Ok, I thought I was up to date with Internet jargon but just today I have been stumped and I know this is not something isolated to me. So I started a thread purely for those who hear an acronym or a phrase that they have no idea what it means, a Internet lingo dictionary if you will. Feel free everybody requests or explanations. Hopefully, if it proves to be successful, it will get stickied and will be a valuable resource for all.

Here’s my request - OTOH

On The Other Hand

This is a brilliant idea, Lee, IMHO ;-)

What does IIRC mean?

IIRC: If I Remember/Recall Correctly.

I am definitely not a fan of internet abbreviations, ICQ-speak or anything else that is contributing to the widespread retardation of linguistic ability… LOL!!!

LOL has to be one of the low points of the English language.

What is IMHO?

For those who don’t know LOL is Laugh Out Loud

IMHO is In My Humble Opinion, similar to IMO or In My Opinion

There are lists of these abbreviations and their meanings, e.g. here .

Here’s my explanation of popularised internet-based distortions of English words (similar to SMS language).

“l337” = “leet” = elite, meaning “cool”.
“Leet-speak” is computer-nerd language, where numbers are substituted for letters, l1k3 7h15.
17’5 qu173 345y 70 r34d 0nc3 y0u g37 u53d 70 17.

“n00b” = newbie = a new person who doesn’t know much yet.
Sometimes used in a derogatory fashion by people who feel that living in front of a computer makes them better than others! :P

“w00t” = “cool”, “excellent”, “yeah baby”, etc.
It comes from “won the root” or “we own the root”, which is a hacker’s way of saying they’ve got hold of a computer’s master password (the root). Someone more recently suggested it stands for “We Own the Other Team”.

“Pwn” (pronounced pone or poon) is a computer-gamer word that comes from writing “own” but accidentally hitting the ‘p’ instead of the ‘o’. “Owning” someone means beating them.

Like pwn, “teh” is an alteration of “the”. But you can use it differently, like “this is teh cool!”

Related is
“Uber” = über (pronounced oober) = German for “over”.
Has been adopted in English by nerds and clubbers to mean “ultra”, “super”, “maximum”, etc.  I believe it appeared first in rave culture.

[quote author="Arthur Davis"]
“l337” = “leet” = elite, meaning “cool”.
“Leet-speak” is computer-nerd language, where numbers are substituted for letters, l1k3 7h15.
17’5 qu173 345y 70 r34d 0nc3 y0u g37 u53d 70 17.

l337 speak is mocked throughout the Web community for it’s stupidity and it’s only for those who think they are cool but don’t actually realise how pathetic it really is. Employed mostly by those who are younger than 18.

acronyms

Some of my favourite computer acronyms:

BASIC Bill’s Attempts to Gain Industry Control

CAD Can’t Actually Draw or Costs Alotta Dollars

CD-ROM Coffee Dispenser: Regular or Mocha?

DOS Damned Obsolete System

DTP Don’t Try Publishing

IBM I Blame Microsoft

IBM PC I’ve Blown My Power Circuits

ISP Internet Spam Provider

Macintosh Most Applications Crash; if not, the operating system hangs

MS DOS Microsoft’s Dumb Operating System

PCMCIA People Can’t Memorise Computer Industry Acronyms

PDA Personal Device of Annoyance

Thanks Lee.

I never knew that “For those who don’t know LOL is Laugh Out Loud “.
Well the laugh must be on me - because for years I have interpretted LOL as meaning “ Lots of love” - but this comes from an old, old tradition back from the dim dark non-electric days when “you’ve got mail” actually meant getting up from your chair, opening the door and walking out to your letterbox at the front gate - reaching in and finding some old parchment ( what were they called - oh yes, I remember now - they were called written letters and beautiful cards ) and there was a nicely worded invitation, or celebratory card.

Sometimes they were just to say “thank you” for a kindness done or just a kind word when that was all they needed to feel that, whatever their grief or sadness at the time, someone was thinking of them and perhaps even praying for them.

Yes I remember those little signatory words at the end of the short message - “lots of love”.  You know, now that I’ve thought about it, I think I’ll continue to travel the road less travelled and keep my LOL to mean what I remember it once stood for.

BTW HAND ( “have a nice day “ - it’s not on the linked list above , it just came to me - perhaps it’s one of those ‘aha’ moments that Craig spoke of on another forum ). TTFN - Kevin ( or should I just put “K” ? )

[quote author="Arthur Davis"]Like pwn, “teh” is an alteration of “the”. But you can use it differently, like “this is teh cool!”

Actually that usage is because of people who speak proper languages typing in english, as all students of greek will know how the definite article is to be used before the noun. They carry this over to english, like not using plurals and other such funny things.

“teh” is Malay/ Indonesian for the beverage tea.

Does that mean

“this is teh cool!”

language changes.

There were all sorts of abbreviations earlier. some of them very confusing some of them with what were then rather risque connotations.
NORWICH for example

Cough up Peter
Wassitmean?