Over the years quite a number of abbreviations for expressions, acronyms really, have come into use on the net. To help you understand these cryptic terms, we reproduce the list below: I find that though I may not use many of these terms it does help to know what others are saying. There are times that without knowing what these abbreviations mean that you could find yourself wondering just what the heck the writer meant in an email or text file on the Internet or a BBS.
Acronyms List:
AAMOF = As A Matter Of Fact
ADN = Any Day Now
AFAIK = As Far As I Know
AIM = Another IBM Mistake
ATSL= Along The Same Line
AWGTHTGTTA = Are We Going To Have To Go Through This Again?
Alternative form is AWGTHTGTATA (…Through ALL This Again?)
BAC = By Any Chance
BAG = Busting A Gut (Laughing)
BBFN = Bye Bye For Now
BCNU = Be Seeing You
BFGWST = Big Fat Grin With Sharp Teeth
BIOYIOP = Blow It Out Your Input Output Port
BK = Because
BNF = Big Name Fan
BRB = Be Right Back (generally used on chat systems)
BRS = Big Red Switch (on/off sw on original IBM machines)
BTA = But Then Again
BTSOOM = Beats the [stuffing] out of me
BTW = By The Way
BWG = Big Wide Grin
BYKT = But You Knew That
BYKTA = But You Knew That Already
CE = Creative Editing [used in ANSI confs]
CMIIW = Correct Me If I’m Wrong
CUL = See You Later
CU L8R = See You Later
CYA = Cover Your A** (Ascii ?)
CYL = See You Later
DIIK = Damned If I Know
DILLIGAFF = Do I Look Like I Give a Flying Figment
DLG = Devilish Little Grin
DNPM = Darn Near P***ed Myself
DOM = Dirty Old Man
DTRT = Do The Right Thing
EMFBI = Excuse Me For Butting In
EOD = End Of Discussion
EOL = End Of Lecture
EOT = End Of Thread
ER = Hello
ESOSL = Endless Snorts of Stupid Laughter
FDROTFL = Falling Down Rolling On The Floor Laughing
FISH = First In, Still Here
FITB = Fill In The Blank….
FOAF = Friend of A Friend
FOTCL = Falling Off The Chair Laughing
FWIW = For What It’s Worth
FYEO = For Your Eyes Only
FYI = For Your Information
GD&R = Grin, Duck & Run
GIGO = Garbage in, Garbage Out
GIGO = Garbage In, Gospel Out (people accepting blindly what the computer says)
GIWIST = Gee I Wish I’d Said That
GLG = Goofy Little Grin
GLGH = Good Luck and Good Hunting
GO PRI = Send Private Mail
GOK = God Only Knows
GOTFIA = Groaning On The Floor In Agony
GR 8 = Great
HHTYAY = Happy Holidays to You and Yours
IAC = In Any Case
IAE = In Any Event
ICOCBW = I Could, Of Course, Be Wrong
IMCO = In My Considered Opinion
IMCDO = In My Conceited Dogmatic Opinion.
IMHO = In My Humble Opinion
IMO = In My Opinion
IMNSHO = In My Not So Humble Opinion
IOW = In Other Words
IITYWYBMAB = If I Tell You, Will You Buy Me A Beer
IITYWYBAD = If I Tell You, Will You Buy Another Drink
IMV = In My View
INPO = In No Particular Order
ISBAB = I Should Have Bought a Book
ITSFWI = If The Shoe Fits, Wear It
IWBNI = If would Be Nice If
JOOC = Just out of Curiosity
KCBIWIYWI = Keep Coming Back, It Works If You Work It
KHYF = Know How You Feel
KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid
LLTA = Lots and Lots of Thunderous (or Thundering) Applause
LOL = Laughing out loud
LMAO = Laughing My A** Off
LTMSH = Laughing ‘Til My sides Hurt
LTNT = Long Time, No Type
MLA = Multiple Letter Acronym
MORF = Male Or Female
MOTAS = Member of the Appropriate Sex
MOTOS = Member of the Opposite Sex
MOTSS = Member of the Same Sex
MUNG = Mash Until No Good
NBL = Not Bloody Likely
NICBDAT = Nothing Is Certain But Death And Taxes
NIMBY = Not In My Backyard
NIMTO = Not In My Term of Office
NPLU = Not People Like Us
NQOS = Not Quite Our Sort
NRN = No Reply Necessary
NTYMI = Now That You Mention It
OAS = On Another Subject
OIC = OH!, I See
OTOH = On The Other Hand
PBX = Private Branch eXchange
PF&HOMW = Printed, Framed & Hanging On My Wall
PGY = Post Graduate year PGY-1, PGY-2 etc. used in PGY Med
PITA = Pain In The A**
PLOKTA = Press Lots of keys to abort
PMETC = Pardon Me Etc.
PMJI = Pardon My Jumping In
POSSLQ = Person of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters
POV = Point Of View
PPTSPAHS = Please pass the salt, pepper and hot sauce…used when I’ve had to eat crow, my hat, and other unsavory dishes!
PTO=Patent and Trademark Office (US Govt)
PMYMHMMFSWGAD = Pardon Me, You Must Have Mistaken Me For Someone Who Gives A Damn.
ROFL = Rolling On Floor Laughing
ROFLAHMSL = Rolling On Floor Laughing And Holding My Sides Laughing
ROTBA = Reality On The Blink Again
ROTFL = Rolling On The Floor Laughing
ROFLASTC (or ROFLASC) = Rolling On The Floor Laughing And Scaring The Cat. Originated, I’m told by Pamela Dean, who types with a cat on her lap.
ROTFLMAAOBPO = Rolling On The Floor Laughing My A** And Other Body Parts Off
ROTM = Right On The Money
ROY G. BIV = An acronym for the colors of the spectrum– Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet
RSN = Real Soon Now
RTFM = Read The F**** Manual
SFLA = Stupid Four Letter Acronym
SITD = Still in the dark
SMOP = Small Matter of Programming
SOP = Standing Operational Proceedures
SOW = Speaking of Which
SWAG = Simple Wild A** Guess
SYT = Sweet Young Thing
TAFN = Thats all for Now
TANJ = There Ain’t No Justice
TANSTAAFL = There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
TDM = Too Damn Many
TIA = Thanks In Advance
TIC = Tongue In Cheek
TINALO = This Is Not A Legal Opinion
TINAR = This Is Not A Recommendation
TIWTGLGG = This Is Where The Goofy Little Grin Goes
TJATAW = Truth, Justice, And The American Way
TLA = Three Letter Acronym (now surpassed by MLA)
TPTB = The Powers That Be
TOBAL = There Oughta Be A Law
TOBG = This Oughta Be Good
TRDMC = Tears Running Down My Cheeks
TSR = Terminate and Stay Resident program
TTBOMK = To The Best Of My Knowledge
TTFN = Ta Ta For Now
TTYL = Talk To You Later
TYVM = Thank You Very Much
WAMKSAM = Why Are My Kids (or Kitties) Staring At Me?
WAW = Why Ask Why?
WIBAMU = Well I’ll be a Monkey’s Uncle
WIMP = Windows, Icons, Mouse, Pointing (to describe Windows & other similar interfaces)
WRT = With Respect To
WYGIWYPF = What you get is what you pay for
WYSBYGI = What You See Before You Get It
WYSIWYG = What You See Is What You Get
WYTYSYDG = What You Thought You Saw, You Didn’t Get
YABA = Yet Another Bloody Acronym
YAFA = Yet Another “Fine” Abbreviation
YMBK(J) = You Must Be Kidding (Joking)
YAP = Yet Another Ploy
YGLT = You’re Gonna Love This …
YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary
Military
SHAEF = Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
ETO = European Theater of Operation
NORAD = North American Air Defense Command
AEF = America Expeditionary Force
BEF = British Expeditionary Force
ANZAC = Australian & New Zealand Army Corp
BOHICA = Bend Over Here It Comes Again
CATTAC = Chief Assistant To The Assistant Chief
DILLIGAFF = Do I Look Like I Give A Flying F#$%
FOAD = Fall Over And Die
FUBAR = Fouled Up Beyond All Reconigition
FUBB = Fouled Up Beyond Belief
HMFIC = Head M** F** in Charge
HMFICC = Head M** F** in COMPLETE Charge
KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid
POETS = “Pass” On Everything, Tomorrow’s Saturday
POINTS = “Pass” On It Now, Tomorrow’s Saturday
REMF = Rear Echelon M** F**
SNAFU = Situation Normal All Fouled Up
SOP = Standing Operational Proceedures
TLAM = Tomahawk Land-Air Missile…aka Cruise Missile
TPTB = The Powers That Be
Others
LLAP – Live Long And Prosper
LA – Laughing Aloud
AAA – Amazingly Appropriate Abbreviation.
FTL – Faster Than Light
RPG – Role Playing Game
SFX – Special Effect
YAP – Yet Another Ploy
YAR – Yet Another Rumor
GMTA- Great Minds Think Alike
IDIC – Infinite diversity in infinite combinations
TTFN – Ta Ta For Now
TTYL – Talk To Ya Later
YASQ – Yet Another Stupid Question
DQOTD – Dumb Question Of The Day
ROBTA – Reality On the Blink Again
IMO – In My Opinion
L8R – Later
ROTM – Right On The Money
SIG – Special Interest Group
TTMS – Talk (Type) To Me Soon
TTYL(A) – Talk (Type) To You Later (Alligator)
Technical
AI Artificial Intelligence ANSI American National Standards Institute ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange BASIC Beginner's All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (programming) BCD Binary Coded Decimal (programming) BIOS Basic Input Output System BPS Bits Per Second (communication) CAD Computer Aided Design CAE Computer Aided Engineering CAM Computer Aided Manufacturing CASE Computer Aided Software Engineering (programming) CCITT Consultative Committee for International Telephony & Telegraphy CD-ROM Compact Disk-Read Only Memory CGA Color Graphics Adapter (screen) CMOS Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (memory) CPI Characters Per Inch (printer) CPL Characters Per Line (printer) CPS Characters Per Second (communication) CPU Central Processing Unit CRT Cathode Ray Tube (screen) DD Double Density (floppy disk) DEC Digital Equipment Corporation DES Data Encryption Standard DIF Device Input Format DIP Dual In-line Package (memory) DMA Direct Memory Access DS Double Sided (floppy disk) DV DESQview (multitasking program) EGA Enhanced Graphics Adapter (screen) EMM Expanded Memory Manager (memory) EMS Expanded Memory Specification (memory) EOF End Of File EOL End Of Line EPROM Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (memory) ESDI Enhanced Small Device Interface (hard disk) FAT File Allocation Table (disk) FCC Federal Communications Commission (communication) GUI Graphical User Interface (screen) HD High Density (floppy disk) HGC Hercules Graphics Card (screen) I/F Interface I/O Input/Output IDE Intergrated Drive Electronics (hard disk) KB Kilo Byte = 1,024 bytes LIM Lotus Intel Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification LPI Lines Per Inch (printer) MB Mega Byte = 1,048,576 bytes MDA Monochrome Display Adapter (screen) MFM Modified Frequency Modulation (hard disk) MIPS Millions of Instructions Per Second MIS Management Information Systems MMU Memory Management Unit MNP Microcom Network Protocol (communication) MS Microsoft OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer POST Power On Self Test PROM Programmable Read Only Memory (memory) RAM Random Access Memory (memory) RLL Run Length Limited (hard disk) TPA Third Party Applications GAFMOI Getting away from most of it GAFIA Getting away from it all (said of someone dropping out) RTM Read The Manual RTFM Here, Sir; Let Me Do This For You, Sir (Military)