Your guide to Forum Speak!

[KBoards Admin]

It's common for forum members to use "shorthand" while posting. Some of that is well-known (like the use of smilies and other emoticons). Others can be pretty cryptic.

Here then is a guide to "Forum Speak"..!

But let's not get too crazy with this, to the point it becomes intimidating for newcomers.

General Forum Speak

AFAIK - As Far As I Know
AFK - Away from keyboard
AKA - Also Known As
BRB - be right back
BTW - By The Way
DIY - Do It Yourself
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
FWIW - For what's it worth
FYA - For Your Amusement
FYI - For Your Information
HTH - Hope This Helps
IANAL - I am not a lawyer
IIRC - If I Recall Correctly
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
IMO - In My Opinion
J/K - just kidding
LMAO - Laughing My Ass Off
LOL - Laugh Out Loud
Mod - Forum moderator
OMG - Oh My Gosh
OP - Original Post (the starting post in a thread)
OTOH - On The Other Hand
ROFL - Rolling On Floor Laughing
ROFLMAO - Roll On Floor Laughing My A** Off
RTFM - Read The "Freaking" Manual
TIA - Thanks In Advance
TTYL - talk to you later
YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary

References to others

DD = dear daughter
DH = dear husband
DS = dear son
DW = dear wife
SWMBO = wife ('She Who Must Be Obeyed')


And here are some suggested ones specific to KindleBoards:

DT - Dead Tree. As in, "I've already got War and Peace in DT form, so I haven't bought a Kindle version yet."
DTB - Dead Tree Book.
DTV - Dead Tree Version.
KB - Kindle Boards (i.e. this website)
KS - Kindle Store
NAIKSY - Not Available In Kindle Store Yet. As in, "I love Zune for Dummies, but it's NAIKSY."

and, my favorite:

WSHWYAT - We Should Have Warned You About Teninx

[KBoards.com]

[KBoards Admin]

Let me know if I missed any!

[chynared21]

Let me know if I missed any!

Well...Angela used one that I've never come across before ;-p ROTFLMAOAWMP. I'll let her explain that one 

BTW...I love your personal favorite and I have to go and change my profile to relect that Teninx found his tinfoil hat ;-p

[KBoards Admin]

^ I saw that one from Angela, too. LOL

Hope we don't have too many members with that incontinence issue.

[Kirstin]

WSHWYAT - We Should Have Warned You About Teninx

not only your favorite - but the most important!! ha ha ha

[Eclectic Reader]

Let me know if I missed any!

How about K for Kindle (in the Kindle Specific area)?

[Bacardi Jim]

Hrrrmmm.... I mean no offense, but given that we avid readers as a group are part of the last bastion of literacy in America, encouraging The New Illiteracy through the use of Netspeak seems... I dunno.  Counterproductive, maybe?  Oxymoronic?

I mean, isn't what brought us together our shared love of words and the English language?  And doesn't that mean that we can be the one message board that eschews the convenience of acronyms for the beauty of an actual sentence?

Just my two cents, as I have seen for myself over the last decade how the degradation of our language on the Internet has led to an actual, visible decline in the spelling and writing skills of America's teens and twenty-somethings.

Ever drive by a business sign or marquee and see something like this:  "How do you like your pizza's?"  An entire generation of Americans believes that you pluralize every noun by adding an apostrophe-s.  This is directly due to Internet usage.  Because abbreviations like CD's and DVD's are pluralized with the apostrophe, folks think that this rule applies to every noun.

We're readers.  Can't we help stem the tide?  Or at least be a little bit better in our home?

Sorry for the diatribe.  It's a sore point with me.  I meant no offense to anyone..  I sometimes get lazy and "LOL" myself.

I'd like to think I found a forum better than that.

[Eclectic Reader]

Hrrrmmm.... I mean no offense, but given that we avid readers as a group are part of the last bastion of literacy in America, encouraging The New Illiteracy through the use of Netspeak seems... I dunno.  Counterproductive, maybe?  Oxymoronic?

I mean, isn't what brought us together our shared love of words and the English language?  And doesn't that mean that we can be the one message board that eschews the convenience of acronyms for the beauty of an actual sentence?

I understand where you're coming from, but we are on an Internet forum, and when in Rome...

Seriously, if I'm writing a business memo, I use "business speak" and speak and write formally.  If I'm writing an email to friends or posting on an internet forum, I use a different kind of speech; more slanted to friends, and certainly less formal.  That includes acronyms that are commonly used on the internet.  I admit, tho, that some acronyms leave me puzzled because I have not encountered them before.

[Angela]

^ I saw that one from Angela, too. LOL

Hope we don't have too many members with that incontinence issue.

Hey.... you guys talkin bout me hind my back??      LOL

uhhh... I mean... Wait a minute fellow Kindleboarders. Have you dear people been talking about me behind my back?

(the previous statement was typed specifically for Bacardi Jim...  )  No offense, just joking around!!

[Kirstin]

Hey.... you guys talkin bout me hind my back??      LOL

uhhh... I mean... Wait a minute fellow Kindleboarders. Have you dear people been talking about me behind my back?

(the previous statement was typed specifically for Bacardi Jim...  )  No offense, just joking around!!

I have to admit that I didn't get ROTFLMAOAWMP until Harvey posted the word incontinence - then I almost WMP myself!!

[Angela]

I do understand B Jim... I was an English major and there are so many things about spelling and grammer that drive me crazy. For example the mis-use of then/than, there/their/they're and idea/ideal... just to name a few. I have decided life is too short to stress over it. I just wish we had auto spell check on this thing so I didn't have to constantly go back and fix my typos (I tend to get in too big of a hurry and my left hand types faster than my right)  

[Kirstin]

I do understand B Jim... I was an English major and there are so many things about spelling and grammer that drive me crazy. For example the mis-use of then/than, there/their/they're and idea/ideal... just to name a few. I have decided life is too short to stress over it. I just wish we had auto spell check on this thing so I didn't have to constantly go back and fix my typos (I tend to get in too big of a hurry and my left hand types faster than my right)  

I struggle with effect/affect......  have to think about it every time

[Bacardi Jim]

Awwww... I'm sorry. 

Like I said, it's a personal issue with me.  Might have to do with helping pay for two of LuckyRainbow's daughters to go to college only to have them both flunk out (and stick us with the debt) because they are functional illiterates, but watching them send text message all the time.

I swear I meant no insult to anybody here.

[Angela]

I have to admit that I didn't get ROTFLMAOAWMP until Harvey posted the word incontinence - then I almost WMP myself!!

LOL!! I do need to make one correction to that... it is ROTFLOLATWMP

I am not allowed to use LM*O anymore because my 5 year old grandson told me it was a bad word. I am not allowed to use the word but* (I have to say 'bottom' or 'behind') and I can't say stupid (although I am still having a hard time with that one!  

[Kirstin]

I swear I meant no insult to anybody here.

None taken!!

[Angela]

I swear I meant no insult to anybody here.

I am not insulted at all. I understand where you are coming from. I just hope you know I was kidding. Good clean fun!

[Eclectic Reader]

because they are functional illiterates, but watching them send text message all the time.

Last weekend we had a reference question (I'm a librarian) from a patron who wanted to know the word to describe using letters and numbers to approximate words. 

We knew what he was talking about, and could even come up with 2 books by William Steig on the subject (C D B and C D C), but couldn't find a word for it.  Finally, I laughingly suggested that the word he was looking for was simply "texting".   

[KBoards Admin]

I hear you, Jim. I have a deep love for the English language as well.

I do notice myself short-cutting in forums, and in email. I often drop the use of commas in ways that I wouldn't do in writing a letter, a proposal, or an essay.

I will point out one thing that is absolutely striking to me: the level of discourse on this forum compared to other forums that I frequent. I'm sure I've seen more well-formed paragraphs on this site in the past week than I've seen in other boards in the past six months. I really appreciate that!

And, it's true that sometimes I am guilty of UOABITIMMLC*.


*Using Obscure Acronyms Because I Think It Makes Me Look Cool

[Bacardi Jim]

 

We knew what he was talking about, and could even come up with 2 books by William Steig on the subject (C D B and C D C), but couldn't find a word for it.  Finally, I laughingly suggested that the word he was looking for was simply "texting".   

Oddly, as a child, I adored Steig's CDB.  It was like a puzzle--for KIDS!

Thanks, ER, for the approbation.  I hope you caught my comments regarding Lloyd Alexander.

[KBoards Admin]

Last weekend we had a reference question (I'm a librarian) from a patron who wanted to know the word to describe using letters and numbers to approximate words. 

We knew what he was talking about, and could even come up with 2 books by William Steig on the subject (C D B and C D C), but couldn't find a word for it.  Finally, I laughingly suggested that the word he was looking for was simply "texting".   

This is slightly different, but at first I thought you were referring to 'leet' - also known as leet-speak, or l33t. It's the use of keyboard characters and symbols to approximate the shape of traditional alphabet characters, and is a sort of code used by gamers and texters.  

Here's an example:

\/\/3Lc()M3 2 |<|N|)L3|30^R|)S

I'll let you play with decoding that.  

[Angela]

This is slightly different, but at first I thought you were referring to 'leet' - also known as leet-speak, or l33t. It's the use of keyboard characters and symbols to approximate the shape of traditional alphabet characters, and is a sort of code used by gamers and texters.  

Here's an example:

\/\/3Lc()M3 2 |<|N|)L3|30^R|)S

I'll let you play with decoding that.  

Welcome to Kindleboards 

[KBoards Admin]

You are fast, Angela!!

[Angela]

Do I win a prize?? 

[KBoards Admin]

Bragging rights!  Those are important!

[Bacardi Jim]

Don't get me started on l337-speak.

The "leet" is short for "elite."  It was designed to be unintelligible by anyone who isn't "in."

In other words, it's Internet Pig Latin.

[KBoards.com]