Internet slang

Internet slang consists of slang that users of the Internet have developed and utilized. Many of its terms originated with the purpose of saving keystrokes, (for example, "u" for "you", "r" for "are", "4" for "for", etc.) as a result many use the same abbreviations in text messages (see txt). The terms often appear in lower case, with capitals often reserved for emphasis — the pronoun "I", for example, often appears simply as "i".

Common disclaimer phrases (or parentheticals) also often contract into acronyms — they tend to occur at certain points in a sentence, which can facilitate decoding. Some of these include:

The untrained eye often finds Internet slang difficult to interpret because content in spoken language that speakers convey in the intonation and tone of the voice, such as sarcasm, do not readily transfer to written text.

Although Internet slang has a close relationship with leetspeak, only online gamers traditionally used leet, whereas much larger groups of Internet users commonly use Internet slang.

Emoticons (or smilies) such as ":)" can go some way towards clarifying emotional intent in Internet messages. As with other Internet slang, netizens may use emoticons both genuinely and sarcastically; for example the ":-P" emoticon, which can express either genuine amusement and a sense of fun, or express a negative sarcastic comment on something another user might have said.

Chat acronyms or chaq (pronounced "chalk") originally developed on pre-Internet bulletin board systems. A handful (for example, ASAP, PO'ed) far pre-date computers. The three-letter acronym (TLA) remains one of the most popular types of abbreviation in computing and telecom terminology and slang. Similar systems have since come into use with users of text-messaging wireless telephones.

Common internet slang

The vocabulary of Internet slang draws from many different sources — typically environments that placed value on brevity of communication. Some terms, such as FUBAR have roots as far back as World War II[1]. Other terms come from more recent forms of communication, such as TTY and IRC. With the rise of instant messenging services (ICQ, AOL, and MSN, among others) the vocabulary has expanded dramatically. Some of the most commonly occurring elements of this slang include:

Aside from instant messaging programs another realm full of online languages exists: the Internet gaming world. One of the most popular forms of video game slang has become known as H4X0R or as 13375P34K (in leetspeak). For parents today, learning the online language can play an important role in maintaining the online safety of children. An article produced by Microsoft may help parents begin to understand some of the things their kids say in-game. (Many of the more knowledgeable "geeks" consider this article a joke, especially for Microsoft's attempts to interpret 1337 speak.)

The following lists could usefully expand to include citations of the earliest usage, where references exist.

Contents
1 Abbreviations and acronyms

1.1 Characters
1.2 Numbers
1.3 A
1.4 B
1.5 C
1.6 D
1.7 E
1.8 F
1.9 G
1.10 H
1.11 I
1.12 J
1.13 K
1.14 L
1.15 M
1.16 N
1.17 O
1.18 P
1.19 Q
1.20 R
1.21 S
1.22 T
1.23 U
1.24 V
1.25 W
1.26 X
1.27 Y
1.28 Z

2 Effects on the Wider Language
3 See also
4 External links

Abbreviations and acronyms

Characters

Internet abbreviations evolve and change continually. Online games provide a good place to observe language variation in use. Often, people uninterested in computer programming do not understand the more classically "nerdy" phrases like "2B||!2B" (which means "to be, or not to be"), thus they become useless or appear only in minority forums.

These would be the most commonly used

Numbers


A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

Also "no message", used on message boards to indicate that all the text is in the post's title, and that it need not be opened itself.

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Effects on the Wider Language

Users sometimes make up Internet abbreviations on the spot, therefore many of them can seem confusing, obscure, whimsical, or even nonsensical. This type of on-the-spot abbreviating leads to such things as: OTP (on the phone), PO (pissed off), or the less common, OPTD (outside petting the dog). Another feature common to Internet communication is the truncation and morphing of words to forms that users can type more readily. These may one day creep into common usage and end up in the dictionary. Examples of this include:

The form "teh" offers a special case of this transformation. This originated as a corruption of "the", and often pops up spontaneously when typing fast. So common has it become, in fact, that it has made the jump to purposeful usage. Typically it occurs in situations where the writer presents as self-consciously enthusiastic, mimicking the less-grammatical Internet newbie: "That movie was teh suck!!", "The fight scene with all the Agent Smiths was TEH AWESOME", etc. It occurs most commonly in "teh suck", "teh lame", and "teh shit", although "teh shit" has the same meaning as cool or "teh cool". This sarcastic usage originates with JeffK.

Similarly, netizens may use the word "liek" as a sarcastic misspelling of like, as in "I LIEK PIE". It often implies an insult to one's intelligence and/or typing ability.

The word newbie occurs almost exclusively to refer to all sorts of new users of an Internet forum or starters in a particular field of activity. It does not function as a pejorative term per se, but can do so when combined with RTFM, etc. "n00b" has much more derogatory implications than "newbie".

"own" has become a mainstream word for "to completely dominate". It probably predates the Internet in some usages. It also sometimes appears spelt "pwn" owing to a common typing error due to the proximity of the "p" and "o" keys on a QWERTY keyboard.

See also

External links

See also: Internet slang, 1337, 2004, 404, 69 sex position, AAVE, ACK, AOLese, ASCII, ASCII art