All the weird words on the Interweb?

June 20, 2007 4:46 AM

Webspeak filter: A lot appear on Mefi (IANAL, YMMV, IMHO et al), but i'm looking for more. Please tell me all your interweb acronyms or made-up words along with definitions, the weirder the better. zomg lolcats!
posted by cardamine to writing & language (42 comments total)

A very boring answer: Wikipedia's list of Internet slang phrases.
posted by magnusbe at 4:48 AM on June 20, 2007

First link I found: The NetLingo Top 20 Internet Acronyms Every Parent Needs to Know.
posted by chuckdarwin at 4:49 AM on June 20, 2007

FYPM: Fuck you pay me

That's the accounting code we used to use for invoicing at a fairly large web company I worked for years ago.

(stolen from Goodfellas)
posted by strawberryviagra at 4:55 AM on June 20, 2007

I guess it's not really webspeak, but I like to say

"G T F DOUBLE O M F W" in the car. And then people say "What's that?" And I say "Get out of my way" and then they say "But what about the F...oh."

And, my uberleet mmorpg friends used things like wtfpwnt, which turned into wtfpnt, which turned into pwnt, which turned into peened. "Dude you just got peened".

We also said weird things like "Dubba tee eff"? Instead of WTF. And of course don't forget things like:
"DUBBA TEE EFF!!11!!oneone!!1"

Let's see, what else, roflsocks is a favorite, as is wahmbulance. "Aww, I beat you and now you're sad, shall I call the wahmbulance?"

Meh, I'm done.
posted by TomMelee at 5:05 AM on June 20, 2007

I saw someone write "onethousandonehundredeleven", presumably in place of "!!!!", somewhere the other day.
posted by mdonley at 5:10 AM on June 20, 2007

WTF Mate?
(I say it all the time, but I'm not exactly the best example of cool)
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 5:10 AM on June 20, 2007

I use OMGBBQ ("oh my god" + um, "barbecue") a lot. I take it to mean the same thing as OMG (an expression of surprise, shock, awesomeness), but more forceful. Like, "Super-duper OMG! Explosions and stuff!" I actually use this in speech, embarrassingly enough.

Also there's IYKWIMAITYD ("if you know what I mean... and I think you do").
posted by miagaille at 5:32 AM on June 20, 2007

Whiskey! Tango! Foxtrot!
posted by junkbox at 5:43 AM on June 20, 2007

I used ROTFPIMPLOL a lot in my AOL chat days, but it never caught on. This is my chance! Spread the word people!!! (Rolling on the floor peeing in my pants laughing out loud).

But I used it on the Webernet, not the interweb, does that count?
posted by The Deej at 5:49 AM on June 20, 2007

My GF and I use BOL for "barfing out loud" as an expression of disgust.
posted by davey_darling at 5:56 AM on June 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Dan Savage has some good ones — DTMFA, GGG. I'm sure there's more. (That's "dump the muthafucka already" and "good, game and giving")

Also, Dave Barry uses a lot on his blog — Here's a whole list.
posted by Brittanie at 6:05 AM on June 20, 2007

In high school my friends tried to find a replacement for "LOL" - they came up with "IGAGHLOOT" (I Got A Good, Hearty Laugh Out Of That)... never really caught on, though...
posted by Zephyrial at 6:13 AM on June 20, 2007

IYKWIMAITYD.
posted by plinth at 6:36 AM on June 20, 2007

IDK. My BFF Jill?
posted by miss lynnster at 6:39 AM on June 20, 2007 [2 favorites]

lollerskates, lolz, bb's (said like babies - like what's up bb).
posted by heartquake at 6:41 AM on June 20, 2007

I've seen m8 (mate) and m80 (matey) a lot.

The French use 'mdr' (mort de rire, dead of laughter) in the place of 'lol'.
posted by mkb at 6:49 AM on June 20, 2007

ROFLWAFFLES. lollerskates, roflcopter, lmaonade.

Uncyclopedia is an excellent resource for this kind of research.
posted by sephira at 6:51 AM on June 20, 2007

IDK. My BFF Jill?
posted by miss lynnster

Oooooo!!! I wanna SMACK that kid!!!!
posted by The Deej at 6:53 AM on June 20, 2007

asl
posted by flabdablet at 6:53 AM on June 20, 2007

FTW = for the win = what preceded this acronym, no matter the part of speech, has awesomeness that cannot be disputed in the context provided. (FGJ = for great justice = synonym used by people who are tired of FTW)

If the awesomeness can be disputed, however, there's always YMMV = your mileage may vary.

ROFL Attack ftw! (warning: loud embedded Kenny Loggins soundtrack).
posted by gnomeloaf at 7:01 AM on June 20, 2007

Oh! QQ = crying. As in "Less QQ and more pew pew" (pew pew is lasers)
posted by mkb at 7:06 AM on June 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

The Urban Dictionary and the Internet Acronym Dictionary will be your friends. We use mnemonics a lot at work and check any new ones against these two sites and others to make sure there is no "bad" meaning.
posted by onhazier at 7:26 AM on June 20, 2007

I use OMGBBQ

How about OMGWTFBBQ? I use that occasionally. I'm pretty sure I stole it from Something Awful.
posted by jtfowl0 at 7:39 AM on June 20, 2007

Less QQ and more pew pew

Y'know, that sounds more like something you'd say to a kid as you were potty training them...
posted by miss lynnster at 7:53 AM on June 20, 2007

TMA: Too Many Acronyms
posted by JaredSeth at 8:06 AM on June 20, 2007

I always thought mdr was a weird shortening of merde (French for "shit!"). Thanks, mkb.

I used to chat a lot, so I used a lot of these, but now I'm old.

In the BDSM online world, there's WIITWD (What It Is That We Do).
posted by desjardins at 8:31 AM on June 20, 2007

I recently typed WTG in an email to congratulate a friend, which left her confused, because she knew what-the-fuck and what-the-hell, and assumed that this followed the pattern.

She wrote back and said something like "what does that mean? What the God?"

The "god" was of course, traded out from OMG, which had to become OMF.

So that's the one I've been using lately. OMF. Oh my fuck.
posted by 23skidoo at 9:04 AM on June 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Once the true meaning of "WTF" leaked out to the powers that be in our school, I just replaced it with WTQ, for "what the quail?"

Yes, I'm aware of my own awesomeness.
posted by trim17 at 10:01 AM on June 20, 2007

Hey, thanks for all the anecdotes. I especially love how some words (?) run over into real life in a kind of geekish transcendental uberlanguage.

I do love Uncyclopedia, but for this project i need interwords (there i named them) that are actually used or at least vaguely recognisable.

Lastly, even if they haven't risen above such nonsense, it pleases me that the French still make their acronyms poetic.

thnx guyz
posted by cardamine at 10:06 AM on June 20, 2007

The obviously correct verbal pronunciation of "OMG" is "Ahm-guh."

The obviously correct verbal pronunciation of "WTF" is "What-fuh."

The obviously correct verbal pronunciation of "ZOMG" is "Zom-gee."

That is all.
posted by sparkletone at 11:30 AM on June 20, 2007

tits or gtfo
posted by nihlton at 11:47 AM on June 20, 2007

"It's a BFT" for it's aBout Fuckin' Time.
posted by Rash at 12:15 PM on June 20, 2007

GG is "Good game," but my roommates (avid gamers) use it a lot in real life, usually sarcastically. (Someone spills their drink all over themselves: "GG") I guess "Good going" is more fitting, if less historically-accurate. GG spurred GFG (the F should be obvious).

Expanding on nihlton's, there's TITF ("tits in the face," for something that's very nice.)

Has anyone else ever tried to find a 'hierarchy' of laughs? I've always thought lol < lmao rotfl rotflmao.br>
Newbie led to newb, which led to n00b, which led to nub. These are just the common ones. Beyond "newbie," it's usually an insult as opposed to a fact. ("GG n00b")

I assume STFU needs no explanation. That one's the stuff Internet conversations are made of.

OIC is read literally: "Oh, I see." That threw me off.

YGTBSM (You've got to be shitting me)

143: I Love You. (Not used in gaming...)

How did the O RLY and YA RLY owls not come up yet?
posted by fogster at 12:45 PM on June 20, 2007

It didn't like my use of the 'less than' inequality sign, which really mangled my post... lol, lmao, rotfl, rotflmao, least to most funny. It was kind of an aside from the question anyway, though.
posted by fogster at 12:47 PM on June 20, 2007

I sometimes use:
#insert sarcasm.h
posted by TomMelee at 1:32 PM on June 20, 2007

asshat: n. an idiot, fool, or jerk

tinhat: n. a paranoid conspiracy theorist, from the uncommon belief that wearing a hat made out of tinfoil will protect against paranormal or extraterrestrial intrusion.

"I less than 3 you", or, "my ass is wearing a hat" for you: a phrase to demonstrate the <3 heart symbol textually without saying i love you.br>
squick: intransitive v. the physical sensation of repulsion or disgust.

squee: intransitive v. the physical sensation of excitement or extreme happiness.

/[some tangent or obnoxious behavior]: ex. /derail or /rant
posted by nerdcore at 2:44 PM on June 20, 2007

Here are the Onion's beautiful suggestions (originally satire, of course, but now occasionally seen elsewhere, mainly in hipsterironic circles).
posted by allterrainbrain at 11:46 PM on June 20, 2007

WTCTTISITMWIBNIIWR, from the Halfbakery is nice and opaque. Difficult to pronounce, but.
posted by my face your at 2:44 AM on June 21, 2007

CBA (can't be arsed) has always been a personal favourite. I also like "awesomesauce" and its counterpart "lamesauce".

THIS IS TRUFAX TECHNOLOGY 100%
posted by corvine at 5:26 AM on June 21, 2007

Here are some I picked up from playing Dawn of War:

-gl hf (the canonical "start of game" message: Good Luck Have Fun. Sometimes delivered without the space, or on two lines)
-gg (the canonical "end of game" message: Good Game. It is not necessarily sent at the very end of the game, but rather at the first moment when one side or the other is sure of imminent victory/defeat.)
-tl dr or tl;dr (this is a diss that comes from forums, used when people post very long messages (or sometimes ironically when they post very short ones): Too Long, Didn't Read)
-omw (On My Way, used as an affirmative when someone asks for help or such)
-Plus each of the units in an RTS (Real Time Strategy) game tend to have their own game-specific acroynm (GL = grenade launcher, HWT = heavy weapons team, etc etc.) Reading the forums for any of these games practically requires a rosetta stone.

And some from fandom:
-[my hed iz/something iz] pastede on yey (used to describe something shabby, stupid, or ludicrous, comes from this event)
-now he dead/ded from coke (Comes from this non sequitur. Sometimes tacked on to the end of shaggy-dog and/or long-and-tragic stories, or used to humorously describe extreme exhaustion or death)
-the goggles, they do nothing (a quote from The Simpsons, used to describe something so horrible, ugly, or stupid that it hurts to look at it. I've seen this accompanied by this image (from Final Fantasy VI).
posted by vorfeed at 1:27 PM on June 21, 2007

YKGOML should be in widespread use, but isn't yet, AFAICT.
posted by flabdablet at 4:50 PM on June 21, 2007

So should SCM.
posted by flabdablet at 4:54 PM on June 21, 2007