Categories: Opinion and Editorial

Acronyms on the WWW

Welcome to the WWW and other miscellaneous acronyms. It seems that the World Wide Web, WWW, is full of acronyms that have, in truth, become part of our daily lives. But to those new to the www and to our culture these acronyms can be totally confusing and sometimes down right irritating.

IM, instant message, acronyms seem to be every where. Who out there hasn’t heard the acronym LOL or ROLF? Let me explain to those of you who may not have heard of these. LOL is the acronym for laughing out loud, while ROFL is the acronym for rolling on the floor laughing. In the world of instant messages it is hard to see what peoples expressions are so acronyms have come to play a big part of it. So these little acronyms have come into play to show your facial expressions so to speak. But now they have crept off the computer keyboard onto the written word on paper. Each generation has their own input into society, their own slang; will ours be the IM acronym?

We have always had acronyms, don’t get me wrong. There is TGIF (thank goodness it is Friday), ie (Id est Latin for that is), aka (also known as), and DIY (do it yourself). These are oldie but goodies. And the military is famous for its use of acronyms. PCS (Permanent Change of Station), ETS (End of Term of Service), and CONUS (Continental United States) are just a few that military members would know. But now we have things like JK (just kidding), L8R (later), and IMHO (in my humble opinion). It feels some days like learning a whole new language.

Included below is a condensed list of acronyms. I picked out some that were new to me. This is after all an article on people learning the acronyms other people are using on the internet as well as seeing them seep into other areas of our lives as well.

?4U – Question for you
AFAIK – As far as I know
B4 – Before
CYE – Check your e-mail
DL – Download
FUBAR – Fouled up beyond all recognition
GB – Goodbye
IDK – I don’t know
IIRC – If I remember correctly
KWIM – Know what I mean
PHAT – Pretty hot and tempting
POS – Parent over shoulder
RTFM – Read the flippin’ manual
TBH – To be honest
TOH – Typing one-handed

As you can see from the list above, it seems like any phrase can be shortened into an acronym. What I guess really surprised me was that I walked outside and there on the driveway, in chalk, was BFF. I am like what is that? My nine year old daughter and her friend had put it there. Best friends forever they were saying they would be. The acronyms of the internet world are spilling over into other areas of our lives.

And not only do acronyms spill over into other areas, but it seems to be growing like a weed. New ones pop up all the time. You read a message board and see a new acronym and you are reading around it for context clues so you can figure out what it means and then soon you are using that same one yourself!