Acronyms and Other Internet Shorthand

Online chat rooms, Instant Messaging systems, and even cell phones are equipped to send text messages are environments rich in abbreviations, acronyms, and other "shorthand" that help increase the speed of communication. We have created a searchable list to help parents become aware of some of the common "lingo" that is used in these environments. You may find some of these terms to be vulgar, degrading, or otherwise offensive. However, we believe it is our responsibility to provide parents and educators with this level of understanding of the dangers that face our children.

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Acronym/Shorthand Meaning
@TEOTD At The End Of The Day
14AA41 One for All and All for One
2B or not 2B To Be Or Not To Be
2NITE Tonight
4-F-R N F-R Forever and Ever
411 it means: info
4ever Forever
86 Out Of or Over
A/S/L Age/Sex/Location
AAAAA American Association Against Acronym Abuse
AAF As A Friend
AAK Asleep At Keyboard
AAMOF As A Matter Of Fact
AAMOI As A Matter Of Interest
AAR At Any Rate
AAR8 At Any Rate
AAS Alive And Smiling
AATK Always At The Keyboard
AAYF As Always, Your Friend
AB A** Backwards
ABITHIWTIDB A bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush
ABT2 About To
ACD Alt Control Delete
ACE Access Control Entry
ACK Acknowledgement
ADAD Another Day Another Dollar
ADBB All Done Bye Bye
ADIH Another Day In Hell
ADIP Another Day In Paradise
ADN Any day now
ADR Address
AEAP As Early As Possible
AFAGAY A Friend As Good As You
AFAHMASP A Fool And His Money Are Soon Parted
AFAIC As Far As I'm Concerned
AFAICS As Far As I Can See
AFAICT As far As I can Tell
AFAIK As Far As I Know
AFAIU As Far As I Understand
AFAIUI As Far As I Understand It
AFAP As Far As Possible
AFAYC As Far As You're Concerned
AFC Away From Computer
AFDN Any F***ing Day Now
AFIAA As Far As I Am Aware
AFINIAFI A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed
AFK Away From Keyboard
AFZ Acronym free zone
AGKWE And God Knows What Else
AIAMU And I'm A Monkey's Uncle
AIH As It Happens
AIMB As I Mentioned Before
AIMP Always In My Prayers
AISE As I Said Earlier
AISI As I See It
AKA or a.k.a. Also Known As
ALAP As Late As Possible
ALOL Actually Laughing Out Loud
ALTG Act Locally, Think Globally
AMAP As Many As Possible
AMBW All My Best Wishes
AML All My Love
ANFAWFOWS And Now For A Word Word From Our Web Sponsor
ANFSCD And Now For Something Completely Different
AOAS All Of A Sudden
AOB Abuse Of Bandwidth
AP Apple Pie
ASAFP As Soon As F***ing Possible
ASAP As Soon As Possible
ASL Age/Sex/Location
ASLMH Age/Sex/Location/Music/Hobbies
ATST At The Same Time
ATW All the Web
ATW Around the Web
AWGTHTGTTA Are We Going To Have To Go Through This Again
AWGTHTGTTSA Are We Going To Have To Go Through This Sh** Again
AWOL Absent Without Leave
AYK As You Know
AYSOS Are You Stupid Or Something
AYTMTB And You're Telling Me This Because?
B/C Because
B4 Before
B4N Bye For Now
B4U Before You
B4YKI Before You Know It
BAG Bursting A Gut
BAK Back At my Keyboard
BAU Business As Usual
BB4N Bye-Bye for Now
BBBG Bye Bye Be Good
BBFBBM Body By Fisher, Brains By Mattel
BBFN Bye-Bye for Now
BBIAB Be Back In A Bit
BBIAF Be Back In A Few
BBIAS Be Back In A Sec
BBIAW Be Back In A While
BBL Be Back Later
BBN Bye Bye Now
BBSD Be Back Soon Darling
BBSL Be Back Sooner or Later
BBT Be Back Tomorrow
BCBS Big Company, Big School
BCNU Be Seein' You
BCOZ Because
BD Big Deal
BDC Big Dumb Company
BDC Big Dot Com
BDN Big Damn Number
BFD Big F***ing Deal
BFF Best Friends Forever
BFN Bye For Now
BHOF Bald Headed Old Fart
BIF Basis In Fact
BIF Before I Forget
BIOYN Blow it Out Your Nose
BITD Back In The Day
BKA Better Known As
BM Byte Me
BMOTA Byte Me On The A**
BNF Big Name Fan
BOHICA Bend Over Here It Comes Again
BR Bathroom
BRB Be Right Back
BRT Be Right There
BS Big Smile
BSF But Seriously, Folks
BT Byte This
BTA But Then Again
BTA Before The Attacks
BTDT Been There Done That
BTDTGTS Been There, Done That, Got The T-shirt
BTHOOM Beats The Heck Out Of Me
BTSOOM Beats The Sh** Out Of Me
BTW By The Way
BTWBO Be There With Bells On
BW Best Wishes
BWDIK But What Do I Know?
BWO Black, White or Other
BYKT But you Knew That
C-P Sleepy
C-T City
C/P Cross Post
CB Chat brat
CFV Call For Vote
CIAO Goodbye (in Italian)
CID Consider It Done
CIS CompuServe Information Service
CMF Count My Fingers
CMIW Correct Me if I'm Wrong
COB Close Of Business
CofS Church of Scientology
CRAFT Can't Remember A F***ing Thing
CRAP Cheap Redundant Assorted Products
CRAT Can't Remember A Thing
CRAWS Can't Remember Anything Worth A Sh**
CRTLA Can't Remember the Three-Letter Acronym
CSL Can't Stop Laughing
CTC Choking The Chicken
CU See You
CUL See You Later
CUL8ER See You Later
CUL8R See You Later
CUNS See You In School!
CWYL Chat With You Later
CY Calm Yourself
CYA Cover Your A**
CYL See You Later
CYT See You Tomorrow
DARFC Ducking And Running For Cover
DBEYR Don't Believe Everything You Read
DD Due Diligence
DDD Direct Distance Dial
DETI Don't Even Think It
DF Dear Friend
DGA Don't Go Anywhere
DGT Don't Go There
DH Dear Hubby or Husband
DHYB Don't Hold Your Breath
DIKU Do I Know You
DILLIGAD Do I Look Like I Give A Damn
DILLIGAS Do I Look Like I Give A Sh**
DIY Do It Yourself
DKDC Don't Know Don't Care
DL Download
DLTM Don't Lie To Me
DMI Don't Mention It
DNC Does Not Compute
DQYDJ Don't Quit Your Day Job
DRIB Don't Read If Busy
DUST Did You See That?
DWYM Does What You Mean
DYJHIW Don't You Just Hate it When...
DYOFDW Do Your Own F***ing Dirty Work
DYSTSOTT Did You See The Size Of That Thing
E123 Easy as One, Two, Three
EAK Eating at Keyboard
EG Evil Grin
EL Evil Laugh
EM? Excuse Me?
EOD End Of Day
EOM End Of Message
ESO Equipment Smarter than Operator
EULA End-User License Agreement
EWI E-mailing While Intoxicated
EZ Easy
F2F Face-to-Face
FAB Features Attributes Benefits
FAQL Frequently Asked Questions List
FAWC For Anyone Who Cares
FBKS Failure Between Keyboard and Seat
FE Fatal Error
FF Friends Forever
FF&PN Fresh Fields and Pastures New
FISH First in, Still Here
FITB Fill in the Blanks
FO F*** Off
FOAF Friend Of A Friend
FOC Free of Charge
FOFL Falling on Floor Laughing
FRED F***ing Ridiculous Electronic Device
FTASB Faster Than A Speeding Bullet
FTL Faster Than Light
FTTB For The Time Being
FUBAR F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition
FUBB F***ed Up Beyond Belief
FUD Fear, Uncertainty, and Disinformation
FWD Forward
FWIW For What It's Worth
FYA For Your Amusement
FYI For Your Information
FYIFV F*** You I'm Fully Vested
FYM For Your Misinformation
GA Go Ahead
GAL Get A Life
GALGAL Give A Little Get A Little
GBH Great Big Hug
GD&R Grinning, Ducking and Running
GG Good Game
GG Gotta Go
GGN Gotta Go Now
GIGO Garbage In, Garbage Out
GIWIST Gee, I Wish I'd Said That
GL Good Luck
GLYASDI God Loves You And So Do I
GMTA Great Minds Think Alike
GMTFT Great Minds Think For Themselves
GNBLFY Got Nothing But Love For You
GR&D Grinning Running And Ducking
GR8 Great
GRRRR it means Growling
GSOAS Go Sit On A Snake
GTG Got To Go
GTGB Got To Go, Bye
GTGP Got To Go Pee
GTH Go To Hell
GTSY Glad To See Ya
GYPO Get Your Pants Off
HAGD Have a Great Day
HAGO Have A Good One
HAK Hugs And Kisses
HAND Have a Nice Day
HB Hurry Back
HD Hold
HF Hello, Friend
HHO1/2K Ha Ha, Only Half Kidding
HHOJ Ha-Ha, Only Joking
HHOK Ha Ha, Only Kidding
HHOS Ha-Ha, Only Being Serious
HHTYAY Happy Holidays To You And Yours
HIH Hope It Helps
HIOOC Help! I'm Out Of Coffee
HOHA HOllywood HAcker
HTH Hope This (or That) Helps
HUA Heads Up Ace
HUGZ Hugs
HUYA Head Up Your A**
I 1-D-R I Wonder
I-D-L Ideal
IAC In Any Case
IAE In Any Event
IAITS It's All In The Subject
IANAC I Am Not A Crook
IANAE I Am Not an Expert
IANAL I Am Not A Lawyer
IAT I Am Tired
IBRB I Will Be Right Back
IBT In Between Technology
IBTD I Beg To Differ
IC In Character
ICBW I Could Be Wrong
ID10T Idiot
IDGAF I Don't Give A F***
IDGI I Don't Get It
IDK I Don't Know
IDKY I Don't Know You
IDM It Doesn't Matter
IDST I Didn't Say That
IDTS I Don't Think So
IEF It's Esther's Fault
IFAB I Found A Bug
IFU I F***ed Up
IGGP I Gotta Go Pee
IGTP I Get The Point
IHAIM I Have Another Instant Message
IHNO I Have No Opinion
IHTFP I Have Truly Found Paradise
IHTFP I Hate This F***ing Place
IIIO Intel Inside, Idiot Outside
IIMAD If It Makes Any Difference
IIR If I Remember or If I Recall
IIRC If I Remember Correctly or If I Recall Correctly
IIWM If It Were Me
ILICISCOMK I Laughed, I Cried, I Spat/Spilt Coffee/Crumbs/Coke On My Keyboard
ILU I Love You
ILY I Love You
IM Instant Messaging
IMHO In My Humble Opinion
IMNSHO In My Not So Humble Opinion
IMO In My Opinion
IMS I Am Sorry
INMP It's Not My Problem
INPO In No Particular Order
IOH I'm Outta Here
IOW In Other Words
IRL In Real Life
ISS I Said So
ISTM It Seems to Me
ISTR I Seem To Remember
ISWYM I See What You Mean
ITM In The Money
IUM If You Must
IYKWIM If You Know What I Mean
IYKWIMAITYD If You Know What I Mean And I Think You Do
IYO In Your Opinion
IYSS If You Say So
IYSWIM If You See What I Mean
J/C Just Checking
J/K Just Kidding!
J/W Just Wondering
JAD Just Another day
JAFO Just Another F***ing Onlooker
JAM Just a Minute
JK Just Kidding
JM2C Just My 2 Cents
JOOTT Just One Of Those Things
JT Just Teasing
K Okay or All Right
KBD Keyboard
KEWL Cool
KFY Kiss For You
KIR Keep It Real
KISS Keep It Simple Stupid
KIT Keep In Touch
KMA Kiss My A**
KMRIA Kiss My Royal Irish Arse
KOK Knock
KOTC Kiss On The Cheek
KOTL Kiss On The Lips
KWIM Know What I Mean
KYPO Keep Your Pants On
L8R Later
LAQ Lame A** Quote
LD Long Distance
LDTTWA Let's Do The Time Warp Again
LIFO Last In First Out
LLTA Lots And Lots Of Thunderous Applause
LMAO Laughing My A** Off
LMK Let Me Know
LOL Laughing Out Loud
LOL Lots of Luck
LOL Lots of Love
LOLA Laugh Out Loud Again
LOOL Laughing Outragously Out Loud
LOPSOD Long On Promises, Short On Delivery
LRF Little Rubber Feet
LTIC Laughing 'Til I Cry
LTNS Long Time No See
LWR Launch When Ready
LYL Love Ya Lots
LYLAB Love You Like a Brother
LYLAS Love You Like A Sister
M8 Mate
M8s Mates
MFD Multi-Function Device
MHBFY My Heart Bleeds For You
MHOTY My Hat's Off To You
MIHAP May I Have Your Attention Please
MILF Mother I'd Like to F***
MKOP My Kind Of Place
MM Market Maker
MMHA2U My Most Humble Apologies To You
MOMPL One Moment Please
MOO Mud, Object-Oriented
MOOS Member Of The Opposite Sex
MorF Male or Female?
MOSS Member Of The Same Sex
MOTAS Member Of The Appropriate Sex
MOTD Message Of The Day
MOTSS Members Of The Same Sex
MSG Message
MTBF Mean Time Between Failure
MTFBWY May The Force Be With You
MUBAR Messed up Beyond All Recognition
MWBRL More Will Be Revealed Later
MYOB Mind Your Own Business
N-A-Y-L In A While
N-E-1 Anyone
N-E-1 ER Anyone Here?
N/A Not Applicable -or- Not Affiliated
N/T No Text
N1 Nice One
N2M Not To Mention
NAK Nursing At Keyboard
NALOPKT Not A Lot of People Know That
NAZ Name, Address, Zip (also means Nasdaq)
NBD No Big Deal
NBIF No Basis In Fact
NCG New College Graduate
NFI No F***ing Idea
NFW No F***ing Way
NG New Game
NIFOC Nude In Front Of The Computer
NIM No Internal Message
NIMBY Not In My Back Yard
NIMQ Not In My Queue
NM Never Mind or Nothing Much
NMP Not My Problem
NOYB None Of Your Business
NP No Problem
NQOCD Not Quite Our Class Dear
NRG Energy
NRN No Reply Necessary
NTK Nice To Know
NTYMI Now That You Mention It
NUFF Enough Said
NW No Way!
NYCFS New York City Finger Salute
OAUS On An Unrelated Subject
OBTW Oh By The Way
OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer
OIC Oh, I see
OK All Correct
OLL On-Line Love
OMDB Over My Dead Body
OMG Oh My Gosh
OMIK Open Mouth, Insert Keyboard
ONNA Oh No, Not Again
ONNTA Oh No, Not This Again
OOC Out Of Character
OOF Out Of Facility
OOI Out Of Interest
OOO Out Of Office
OOTB Out Of The Box -or- Out Of The Blue
OOTC Obligatory On Topic Comment
OS Operating System
OT Off Topic
OTOH On the Other Hand
OTP On the Phone
OTT Over the Top
OTTOMH Off the Top of my Head
OUSU Oh, You Shut Up
OWTTE Or Words To That Effect
OZ stands for: Australia
P-ZA Pizza
PANS Pretty Awesome New Stuff
PD Public Domain
PDOMA Pulled Directly Out Of My A**
PDQ Pretty Darn Quick
PEBCAK Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard
PIMP Peeing In My Pants
PITA Pain In The A**
PLS Please
PM Personal Message
PMFJI Pardon Me For Jumping In
PMIGBOM Put Mind In Gear Before Opening Mouth
PMJI Pardon My Jumping In
PO P*** Off
PONA Person Of No Account
POOF Good-bye
POS Parent Over Shoulder
POV Point of View
PS Post Script
PU That Stinks
QL Quit Laughing!
QS Quit Scrolling
QT Cutie
R&D Research & Development
R&R Rest & Relaxation
RAT Remote(ly) Activated Trojan
RBAY Right Back At Ya
RBTL Read Between The Lines
RE Regards or Hello Again
RFD Request For Discussion
RFR Really F***ing Rich
RFS Really F***ing Soon
RKBA Right to Keep and Bear Arms
RL Real Life
RLF Real Life Friend
RMLB Read My Lips Baby
RMMM Read My Mail Man!
RN Right Now!
ROFL Rolling on the Floor Laughing
ROTFL Rolling On The Floor Laughing
ROTFLMAO Rolling On The Floor Laughing My A** Off
ROTFLOL Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud
ROTM Right On The Money
RSN Real Soon Now
RTBS Reason To Be Single
RTFAQ Read the FAQ File
RTFM Read The F***ing Manual
RTFM Read The F*cking Manual
RTK Return To Keyboard
RTM Read The Manual
RU Are You?
RUMORF Are You Male Or Female
RUOK Are you Okay?
RUUP4IT Are You Up For It
RX Regards
RYO Roll Your Own
S2R Send To Receive
S4L Spam For Life
SBTA Sorry, Being Thick Again
SCNR Sorry, Could Not Resist
SED Said Enough Darling
SF Surfer Friendly
SF Science Fiction
SFAIAA So Far As I Am Aware
SFETE Smiling From Ear To Ear
SH Sh** Happens
SITCOMs Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage
SITD Still In The Dark
SLIRK Smart Little Rich Kid
SMAIM Send Me An Instant Message
SME Subject Matter Expert
SMEM Send Me E-Mail
SNAFU Situation Normal, All F***ed Up
SNAG Sensitive New Age Guy
SNERT Snotty Nosed Egotistical Rotten Teenager
SO Significant Other (ie., spouse, boy/girlfriend)
SOHF Sense Of Humor Failure
SOL Sh** Out of Luck
SOP Standard Operating Procedure
SorG Straight or Gay?
SRO Standing Room Only
SSDD Same Sh** Different Day
SSEWBA Someday Soon, Everything Will Be Acronyms
STFU Shut The F*** Up
STM Spank The Monkey
STR8 Straight
STYS Speak To You Soon
SUYF Shut Up You Fool
SWAG Scientific Wild A** Guess
SWAK Sent (or Sealed) With A Kiss
SWALK Sealed With A Loving Kiss
SWDYT So What Do You Think?
SYS See You Soon
TAFN That Is All for Now
TAH Take A Hike
TANSTAAFL There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
TARFU Things Are Really F***ed Up
TAS Taking A Shower
TBA To Be Advised or To Be Announced
TBC To Be Continued
TCB The Trouble Came Back!
TDM Too Darn Many
TDTM Talk Dirty To Me
TEOTWAWKI The End Of The World As We Know It
TFDS That is For Darn Sure
TFH Thread From Hell
TFN Thanks For Nothing
TFN Til Further Notice
TGIF Thank God it Is Friday
THKS Thanks
THX Thanks
TIA Thanks In Advance
TIAIL Think I Am In Love
TIC Tongue In Cheek
TLA Three Letter Acronym
TLGO The List Goes On
TLK-2-U-L-8-R Talk to You Later
TM Trust Me
TMI Too Much Information
TMTOWTDI There's More Than One Way To Do It
TNA Temporarily Not Available
TNC Tongue In Cheek
TNX Thanks
TOM Tomorrow
TOT Tons of Time
TP Team Player
TPC The Phone Company
TPTB The Powers That Be
TSR Totally Stuck in RAM
TTFN Ta Ta For Now
TTG Time to Go
TTS Text to Speech
TTT That's The Ticket
TTT To The Top
TTUL Talk to You Later
TTYL Talk To You Later
TVN Thank You Very Much
TWHAB This Won't Hurt A Bit
TWIMC To Whom it may Concern
TX Thanks
TXS Thanks
TY Thank You
TYVM Thank You Very Much
U You
U-L You Will
U-R You Are
U-R W-S You Are Wise
U2 You Too?
unPC unPolitically Correct
URYY4M You Are Too Wise For Me
VBG Very Big Grin
VBS Very Big Smile
VC Venture Capital
VEG Very Evil Grin
VFM Value For Money
VM Voice Mail
VRBS Virtual Reality Bull Sh**
VSF Very Sad Face
W/O Without
WAD Without A Doubt
WAG Wild A** Guess
WAI What An Idiot
WAMBAM Web Application Meets Brick And Mortar
WB Welcome Back
WB Write Back
WBS Write Back Soon
WC Who Cares?
WCA Who Cares Anyway
WDYS What Did You Say?
WDYT What Do You Think?
WE Whatever
WEG Wicked Evil Grin
WF Way Fun
WFM Works For Me
WG Wicked Grin
WGAFF Who Gives A Flying F***
WIIFM What's In It For Me?
WISP Winning Is So Pleasureable
WIT Wordsmith In Training
WITFITS What in the F*** is this Sh**
WNOHGB Were No One Has Gone Before
WOG Wise Old Guy
WOMBAT Waste Of Money, Brains And Time
WRT With Regard To or With Respect To
WT Without Thinking
WTB Want To Buy
WTF What The F***
WTG Way To Go!
WTH What the Heck
WTSDS Where The Sun Don't Shine
WTTM Without Thinking To Much
WU? What is Up
WUF? Where are You From?
WWY? Where Were You?
WYCM? Will You Call Me?
WYP What's Your Problem?
WYRN What's Your Real Name?
WYS Whatever You Say
WYSIWYG What You See Is What You Get
WYSLPG What You See Looks Pretty Good
WYT Whatever You Think
WYWH Wish You Were Here
X-I-10 Exciting
XME Excuuuuse Me
XOXO Hugs and Kisses
YA Yet Another
YA yaya Yet Another Ya-Ya (as in yo-yo)
YACC Yet Another Calendar Company
YAFIYGI You Asked For It You Got It
YCT Your Comment To
YDKM You Don't Know Me
YGBK You Gotta Be Kiddin'
YHM You have mail
YIC Yours In Christ
YKW? You Know What?
YMMV Your Mileage May Vary
YNK You Never Know
YOYO You're On Your Own
YR Yeah Right
YSYD Yeah, Sure You Do
YTTT You Telling The Truth?
YW You are Welcome
YWIA You're Welcome In Advance
YYSSW Yeah Yeah Sure Sure Whatever
ZZZ Sleeping, Bored, Tired

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Do you use a filter or monitoring software at home?