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Every so often I see various abbreviations used on forums and blogs and whatnot, such as FYI (For Your Information) and AFAIK (As Far As I Know).

What other common abbreviations are there, and what are their meanings?

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IMNSHO IHAA WIIGTE - In my not so humble opinion, I hate abbreviation abuse. Where is going to end? – Ivo Rossi Jan 10 '11 at 17:15
@Ivo nice one... but you forgot an "it" in the long form ;-) – Jürgen A. Erhard Jan 10 '11 at 17:34

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4 Answers

up vote 8 down vote

Here are some that I've seen quite often (there are many more here):

  • AFAIC: As Far As I'm Concerned
  • AFAIK: As Far As I Know
  • AFAIR: As Far As I Recall
  • AFK: Away From Keyboard
  • ATM: At The Moment
  • BSOD: Blue Screen Of Death
  • BTDT: Been There, Done That
  • BTW: By The Way
  • FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
  • FTR: For The Record
  • FWIW: For What It's Worth
  • FYI: For Your Information
  • GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out
  • IANAL: I Am Not A Lawyer
  • IIRC: If I Recall Correctly
  • IMHO: In My Humble Opinion
  • IMNSHO: In My Not So Humble Opinion
  • IOW: In Other Words
  • IRL: In Real Life
  • LOL: Laughing Out Loud
  • OOTB: Out Of The Box
  • RTFM: Read The Manual
  • TLA: Three Letter Acronym
  • YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary
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I'm quite partial to "IMPAO"... yes, I can be arrogant ;-D – Jürgen A. Erhard Jan 10 '11 at 17:35
Oh, and the F in RTFM has apparently been censored, when we all know that it stands for "Fine" ("Read The Fine Manual"). ;-) – Jürgen A. Erhard Jan 10 '11 at 17:36
@jae - I prefer the "F" to stand for "flimsy" since most of them (IME) never completely cover the topic I am looking for right then. – ssakl Jan 10 '11 at 18:53
"LOL" can also stand for "lots of love", though it's certainly less common. – psmears Jan 10 '11 at 19:24
specifically to internet - AFK and IRL are also widely used. – zerkms Jan 11 '11 at 5:25
up vote 3 down vote

One I've seen only recently is

  • tl;dr

which apparently means "too long; didn't read".

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I've also seen tl;dnr for those who don't like to abbreviate their abbreviations – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Jan 10 '11 at 19:44
up vote 1 down vote

WTF - What the F*** (or 'Why the face' - Modern Family. Phil: "I'm cool dad, that's my thang. I'm hip, I surf the web, I text. LOL: laugh out loud, OMG: oh my god, WTF: why the face")

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up vote 0 down vote

i've noticed the emergence of the letter "F" in common acronyms, added for color. i.e. BTFW (by the f-ing way), etc. @Kramii's answer includes my favorite: RTFM!

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