Introduction
People regulary ask me what typical Internet words mean, such as "lol" or "rofl". I think it's time I put it all in one big list, and ofcourse your input is welcome!
Smileys
Let's start with those funny faces... smileys. Most people know what they mean, but if you don't, here's an example: :-) Rotate the three characters 90 degrees clockwise and you see a smiling face! Many types are being used on the Internet, here are a few:
| :-) | "Standard" smiling face. Other "versions" are: 8-) ... |8-) ... :) ... 8) (separated with "...") |
| :-( | "Standard" sad face. A short version is :( |
| :-P | A smiley that is sticking his tongue out. Usually used when something (for example a chat sentence) is not really meant or is supposed to be seen as a joke. |
| ;-) | Winking smiley. Often used when a person says something, for example in a chat or E-mail, he/she doesn't really mean. |
| ]-) | Terminator smiley. Kinda scary ain't he? |
| >-) | Very evil smiley! |
| :-* | A smiley giving a kiss! |
Smileys can be very useful. They can help you show emotion with things you say (or the sender says) in chat and E-mail. Who said that plain text is boring? They are also fun to "experiment" with... create new smileys, combine smileys etc.
The Real Cyber Slang
These abbreviations and terms are often used in chats (like IRC), multiplayer games, E-mail and on homepages. This is THE "cyber slang". Below is a list of most used terms and abbreviations...
| --,-'-<@ | A virtual rose! |
| bbias | Be Back In A Second (also see brb) |
| brb | Be Right Back (also see bbias) |
| btw | By The Way |
| bug | Problem in software or hardware. For example: A year counter that would rollover from 1999 to 1900 (or 191000) has a Y2K bug. Also sometimes, in a funny way, called an undocumented feature. |
| camper | Most used in multiplayer games. If you or somebody else is being called a camper by another player, they mean that you are standing on the same spot in the game for too long. This is usually in action games such as Quake and Unreal and not appreciated by other players (depending on game). Also called camping. |
| cu | See You |
| cul8er | See You Later |
| cul8er allig8or | See You Later Alligator |
| faq | Short for Frequently Asked Questions. Usually a document that contains, questions frequently asked by customers or users, with an answer from for example support. |
| freeware | Type of software that usually may be used without having to pay for it. Always read the license of software to make sure you know the conditions and other important information about the software. |
| ICQ | Pronounced as I-Seek-You. If somebody asks you for your ICQ, or gives you his or hers ICQ, this is the number of an ICQ Internet pager. More information about ICQ: ICQ homepage. A list of different types of Internet pagers can be found here. |
| jk | Just Kidding (also known as j/k or j.k.) |
| l8er | Later |
| lol | Laughing Out Loud |
| newbie | A user on the Internet that is either new to the Internet or new to a part of the Internet. (for example an Internet newbie, or a chat newbie). |
| rofl | Rolling On Floor Laughing |
| shareware | Type of software that usually may be used for a certain amount of days (for example 30 days) before you must buy and/or register it. Usually contains less features than the registered version. Always read the license of software to make sure you know the conditions and other important information about the software. |
| sniper | Primarely used in multiplayer action games. Sometimes the same as camper. A sniper is a player (usually in an action game) standing on the same spot, hidden, and from there shooting other players. Like campers usually not appreciated by other players (depending on game). |
| trojan horse | A trojan horse is a software application meant to harm your system and/or open a back door (for example: allowing people to control your PC through a network, or the Internet) in your system without you knowing it. Usually spread through E-mail, IRC or Messengers. To read more about Trojan Horses, click here. Also reffered to as trojans. |
| undocumented feature | Usuaully used as a funny way to say software has a bug, but can also be meant seriously, indicating a feature in software or hardware that is not documented. |
| Y2K | Year 2000. Often used in word combinations such as Year 2000 Problem (Y2K Problem). |
Technical Internet Abbreviations
The abbreviations listed below all have to do with the technical side of the Internet. In some cases I'll explain what the abbreviations mean, but not in all cases because that would make this document way too large ;-)
| ADSL | Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line |
| ARJ | Compression type. A single ARJ file can contain one or more compressed files. ARJ files can be created and extracted with ARJ (de-)compression software. |
| ARP | Address Resolution Protocol |
| CRC | Cyclic Redundancy Check |
| DHCP | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol |
| Electronic Mail. With an E-mail Client messages can be send to, and downloaded from E-mail Servers (POP/SMTP, see elsewhere in this list). | |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol. With an FTP Client files can be uploaded to, and downloaded from FTP Servers. |
| GIF | Graphics Interchange Format |
| HTML | HyperText Markup Language. The language used to create web pages. |
| HTTP | HyperText Transport Protocol |
| ICMP | Internet Control Message Protocol |
| IP | Internet Protocol |
| IRC | Internet Relay Chat. With an IRC Client a connection can be made to an IRC Server. This will allow you to chat with other people on the Internet (on that server). |
| ISDN | Integrated Services Digital Network |
| MIME | Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions |
| Modem | Modulator/Demodulater |
| MP3 | MPEG Layer 3. A type of audio compression making music files very small (high compression ratio) while still keeping a high quality of sound. "An MP3" usually refers to a music file compressed with this compression format. |
| MTU | Maximum Transmission Unit |
| POP | Post Office Protocol. Used by E-mail clients to retrieve messages from a POP server. (also known as POP3). |
| SMTP | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Used by E-mail clients to send messages through a SMTP server. |
| TCP | Transmission Control Protocol |
| TCP/IP | Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol |
| URL | Uniform Resource Locator |
| Web | Short for World Wide Web. The part of the Internet you can browse with a WWW Browser. |
| WWW | World Wide Web. The part of the Internet you can browse with a WWW Browser. |
| ZIP | Compression type. A single ZIP file can contain one or more compressed files. ZIP files can be created and extracted with ZIP (de-)compression software. |
More cyber slang information...
For more information visit one of the following sites...
-
BrintaBBS: BBS Language Dictionary
Jan's Tasmanian Pages: Chat Abbreviations
Newbie.Org: Common Short Hand Expressions
S. Tjernström's Homepage: Acronyms, Abbreviations & Emoticons
Tracy & Andrew: Usenet Acronyms Dictionary
Please remember...
This document might contain errors. If you see one, don't hesitate to let me know. If you know abbreviations, terms or other types of cyber slang that you think should be in this list, please let me know too. No rude cyber slang please ;-). You can contact me by sending an e-mail to the e-mail address shown on the bottom of this page.
(Article written by Marcel P. Smits in 2000)
