Press Another to decode a random bit of internet slang. The full glossary is below, with a note on which era each term comes from.
Internet slang grew up in chat rooms, bulletin boards and instant messengers where typing was slow and every keystroke counted. Many of the abbreviations are older than the web itself.
The glossary
- brb
- be right back (AIM/ICQ era)
- afk
- away from keyboard (BBS/IRC era)
- lol
- laughing out loud (chatroom era)
- rofl
- rolling on the floor laughing (AIM/ICQ era)
- lmao
- laughing my ass off (AIM/ICQ era)
- ttyl
- talk to you later (AIM/ICQ era)
- g2g
- got to go (AIM/ICQ era)
- asl
- age/sex/location — a classic chatroom icebreaker (chatroom era)
- wb
- welcome back (IRC/chatroom era)
- np
- no problem (general chat era)
- hbu
- how about you (IM/texting era)
- idk
- I don't know (texting era)
- imo
- in my opinion (forum era)
- imho
- in my humble opinion (forum era)
- fyi
- for your information (email/general era)
- btw
- by the way (email/general era)
- omg
- oh my god (IM/texting era)
- wtf
- an exclamation of shock or confusion (forum/chat era)
- jk
- just kidding (texting/IM era)
- nvm
- never mind (texting/IM era)
- noob
- a newcomer, especially an inexperienced one (gaming/forum era)
- pwned
- thoroughly defeated — grew out of a typo of 'owned' in gaming (gaming/forum era)
- 1337
- 'leet', short for elite, written in leetspeak (hacker/BBS era)
- haxor
- leetspeak for 'hacker' (hacker/BBS era)
- lurker
- someone who reads a forum without ever posting (forum era)
- troll
- someone who posts to deliberately provoke a reaction (forum era)
- flame war
- an angry, escalating argument playing out in public replies (Usenet/forum era)
- sig
- a signature block automatically added to your forum posts (forum era)
- OP
- 'original poster' — whoever started the thread (forum era)
- bump
- replying to a thread just to push it back to the top (forum era)
- necrobump
- reviving a very old, long-dead thread (forum era)
- ftw
- for the win (gaming/forum era)
- gg
- good game (gaming era)
- afaik
- as far as I know (forum/email era)
- iirc
- if I recall correctly (forum era)
- tl;dr
- too long; didn't read (forum era)
- ianal
- I am not a lawyer (forum era)
- ymmv
- your mileage may vary (forum/email era)
- w00t
- an exclamation of pure joy (gaming/forum era)
- sockpuppet
- a fake account used to deceive other users (forum era)
- karma
- a reputation score attached to your posts (forum era)
- cyber
- slang some used for flirtatious online chatting (chatroom era)
- poke
- a tiny, mostly meaningless way to get someone's attention (early social-network era)
- top 8
- the eight friends you featured front-and-center on your profile (MySpace era)
- nudge
- a lighthearted attention-getting shake in a chat window (MSN Messenger era)
- buddy list
- your roster of contacts in an instant messenger (IM era)
- phishing
- a scam that impersonates someone trustworthy to steal your info (general web era)
- selfie
- a photo you take of yourself (social-media era)
- fomo
- fear of missing out (social-media era)
- yolo
- you only live once (social-media era)
- tbt
- 'Throwback Thursday' — posting an old photo (social-media era)
- lit
- exciting or excellent (social-media era)
- salty
- bitter or annoyed (gaming/social era)
- ghosting
- suddenly cutting off all contact with someone (messaging era)
- subtweet
- a post indirectly about someone without naming them (Twitter era)
- stan
- an overly obsessed fan (social-media era)
- rickroll
- tricking someone into clicking a link to an unexpected song (meme era)
- doomscrolling
- endlessly scrolling through bad news (smartphone era)
- finsta
- a fake, secondary account kept for a smaller audience (Instagram era)
Frequently asked questions
Where does internet slang come from?
Mostly from early chat systems like IRC, bulletin boards and instant messengers.
Are these terms still used?
Some, like lol and brb, are universal. Others have faded.
Is the list complete?
No. New slang appears constantly, and we add more over time.