Chat Abbreviations

Chat and instant messaging has spawned a short-hand language to help communicate via the keyboard.

Abbreviation	Meaning
ADN	Any day now
AFAIK	As far as I know
AFK	Away from keyboard
ARE	Acronym-rich environment
A/S/L?	Age/sex/location?
B4N	Bye for now
BAK	Back at the keyboard
BBIAB	Be back in a bit
BBL	Be back later
BEG	Big evil grin
BFD	Big f***ing deal
BFN	Bye for now
BG	Big grin
BIOYIOP	Blow it out your I/O port
BL	Belly laughing
BOTEC	Back-of-the-envelope calculation
BRB	Be right back
BTA	But then again...
BTW	By the way
BWL	Burst With Laughter
BWTHDIK	But what the heck do I know...?
CU	See you
CUL	See you later
CUL8ER	See you later
CYA	Cover your ass
CYO	See you online
DBA	Doing business as
DFLA	Disenhanced four-letter acronym (that is, a TLA)
DL	Dead link
DIKU	Do I know you?
DITYID	Did I tell you I'm distressed?
DQMOT	Don't quote me on this
EG	Evil grin
EMFBI	Excuse me for butting in
EOM	End of message
EOT	End of thread (meaning: end of discussion)
ETLA	Extended three-letter acronym (that is, an FLA)
F2F	Face to face
FAQ	Frequently-ask question(s)
FISH	First in, still here
FLA	Four-letter acronym
FMTYEWTK	Far more than you ever wanted to know
FOMCL	Falling off my chair laughing
FUBAR	F***ed up beyond all repair or recognition
FUD	Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt
FWIW	For what it's worth
FYI	For your information
G	Grin
G2G	Got to go
GA	Go ahead
GAL	Get a life
GD&R	Grinning, ducking, and running
GIWIST	Gee, I wish I'd said that
GMTA	Great minds think alike
GOL	Giggling out loud
GTRM	Going to read mail
HTH	Hope this helps
IAC	In any case
IANAL	I am not a lawyer (but)
IC	I see
IDK	I don't know
IHA	I hate acronyms
IIRC	If I recall/remember/recollect correctly
ILU or ILY	I love you
IM	Immediate/Instant message
IMHO	In my humble opinion
IMing	Chatting with someone online usually while doing other things such as playing trivia or other interactive game
IMNSHO	In my not so humble opinion
IMO	In my opinion
IOW	In other words
IPN	I'm posting naked
IRL	In real life
IYSWIM	If you see what I mean
JBOD	Just a bunch of disks (like redundant array of independent disks, etc.)
JIC	Just in case
JK	Just kidding
KOTC	Kiss on the cheek
KWIM?	Know what I mean?
L8R	Later
LD	Later, dude
LDR	Long-distance relationship
LLTA	Lots and lots of thunderous applause
LMAO	Laugh(ing) My Ass Off
LMLYG	Let Me Let You Go
LOL	Laugh(ing) Out Loud
LRF	Little Rubber Feet (the little pads on the bottom of displays and other equipment)
LTM	Laugh to myself
LTR	Long-term relationship
LULAB	Love you like a brother
LULAS	Love you like a sister
MorF	Male or female
MOSS	Member of the same sex
MOTOS	Member of the opposite sex
MUSM	Miss you so much
NM	Not much
NFG	No f*****g good
NFW	No feasible way or no f*****g way
NIFOC	Naked in front of computer
NP or N/P	No problem
NRN	No response necessary
OIC	Oh, I see
OLL	Online love
OTF	Off the floor
OTOH	On the other hand
OTTOMH	Off the top of my head
PANS	Pretty awesome new stuff (as opposed to "POTS")
PCMCIA	People can't master computer industry acronyms
PDA	Public display of affection
PEBCAK	Problem exists between chair and keyboard
PIBKAC	Problem is between keyboard and chair
PITA	Pain in the ass
PMFJIB	Pardon me for jumping in but...
::POOF::	Goodbye (leaving the room)
POS	Parent over shoulder (change the topic)
POTS	Plain old telephone service
PU	That stinks!
RL	Real life (that is, when not chatting)
ROR	Raffing out roud (Engrish for "laughing out loud")
ROTFL	Rolling on the floor laughing
ROTFLMAO	Rolling on the floor laughing my a** off
ROTFLMAOWPIMP	Rolling on the floor laughing my a** off while peeing in my pants
ROTFLMBO	Rolling on the floor laughing my butt off
RPG	Role-playing games
RSN	Real soon now
RTFM	Read the f***ing manual
RYO	Roll your own (write your own program; derived from cigarettes rolled yourself with tobacco and paper)
S4L	Spam for life (what you may get when you become someone's customer or client)
SHCOON	Shoot hot coffee out of nose
SEG	S***-eating grin
SF	Surfer-friendly (low-graphics Web site)
SNAFU	Situation normal, all f***ed up
SO	Significant other
SOHF	Sense of humor failure
SOL	Smilling out loud or sh*t out of luck
SOMY	Sick of me yet?
STFW	Search the f*****g Web
STW	Search the Web
SWAG	Stupid wild-a** guess
TAFN	That's all for now
TANSTAAFL	There ain't no such thing as a free lunch
TFH	Thread from hell (a discussion that just won't die and is often irrelevant to the purpose of the forum or group)
TGIF	Thank God it's Friday
THX	Thanks
TIA	Thanks in advance (used if you post a question and are expecting a helpful reply)
TLA	Three-letter acronym
TLK2UL8R	Talk to you later
TMI	Too much information
TOPCA	Til our paths cross again (early Celtic chat term)
TPTB	The powers that be
TTFN	Ta-Ta for now
TTT	Thought that, too (when someone types in what you were about to type)
TTYL	Talk to you later
TU	Thank you
UAPITA	You're a pain in the ass
UW	You're welcome
VBG	Very big grin
VBSEG	Very big s***-eating grin
WDALYIC	Who died and left you in charge?
WFM	Works for me
WIBNI	Wouldn't it be nice if
WRT	With respect to
WT?	What/who the ?
WTFO	What the F***! Over!
WTG	Way to go!
WTGP?	Want to go private?
WU?	What's up?
WUF?	Where are you from?
WYSIWYG	What you see is what you get
YGBSM	You gotta be s***tin' me!
YMMV	Your mileage may vary.
YMIA	You're welcome in advance