server, Domain Name Service, Domain Name System
DOB – Date Of Birth
DOS – Disk Operating System
DSL – Digital Subscriber Line
DVD – Digital Video Disc
E
ETA – Estimated Time of Arrival
EZ – Easy
F
F2F – Face-To-Face
FAIK – Far As I Know
FAQ – Frequently Asked Question, Frequently Asked Questions
FTP – File Transfer Protocol
FWIW – For What It’s Worth
FYE – For Your Entertainment
FYI – For Your Information
G
GB - Gigabit
GF – Girlfriend
GG – Good Game
GJ – Good Job
GL – Good Luck
GR8 - Great
GTG – Good-To-Go
H
H8 - Hate
HTH – Hope That Helps, Hope This Helps
HTML – Hyper Text Markup Language
HTTP – Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
I
IDK – I Don’t Know
IDT – I Don’t Think
IE – Internet Explorer
IIRC – If I Recall Correctly
IM – Instant Message, Internet Mail
IMHO – In My Humble Opinion
IMO – In My Opinion
IRC – Internet Relay Chat
IRL – In Real Life
ISDN – Integrated Services Digital Network
ISP – Internet Service Provider
J
J/J – Just Joking
J/K – Just Kidding
K
KB – Kilobits
KBPS – Kilobits Per Second
L
L8 – Late
L8R – Later
LAN – Local Area Network
LTR - Later
LTR - Later
LMAO – Laughing My A** Off
LMK – Let Me Know
LOL – Laugh Out Loud, Laughing Out Loud
M
MB – Megabits
MBPS – Megabits Per Second
MS - Microsoft
MSG – Message, Messaging
MSN – Microsoft Network
MUD – Multi User Domain, Multi User Dungeon
MYOB – Mind Your Own Business
N
NC – No Comment
NE1 – Anyone
NG – News Group
NM – Never Mind
NP – No Problem
NSFW – Not Safe For Work
NTK – Need to Know, Nice to Know
O
OBO – Or Best Offer
OMG – Oh My God, Oh My Gosh
OS – Operating System
OT – Off Topic, On Topic
OTOH – On The Other Hand
P
PITA – Pain In The A**
PLMK – Please Let Me Know
PLS – Please
PM – Private Message
POP – Post Office Protocol
POV – Point Of View
PPL – People
Q
Q&A – Question & Answer
QT – Cutie
R
R – Are
RE – Regarding
RFI – Request For Information
ROTF – Rolling On The Floor
RPG – Role Playing Game, Role Playing Games
RTM – Read The Manual
RUOK – Are You Okay
S
SCSI – Small Computer System Interface
SO – Significant Other
SOS – Someone Over Shoulder
SYSOP – System Operator
T
TBC – To Be Continued
TBD – To Be Determined
TBE – To Be Evaluated
TGIF – Thank God It’s Friday
THX – Thanks, Thank you
TMI – Too Much Information
TTFN – Ta-Ta For Now
TTYL – Talk To You Later
TXT - Text
TY – Thank You
U
U – You
U2 – You Too
UR – You Are, Your, You’re
URL – Uniform Resource Locator
V
VBG – Very Big Grin
VPN – Virtual Private Network
VR – Virtual Reality
W
W – With
W/O - Without
W8 – Wait
WB – Welcome Back
WRT – With Regard To
X
XOXO – Hugs and Kisses
Y
Y - Why
Y2K – Year 2000
YGM – You’ve Got Mail
YW – You’re Welcome
Z
ZZZ – Sleeping
