***************************************************************** A list of abbreviations, acronyms and buzzwords commonly seen on the net, compiled and maintained by William December Starr , and updated/expanded by Ed Green (Ed.Green@East.Sun.COM): ATFQ -- "Answer The F---ing Question!" (used when the speaker feels that the recipient has been evading the question or answering it incompletely) BFD -- "Big F---ing Deal" BTBO -- "Bites the Big One" or "Bit the Big One" BTW -- "By The Way" DYI -- "Do It Yourself[er]" ESAD, ES&D -- "Eat S--- and Die" (see FOAD) FAQ -- (see "FAQL," below) FAQL -- "Frequently Asked Questions List" (A list of very commonly asked questions pertaining to the newsgroup in question, with answers. Usually maintained by a hapless volunteer and reposted in the group at regular intervals) FOAD, FO&D -- "F--- Off and Die" (see ESAD) FOAF -- "Friend Of A Friend" (qualifying 3rd hand information) FYI -- "For Your Information" IMHO -- "In My Humble Opinion" or "In My Honest Opinion" IMNSHO -- "In My Not So Humble Opinion" IMO -- "In My Opinion" MFAQ, MFAQL -- variations on FAQ and FAQL, where M = "Most" MOTAS, MOTOS, MOTSS -- "Member(s) of the {Appropriate | Opposite | Same} Sex" Ob. -- "Obligatory" (usually used as in "Ob. Star Trek: William Shatner couldn't direct his way out of a paper bag," when the comment is (a) at/near the end of the posting and (b) the only thing in the posting which clearly has anything to do with the newsgroup in question [in this example, rec.arts.startrek]) OTOH -- "On The Other Hand" RFI -- "Request For Information" RSN -- "Real Soon Now" RTFM -- "Read The F---ing Manual!" or "Read the Fine Manual!" RTM -- derived from RTFM [sic] -- "No, the immediately preceding word/phrase is _not_ a typo or a stupid mistake (or if it is, it's deliberate) -- it's exactly what I meant to say." Most commonly used when reproducing _somebody else's_ mistake or misspeech, as in: "Congress is not the sole suppository [sic] of wisdom." -- Rep. Bill Schuette (R-Mich) .sig -- a person's signature (appended at the end of an article or letter), or the file in which a person keeps his default signature SO -- "Significant Other" (Usually refers to one's lover/wife/husband/girlfriend/ boyfriend/mistress/master/slave/pet-goat/whatever) typo -- a typographical error TYVM -- "Thank You Very Much" (often used sarcastically) WKF -- "Well-Known Fact" (often used sarcastically) WRT -- "With Regard To" (in math, "with respect to") YA... -- "Yet Another..." (unless the article is about writing or publishing, in which case YA might mean "Young Adult") YMMV -- "Your Milage May Vary" :-) -- "Smiley" Used to indicate that the preceding text is meant to be taken humorously rather than seriously. There are a lot of variations on this -- :^) ;-> 8=) etc. -- and sometimes it's reversed (-: in which case it means, um, the same thing. (If you're having trouble figuring out why this symbol is used, try mentally rotating it 90 degrees clockwise and noting how the two dots of the colon become eyes, the dash a nose and the parenthesis a smiling mouth.) :-| and :-( are also seen ocasionally; the former means either "I'm being serious here" or "I have ambivalent feelings about this," and the latter means "this makes/has made me unhappy or angry." :-/ is often a smirk, implying sarcasm. News group specific acronyms, undoubtedly woefully incomplete: from rec.motorcycles: DoD -- Don't ask, at least not on the net. E-mail to anyone posting >3 articles to rec.motorcycles can probably help... Kot_ -- "Keeper of the [blank]" from news.groups, and elsewhere in net specific discussions RFD -- "Request For Discussion" about a new/modified group charter CFV -- "Call For Votes" on the creation/modification of a news group from rec.guns, talk.politics.guns, etc: RKBA -- "Right to Keep and Bear Arms" (see US Constitution, Amendment II) from alt.sex.bondage: B&D - bondage and domination, bondage and discipline S&M - s/m - SM - sadism and masochism, slave/master, sex magic P&T - p/t - power and trust d/s - dominance and submission top - the dominant partner bottom - the submissive partner