BLOG & TEXT MESSAGING TERMS

BLOG & TEXT MESSAGING TERMS

Commentary & conversation on Internet blogs and discussion forums is usually informal. Speed in exchanging messages is highly valued. As a result, many persons writing on these forums use a number of abbreviations & acronyms.

Here is a selected list of common text/IM terms & their meanings:

TERM/
SYMBOL MEANING

@ at

:o) smile {happy}

;o) wink

:o( sad {sorry}

<3 a symbol for a heart; it means Love.

afaik as far as I know

asdf A nonsense filler word used as a subject for
posts. The first letters on the second line of most
keyboard. A person may use these letters
instead of thinking up a title for a message {on
those message boards where a title is needed
before you can submit a message; "aoeu" is also
used in this manner

atm at this moment

board short for 'message board' similar to "bulletin
board' and 'discussion forum'; discussion
forums are more interactive than message
boards or bulletin boards

blog short for 'web log'; an online dairy of your
thoughts on a specific topic or whatever
crosses your mind; see discussion forum

blogger a person who blogs {a person who post
comments or questions on blogs}

blogging {vb} the act of posting on blogs

blogging {adj} those things related to blogs

blogosphere the internet blogging community {see also "net roots"

brb be right back

btw by the way

caps capital letters; Capital letters in blogs/text
messaging means yelling.Most forums/blogs frown
upon the routine use of words written entirely
in capital letters.

discussion
forums interactive online communities formed for
group discussion & presentation of information
on specific or general topics; 'blogs' and
'message boards' are related terms;
many online communities also have group and
private 'chat rooms' and private instant
messaging features for their members;
discussion forums usually have members who
consider themselves to be part of a dynamic
community of Interest; In some discussion
forums only members can post comments
and/or questions and start new "threads" on
subjects to be discussed; in other discussion
forums, both members and guest can perform
these functions.

down
thread {adv} location term, meaning comments that are found
below the post {comment} that you're reading or writing

flame {v] to post a series of highly inflammatory
insulting comments, often using profanity

fwiw for what it's worth

g8 great

h/o hello

heading {n} the name the poster gives to his/her
comment

idk I don't know

iirc If I recall correctly

iiuc If I understand (you) correctly

im instant messages (made on cell phones)

imo In my opinion

imho in my humble opinion

imnsho in my not so humble opinion

irl in real life

iow in other words

hijacking
the
thread writing a comment or series of comments that
attempts to or succeeds in taking the thread (written
discussion) off of (away from) its original subject; this
usually is considered a malicious act or at least, in
bad form, meaning something that shouldn't be done

jk (j/k) just kidding. Used when your immediately
preceding comment is not to be taken seriously

lmao laughing my ass off (see roflmao)

lol written with or without exclamation marks; means
"laughing out loud"

LTE Letter to the editor (of newspapers & other print
media)

lurk to visit a discussion forum without
posting comments

lurker usually a neutral referent but sometimes
depending on the blog/discussion forum may be
a very negative term for a person who visits
a discussion forum to read the posts,
but doesn't post messages; in the neutral
sense of the word "lurkers' are often 'newbies'
{see newbie} who start out by lurking on the site
before becoming active posters

mol more or less

MSM mainstream media

netroots a referent for the internet based community {usually
refers to political blogs}

newbie a new member of an online discussion forum or blog;
Depending on the online community, "newbie" may be
a negative referent or a referent with no negative or
positive attribution

noob same as "newbie"

n/t no text (also "nt") ; used when there is no text
in the message but the heading

OMG Oh My God (usually written with an exclamation mark
to indicate astonishment)

open
thread A thread that includes posts about multiple
topics. In an open thread, a person can not go
"off topic" or have "thread drift".

OT Off topic ; a digression from the topic being
discussed; unless it is an 'open thread'
posters are expected to keep 'on topic'; some
online communities are more accepting of
digressions than others; see "thread drift" and
"hijacking the thread"

pm personal message/ or private message;
some discussion forums have instant messaging
features; each member has his or her own
personal page and can send and receive
private messages with other members;
related terms: "pmed"; "pming"

PoC (also written "POC) "People of Color" -a
general referent for all races & ethnicities (with
"ethnicity" used in the USA to mean
Hispanic/Latinos) who are non-White, including
people who are White and another race/ethnicity by
birth

post 1. the comment; message

post 2. the act of submitting a post

poster the person who writes a specific post ;
the same as 'blogger'

pov point of view

ppl people

refresh 1. add a comment to a thread that had been
archived, thus continuing the thread

refresh 2. a function listed as an icon on the tool bar &
found by clicking on 'View' in the tool bar; this
opens up the latest edition of the specific
Internet page a person was on so that you can
see new comments or posts

re-post 1. ("repost") the act of putting a post in a thread
that had previously been posted; this is usually
frowned upon, especially if the person doing so
wasn't the person who wrote the original post;
usually discussion forums expect that a person
have prior permission from the poster before
re-posting that person's comment; it is also
expected that a re-post be identified as such

re-post 2. (repost) a comment that has been previously
posted on that website or on another website

rotflmao rolling on the floor laughing my ass off. Some
letters ofthis shorthand phrase are omitted to make
phrases such as 'lmao'. Also a letter may be added
to this acronym to make 'roflmfao' (the second "f"
stands for 'fat')

rotflol rolling on the floor laughing out loud

s/u c u later (see you later)

site short for "website"

snark often written ; posted after comments to
alert readers to the fact that those comments are
meant to be sarcastic

snip usually written -snip- ; means that the quote is
ended;this term probably came from the snipping
sound that scissors made ; it means that you've
cut out an portion of an article for quoting and now
you are going back to writing your own words

sop standard operating procedure (a description of the
usual way that people do things)

thread a series of posts either on a specific topic or, in the
case of an "open thread", on multiple topics, or
any topic that comes to mind (dependent on the
rules of that forum/blog)

thread
drift an off-topic post in a thread on a specific topic;
thread drift is frowned upon to a greater or lesser
degree depending on the particular discussion
forum and the particular thread within a discussion
forum; same as going "OT" (off-topic).

tmi too much information

troll a negative referent for a person who posts
on a discussion board for the purpose of
disrupting the conversation

troll to act like a troll

tty totally

ttyl talk to you later

up thread (upthread) location term used to refer to a
comment or omments that were made further
above the post that you are reading or writing.
In some blogs, the latest posts are placed first.
In other blogs, posts are placed in chronological
order with the earliest posted comments
appearing before the latest comments. And in
still other blogs, responses to posts are
placed under the "parent" post that prompted
it.

vbf very best friend

w/ with

w/o without

url the address of a website

wtg! way to go! (a complimentary saying)

****

Thanks to smokeymonkey, lil-t, ke ke. and anonymous poster for sending additions to this list.

Keep' em coming!

Please submit additions or corrections to this list to mailto:cocojams17@yahoo.com

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