Americans love acronyms. We must. We use them for almost everything. Even our country is an acronym - the USA! We send memos, with FYI (and sometimes FYEO for the really "secret" ones) at the top, that suggest we ought to meet about the new HR rules and how they will impact our IRS withholding next year, so we can call our CPA to discuss changing our W-4. We talk about the FY'99 budgets and their impact on the economy, and last night's news on CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS. We listen to radio stations like WBC and WBAP and KLUV. We send our kids to K-12 schools, and we're active in the PTA (or PTO as the case may be.) We encourage them to do well in school, so they can go to college at LSU or UCLA or MIT or UTD and earn a BS or a BA and maybe even an MS, MA, MBA or a PhD. At one time we were really worried about Y2K, but we're also concerned about NATO and the UN and the EU. (Those last three suggest this might be a worldwide problem, but we won't get in to that.)

The US Government seems to especially love them. They love them so much that they have lots of web sites to explain what they mean. It seems that almost every government agency uses an acronym. There's the FBI and the CIA, the BTF, the DOD, the DOE (is that Education or Energy?), the FAA, the FDA, the FCC, the FEC, the FTC, the SEC, the NLRB, the EEOC, the EPA, the NSA, the ADA, the OIC (which may not last much longer but will surely be back again), OSHA, and on and on. (You would think the Secret Service would have an acronym since they're trying to keep a secret.)

It's not clear if the government is trying to confuse the public with all these acronyms, but they must be confusing themselves, because they have web sites all over the Internet to help their employees figure out what the heck it is they're talking about. There's the TA (part of DOC) site, the BTS site and the EPA just to mention a few. The government even has web sites to explain acronyms just for special programs, which of course are acronyms themselves, like AMPS and IUSS.

The military, being the proud organizations they are, are not about to be outdone, so they have their own sites too, with names like DTIC , PICA , GCCS , and MISLO . And the list wouldn't be complete without at least one list in PDF (an acronym in its own rite) format - NARDI.

Of course, NASA, the ultimate scientific endeavor (and an acronym know worldwide), has to have their own sites, just to cover the plethora of acronyms that are the natural progeny of any effort that involves scientific names no one can pronounce, so they have CTAS , and ARM , and the ASTER database, and IST , and Liftoff , (which isn't an acronym, but certainly generates enough of them.) And of course, the NASA Procurement Agency, NAIS (don't ask), has to have it's own site. (Can't have those scientists get all the glory, you know.)

With all this acronyming going on, it just wouldn't make sense to use the ultimate geek tool, the Internet, without having a few of their own. Computer geeks are infamous for using acronyms anyway. Just the other day I saw an XP box, running IIS, that had three SCSI drives with 40 GBs each, 256 MBs of RAM, and two PII-333's. And nowadays, you're not up-to-date if you aren't at least considering a DVD drive. After all, your machine came with a CD ROM, PCI sound card, 16 MEG 3-D video card, UltraDMA IDE hard drive (and the BIOS to support it) and a ZIP drive to boot!

The following email message, which was sent by an employee of a major computer company, is presented with the permission of its author:

> From: Randy Abrams

> To: DUP Comm for the Duplication Techs

> Cc: 

> Subject: R.A.T.S.A.S.S.

> Date: Wednesday, July 14, 1993 1:05AM

> 

> Does this company give a RATSASS (Registry of Acronym Terminology Source

> And Search Service)? It seems that in the IOSAFLHAT (Interest Of Saving A

> Few Letters Here And There) many people have resorted to the use of

> acronyms and ULA's (Unexplained Letter Abbreviations) to the point that

> communication is thwarted.

> Perhaps if we had a LAT (Listing of Abbreviated Terms) it would make sense

> to use them as frequently as they are used, but currently they tend to

> render email a COUL(Collection Of Unintelligible Letters).

> I realize that I am new here, but frequently people that have been here

> longer DKWTME (Don't Know What They Mean Either). Also as this company

> grows, there will be more people with useless AEE (Acronymically Encoded

> Email) that they DU (Don't Understand).

> ATR (At This Rate) when we acquire the next generation of PCs we should be

> able to MCWBE (Muddle Communication With Blinding Efficiency!

> 

> SUGGESTION:

> If people would just reference the acronyms the first time in the email,

> it would fix the problem.

> 

> IMHO,

> 

> Randy

If you aren't totally confused by this point, you're either a scientist, or you work with computers. That's no coincidence. It was scientists and computer wizards that started the Internet and developed the infrastructure and protocols you use today. (Don't kid yourself, though. A lot of us are confused by all these acronyms too.) So without further ado, let's get to the actual acronym list, shall we?

This list focuses on acronyms used in Usenet. Its purpose is to help you become more informed, save you from embarrassment, and (in the right circumstances), maybe even impress a few of your friends. It is by no means exhaustive, so if you come across an acronym (in Usenet) that you don't find a definition for here, by all means, email me, and I'll gladly add it to the list.

We also have a small list of computer acronyms, with a heavy emphasis on Internet terms, which you may refer to if you don't know the meaning of a term. For a much more complete list of computer-related acronyms and their definitions, see the PC Webopaedia.

• <g> - grin - usually used to indicate the message was intended to be humorous
• <g,d&r> - grinning, ducking and running - usually used when what you said was not that funny and people would throw things at you if you were together physically
  
• <g,d&rvf> - grinning, ducking and running very fast - there's lots of variations on this one, like adding rlh on the end for "running like hell", etc.
• <G> - BIG GRIN - more humorous than <g>
• <VBG> - VERY BIG GRIN - more of the same only bigger
• <VBEG> - VERY BIG EVIL GRIN
• AAMOF - As A Matter Of Fact
• AAR - At Any Rate
• AFAIAA - As Far As I Am Aware
• AFAIAC - As Far As I Am Concerned
• AFAIC - As Far As I'm Concerned
• AFAICT - As Far As I Can Tell
• AFAIK - As Far As I Know
• AFAIR - As Far As I Recall
• AFK - Away From Keyboard
• AIUI - As I Understand It
• B4 - Before
• BBL - Be Back Later
• BBS - Be Back Soon, also see the Computer Acronyms page for the more familiar (to "oldtimers") Bulletin Board Service
• BOFH - Bastard Operator From Hell - everybody's nightmare of a network admin.
• BS - Bovine Excrement - you know, Cow Patties..... :-)
• BTDT - Been There, Done That
• BTDTBTT - Been There, Done That, Bought The Tape
• BTDTGTTS - Been There, Done That, Got The Tee Shirt
• BTDTGTTSAWIO - Been There, Done That, Got The Tee Shirt And Wore It Out
• BTW - By The Way
• C & C - Cats and Coffee - usually appears as "C & C Warning!" - refers to the fact that what you are about to read is so funny that you'll spill your coffee, at which point the cat that's in your lap will leap up, scratching you with its claws. So put the coffee down and get the cat off your lap before reading this.
• CHURL - Childish & Uselessly Ranting Loser - used of troll-like individuals who really believe what they say and are angry at the world.
• CU - See You
• CUL - See You Later
• DUL - Dial Up List - a list of dialups known to be used by spammers. Networks can use the list to automatically block all mail from those dialups. This is one of the services that MAPS offers.
• DYOFDW - Do Your Own F* Dirty Work
• DYJHIW - Don't You Just Hate It When
• FAC - Fully Acronym Compliant
• FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions - a compendium of the most frequently asked questions, intended to lessen repetitive questions on a particular topic. Go to faqs.org to find them.
• FLA - Four Letter Acronym
• flame(s) - refers to a newsgroup post which is insulting or inflammatory in nature. Usually used to either criticize someone's ignorance of a subject, to cover up for one's own lack of good argument or just to start a flamewar. E.g. a poster in rec.pets.cats posts an article describing how to barbeque cats in order to incite the regular participants of the group to respond in anger.
• flamewar - a phenomenon in Usenet where posters begin "flaming" each other and the flames escalate until many people are involved.
• FOAD - (F*) Off And Die - used in Usenet when someone has had enough of another person.
• FUBAR - (F*) Up Beyond All Recognition
• FUD - Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt
• FWIW - For What It's Worth
• FYEO - For Your Eyes Only
• FYI - For Your Information
• GFY - Go (F*) Yourself
• GoAT - Go Away Troll - a troll is someone who posts in a newsgroup with the intention of irritating the regulars - like someone who says "I love cats barbecued with sauce" in rec.pets.cats.misc (which has happened, BTW.)
• HAND - Have A Nice Day
• HTH - Hope This Helps (or Hope That Helped)
• IANAL - I Am Not A Lawyer - precedes free legal advice on the Internet.
• IBDIIN - I'll Be D*ed If I Know
• IINM - If I'm Not Mistaken
• IIRC - If I Recall Correctly
• IKWYM - I Know What You Mean
• IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
• IMNSHO - In My Not So Humble Opinion
• IMO - In My Opinion
• IOW - In Other Words
• ISP - Internet Service Provider
• ISTM - It Seems To Me
• ISTR - I Seem To Recall
• ITEOTIAWKI - It's The End Of The Internet As We Know It
• ITIKWYM - I Think I Know What You Mean
• ITLA - Incremented Three Letter Acronym - believe it or not, at one time IBM ran out of TLAs. In order to move to four letter acronyms, they had to come up with a four letter acronym to replace TLA. But FLA wouldn't work, because that was only three letters. So ITLA was adopted as the "standard" to describe all four letter acronyms! True story!
• ITYM - I Think You Mean (or I Thought You Meant)
• IIUC - If I Understand Correctly (or If I Understood Correctly)
• IYSWIM - If You See What I Mean
• JAPH - Just Another Perl Hacker
• JFTR - Just For The Record
• JHD - Just Hit Delete - what the spammers would like you to do instead of complaining to their ISPs.
• LART - Luser Attitude Readjustment Tool
• LOL - Laughing Out Loud
• LUSER - Local User, often used in a derogatory sense by admins and techs who have to deal with users that don't seem to want to understand how computers work.
• MAPS - Mail Abuse Prevention System - see the MAPS web site for details.
• NIH - Not Invented Here
• NNTP - Network News Transport Protocol - hopefully you'll be using this one soon. :-)
• NRN - No Reply Necessary ('course, it could mean Not Right Now, couldn't it?)
• OB - an on-topic comment at the end of an otherwise blatantly off-topic post. (Eg. "ObHack: Cleaning my keyboard with an arc welder") OB actually stands for obligatory, so it's not really an acronym.
• OP - Original Poster
• ORBS - Open Relay Behaviour-modification System - a list of open relays that are used by spammers - networks can use this list to block mail from those sites - see the orbs web site for details.
• OT - Off Topic
• OTOH - On The Other Hand
• PISS - Passive Ignorance Silence Strike - giving an irritating newsgroup poster the group silent treatment.
• PITA - Pain In The A**
• PCTKB - Pot Calling The Kettle Black
• PMFJI - Pardon Me For Jumping In
• PLONK - Please Log Off, Net Kook - Richard Sexton claims to have originated the use of the term in newsgroups in 1988. He defined it as "*plonk* (n): the sound made by an asshole being dropped in your killfile."
• POC - Point Of Contact
• POS - NO...not that....it's Parent Over Shoulder. :-)
• POTS - Plain Old Telephone Service - seriously!
• POV - Point Of View
• RBL - Realtime Blackhole List - a part of the MAPS project - used to block mail from networks that seem unable to prevent spam from emanating from their network.
• RFC - Request For Comments - the standards for Internet operation - you can find them at the RFC Editor site. You can also find them at faqs.org.
• RFD - Request For Discussion - this is how new newsgroups are proposed. You can find a good explanation of the process with links to the proper locations here.
• RFMS - Rapid Fire Mail Server - the spammers use these to send mail straight from their machine to yours. Anti-spammers call these Really Fast Mallet Summoner, because the spammers lose their accounts fast when they use these since it's easy to locate them.
• ROTFL - Rolling On The Floor Laughing
• ROTFLK&S - Rolling On The Floor Laughing, Kicking And Screaming
• ROTFLMAO - Rolling On The Floor Laughing My A** Off
• RSN - Real Soon Now
• RTFAQ - Read The Frequently Asked Questions
• RTFM - Read The (F*) Manual
• RTM - Read The Manual
• RTT - Reply To Troll (usually preceded by Please do not)
• SCNR - Sorry, Could Not Resist
• SITD - Still In The Dark
• SNR - Signal to Noise Ratio - used on Usenet to refer to the ratio of useful posts to useless posts.
• spam - unsolicited email, the use of the term comes from a Monty Python skit where a group began chanting "spam, spam, spam, spam", drowning out all conversation.
• SPMD - Some People May Differ
• STFU - Shut The (F*) Up
• TAN - There are no - used as a disclaimer, as in TANW for There Are No Winners or TANCM for There Are No Cartel Members, etc.
• TANSTAAFL - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
• TEOTWAWKI - The End Of The World As We Know It (Y2K, right???)
• TIA - Thanks In Advance
• TIN - There Is No - used to preface a disclaimer.
• TINC - There Is No Cabal - some think a cabal runs Usenet, but the cabal says they don't. :-)
• TINLC - There Is No Lumber Cartel - see the Lumber Cartel web page for details. This one is funny!
• TLA - Three Letter Acronym - really!
• troll - not an acronym, but a very common term found on Usenet. It is used to describe the type of individual who deliberately posts imflammatory responses in a newsgroup in an attempt to start a "flamewar".
• TPHB - The Pointy Haired Boss(es) (a reference to Scott Adams' Dilbert)
• TPTB - The Powers That Be
• TTBOMK - To The Best Of My Knowledge
• TTFN - Ta Ta For Now
• TTYL - Talk To You Later
• UBE - Unsolicited Bulk Email (otherwise known as spam)
• UCE - Unsolicited Commercial Email (otherwise known as spam)
• UUOC - Useless Use Of Cat
• WHBT - We Have Been Trolled
• WIITWD - What It Is That We Do
• WHL - We Have Lost
• WRT - With Regard To
• WTF - What The (F*)?
• WTFDTM - What The (F*) Does That Mean?
• WTH - What The Heck?
• WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get - pronounced wiz-ee-wig - refers to software that is supposed to display the final product in the same window you edit from - like Microsoft's FrontPage® web page editor.
• Y2K - Year 2000 - you know what that means by now, don't you? TEOTWAWKI!!
• YA - Yet Another
• YAACA - Yet Another Attempted Character Assassination
• YACC - Yet Another Compiler Compiler - the originator of YA.
• YHBT - You Have Been Trolled
• YHGMTPOTG - You Have Greatly Misunderstood The Purpose Of This Group
• YHL - You Have Lost
• YKYB...TLW - You Know You've Been (Doing Something) Too Long When
• YMBJ - You Must Be Joking
• YMHMYFAIOA - You May Have Mistaken Yourself For An Inventor Of Acronyms
• YMML - You Made Me Laugh
• YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary

* Wherever the "F" word appears, I have substituted (F*) for the actual "F" word used. The exceptions are acronyms like BS, PITA, ROTFLMAO and IBDIIN, which should be self-explanatory.