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Cyberlingo!
BRB? ROTFL? LOL? It's Greek to me!
by Julie Martin

If you've spent any time at all in any sort of text chat, you've probably seen a bunch of letters that seem like gibberish show up. You may have seen BRB, ROTFL, LOL, BAK or one of many others. What may be the most disconcerting thing for you is that everyone else seems to understand these cryptic letters! Well, strap yourself in, here's a fast course in cyberlingo!

Leaving From/Returning to the Computer

AFK - This is easy: Away From Keyboard.
BAK - The companion to BRB (see below), this is Back At Keyboard. I tend to just write "back" when I return.
BBS - Though still in use as the acronym for Bulletin Board System, most chatters use it for Be Back Soon.
BRB - One of the most popular acronyms in cyberspace, BRB stands for Be Right Back.
BBIAB - Similar to BRB, this means Be Back In A Bit. Similarly, there's BBIAF, which is Be Back In A Few and BBIAS, which is Be Back In A Sec.
c-ya - A quick'n'easy way to say "seeya".
hb - Say this to someone who's going away. It means Hurry Back!
re - This isn't an acronym, but it's short for re-hi, a derivative of re-hello, both of which were commonly used eons ago on the online system chats, such as CompuServe. Basically, it's used to welcome people back to the room/channel. Note that people will also add more "e"s to the end, so expect people to say reeeeeeeeeee, too.
WB - Quite simply, it means Welcome Back.

Emotional Responses

LOL - One of my personal pet-peeves, LOL is Laughing Out Loud. I don't know why it bothers me, but I just usually stick to typing out <laugh> or doing /me laughs. (which, in IRC, will show up as * juliebug laughs.).
ROTFL - Another well-used acronym, it stands for Rolling On The Floor Laughing. Note that you will undoubtedly see ROFL as well, which means the same thing, only the T is dropped from the acronym. You will also see RO(T)FLMAO, standing for Laughing My A** Off.
<g> - This stands for <grin>. Variations on this theme include <eg> for <evil grin>, <beg> for <big evil grin> and, of course, <vbeg> for <very big evil grin>

Then, of course, are the smiley faces. No doubt you've seen them. Some examples:

:) =) :D :( :/ :P :Þ ;) :-) ;-)

Looks like complete gibberish doesn't it? Tilt your head to your left. Now you can make out the faces.

:) - Your typical smiley face.
=) - Another happy face.
:D - Wide smile.
:( - A frown.
:/ - A confused/disappointed look.
:P - Tongue sticking out.
:Þ - Another tongue. (to do this, hold down ALT, and then on the number pad part of your keyboard, type 0222 and then release ALT)
;) - A winking smiley.
:-) - Just a larger smiley, with a nose.
;-) - Winking smiley, with a nose.

For a fairly complete list of smileys, check out The Smiley Dictionary.

There are also anime style smilies, which don't actually require you to tilt your head.

^_^ - Happy
^_~ - Winking
O_O - Wide-eyed with surprise/shock

More can be found here.

Of course, there's also the sideways-shifty-look smiley that has been going around my group of friends. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...

... MR. SHIFTY!

¬_¬

Hold down ALT, and then on the number pad part of your keyboard, type 170 and then release ALT to achieve his shifty-looking-eyes.

Miscellaneous

AKA - Also Known As.
ASAP - You may recognize this one from "real" life... As Soon As Possible.
FAQ - Pronounced as "fack", it stands for Frequently Asked Questions.
GMTA - Not Gates McFadden's Teaching Assistant, believe it or not. It's really Great Minds Think Alike. Variations include SMTA: Simple/Sick Minds Think Alike
IIRC - If I Recall Correctly.
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion. There's also IMO (In My Opinion) and IMNSHO (In My Not-So Humble Opinion).
IRL - In Real Life, meaning the life you lead when you're not logged on to the Internet. (you mean you're supposed to log off?)
j/k - Just Kidding. You may also see this without the slash separating the letters.
NM - Never Mind.
OTOH - On The Other Hand.
TTYL - Talk To You Later.
WTG - Way To Go.

I'm sure that this list isn't even close to being a complete list of cyberlingo. For more, you can look at the Chatter's Jargon Dictionary, which is a vastly comprehensive list.

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