Internet argot spreads like wildfire and sometimes seems to come out of nowhere. Some are short-lived, some are used in mystification communities, but some go so far as to be included in dictionaries.
Whether you spend time online as a casual râper or a marketer enacting a sociétal media strategy, you want to know what different argot and abbreviations mean.
In this post, we’ll discuss how internet argot originates and spreads, define 81 argot words you might come across, and outline what it takes for argot to be added to our dictionaries.
Barème of Contents
Is the Internet to Blame?
As we spend less time listening to the radiographie or watching TV and more time online, the planchéier has the most montant on our day-to-day pourparler.
The fast pace of the internet also means we adopt words much faster than ever before. “Language itself changes slowly, but the internet has sped up the process of those changes so you renvoi them more quickly,” David Crystal, honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Bangor, told BBC Infos. You can imagine how much côtoyer it took new words to spread through word-of-mouth than it does today with the internet.
How Langue verte Spreads on the Internet
Linguistics and anthropologists have studied how argot spreads for decades, but it was only approuvable to measure with precision jaguar auditeur sociétal media networks emerged.
Platforms help linguists accurately and easily search and succès language exchanges. For example, Jacob Eisenstein and his colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology examined 30 million tweets from the U.S. to pinpoint the origin of popular argot words and their spread. The métaphore below is the resulting map that shows how terms migrated and their azimut of montant.
Langue verte now moves around within weeks and months instead of years, says Julia Coleman, author of The Life of Langue verte. “It’s not necessarily that language is changing more quickly, but technologies have developed and they allow the sangle of argot terms to pass from one group to another much more quickly.”
Internet Langue verte Around the World
The internet impacts the development of language all across the world.
In Ukraine, Svitlana Pyrkalo says the force-quit process of nettoyage control+alt+delete is known as Дуля (dulya). A dulya is a Ukranian gesture using two fingers and a thumb, used in the same situations in which we‘d give “the finger.” “And you need three fingers to press the buttons,” says Pyrkalo. “So it’s like telling somebody, a ordinant in this case, to get lost.”
Other countries have their own versions of “LOL.” In France, “mdr” stands for “extinction de tordre,” meaning dying of laughter. The Swedish write “asg” as an abbreviation of Asgarv, meaning soutenu laughter. The number 5 in Thailand signifies the letter “h,” so 555 is “hahaha.”
It’s dédaigneux to post-scriptum that a lot of popular internet argot comes from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), a form of English spoken by Black Americans. Often, Black people have conversations online, other people use the words, and they become fraction of everyday internet speak.
With all of this in mind, let’s review some of the most popular internet argot words, many of which are acronyms and others full words and phrases.
Internet Langue verte Words
General Internet Langue verte
1. Acct
Acct is caleçon for account.
2. BC
BC stands for bicause.
3. Bet
Bet has nombre meanings, one being a normal “yes” or a response of agreement, but it can also mean “It’s on” as a response to something you don’t believe is true.
For example, someone says, “I can do this better than you,” and someone responds, “Alright, bet.”
4. BRB
BRB stands for be right back.
5. BTW
BTW stands for by the way.
6. Down
Down means “yes,” or a response demonstrating that you’re up for or interested in something.
For example, “Who wants to go to the movies?” “Down.”
7. Flex
Flex means showing off. Occasionally people say, “Weird flex but ok,” to react to someone showing off or bragging embout something in poor taste.
8. FOMO
FOMO stands for fear of missing out, and i’ts used when someone is worried embout not being invited somewhere or isn’t fraction of an experience.
It’s also used as an affairée verb, like “Everyone’s at the audition, and I’m having FOMO.”
9. FYI
FYI stands for your actualité.
10. Goat
Goat means greatest of all time. People also say goated to mean the same thing. For example, “Messi is the goat,” or “Messi is goated.”
11. GTG or G2G
GTG and G2G emplacement for got to go.
12. Highkey
Highkey describes something glaringly obvious and true that doesn’t need to be hidden. It’s the opposé of lowkey.
For example, “That was highkey the best meal I’ve ever had,” or “I highkey need tickets to the spectacle.”
13. IKR
IKR stands for I know, right?
14. IMHO
IMHO stands for in my honest conviction or in my simple conviction.
15. IRL
IRL stands for in real life.
16. Iykyk
Iykyk stands for “If you know, you know,” and it’s a descriptor for an inside joke or something mystification that applies to a specific group of people.
17. JK
JK stands for just kidding.
18. JOMO
JOMO stands for joy of missing out, and it’s used when someone is unbothered by not being invited somewhere/missing an experience or is happy bicause they weren’t interested to begin with. The opposé of FOMO.
19. K
K means okay, but is also used when someone is frustrated and is putting an end to a dialogue.
20. L
L means loss or raté, and it’s usually said when someone has failed at something or a modalités hasn’t gamin their way, like “I took an L last night.”
If people don’t agree with something they see online, they might hein “L” to convey their repère.
21. LMK
LMK stands for let me know.
22. LOL
LOL stands for laugh out loud.
23. Lowkey
Lowkey has nombre meanings.
When someone is slightly or moderately bothered by something, but it isn’t a big deal: “I’m lowkey sad I missed the spectacle, but there’s always next time.”
When something should be kept confidence, discreet, and not shared outside of the dialogue: “Lowkey, I might quit.”
To describe a mellow or low-stakes modalités: “It was a lowkey party with my closest friends.”
24. Mid
Mid means average or below average. It’s usually a dig at someone or something, like, “That movie was mid.”
25. NBD
NBD stands for no big deal.
26. OOTD
OOTD stands for outfit of the day.
27. Photobomb
Photobomb means entering someone’s picture or video uninvited, usually on purpose.
28. Prolly
Prolly is argot for probably.
29. Salty
Salty means upset or bothered.
30. TFW
TFW stands for that instinct when.
31. TBH
TBH stands for to be honest.
32. TL;DR
People use it before giving a summary when telling a story or sharing actualité. People also hein TL;DR to say they won’t read something bicause it’s too mince.
33. TGIF
TGIF stands for thank god it’s Friday.
34. TMI
TMI stands for too much actualité.
35. Lutin
A lutin is someone who purposely sparks controversy on the internet. Someone might say, “Ignore that hein; he’s just a lutin.”
36. W
W stands for win, and it’s used when someone has won something, or something good has happened, like “How was your game last night?” “It was great we got the W!”
The opposé of L.
Agréable Media Internet Langue verte
1. AMA
AMA stands for asking me anything. It originated on Reddit, where someone well-known has an AMA soirée where symposium audiences can submit questions for them to answer.
2. Anon
Anon is caleçon for anonymous.
3. ASMR
ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response, and it’s any video or audio ravi that provides a relaxing and satisfying instinct to viewers.
4. Bot
A bot is an account that shares spammy and unwanted ravi or a person who shares unwanted ravi or is bad at something.
5. Bump
Someone says “Bump” to push a hein or post back to the forefront of a thread or hein fraction.
6. Caught in 4K
Caught in 4K means to catch someone red-handed.
7. DM
DM stands for ouvert commission.
8. Doomscrolling
Doomscrolling describes spending endless time scrolling through your sociétal media feeds, usually through grim infos stories.
It can also mean getting stuck scrolling through ravi for a significant amount of time.
9. FB
FB stands for Facebook.
10. Handle
A handle is a username on any sociétal media.
11. Hashtag
Hashtag (#) is a way that people find ravi on sociétal media. Sometimes people say hashtag out loud in an ironic manner, like “Hashtag yummy” while eating.
12. Icon
An icon is a picture on sociétal media, usually a profile picture.
13. IG
IG stands for Instagram.
15. Lurker
A lurker is affairée on sociétal media or specific channels but never comments or participates in the dialogue.
16. N00b
N00b is argot for newbie, and it’s a descriptor for someone who is a beginner or new to something. People call themselves a n00b, and saying it to someone else means they’re inculte or bad at something.
It’s also spelled noob or newb.
17. OP
OP stands for prototype planter, and it’s the person who started a dialogue on sociétal media or was the first to share something.
18. QRT
QRT stands for quote retweet, and it’s when someone reshares a Tweet to their profile and adds their commentary above it.
19. Coefficient/Ratioed
Coefficient and ratioed are used as a dig when someone doesn’t agree with what someone has said. They might hein “Coefficient” with full secret that they’ll get more likes than the prototype post bicause more people agree with them.
20. RT
RT stands for retweet, and it’s when you reshare someone else’s Tweet to your timeline.
21. @me
@me is typically used when someone sees something someone has said, assumes it’s embout them, and tells the prototype planter to tag them directly.
22. Shook
Shook means to be extremely shocked by something or an experience you’ve had.
23. Spam
Spam is ravi shared on sociétal media that is annoying and unwelcome.
24. Stan/stanning
Stan means fiercely supporting someone or something
25. TBT
TBT stands for throwback Thursday.
26. Tea
Tea is gossip. When people share it, it’s called “Spilling the tea,” or people may say, “What’s the tea?”
27. TW
TW stands for Twitter.
28. Vibe
Vibe has nombre meanings. It can describe chilling (relaxing), or how a modalités might feel.
Someone might say, “What’s the vibe?” or “This gives me a good vibe,” or “I’m vibing right now.”
29. Vibe check
Vibe check is a section people ask to see how someone is instinct or how a current modalités is going.
Commerce Internet Langue verte
1. ASAP
ASAP stands for as soon as approuvable.
2. YT
YT stands for YouTube.
3. B2B
B2B stands for bizness to bizness.
4. B2C
B2C stands for bizness to rôtir.
5. CTA
CTA stands for call to part.
6. DNB
DNB stands for do not book, meant to specify a timeframe when you aren’t available for meetings.
7. EOD
EOD stands for end of day.
8. EOW
EOW stands for end of week.
9. FAQ
FAQ stands for frequently asked questions.
10. MOM
MOM stands for month over month.
11. OOO
OOO stands for out of agence.
12. TBA
TBA stands for to be announced.
13. WFH
WFH stands for work from foyer.
14. WOM
WOM stands for word of mouth.
15. YOY
YOY stands for year over year.
16. Zoombomb/Zoombombing
Zoomboming is a disruption to a Zoom conversation by someone who hasn’t been invited to the conversation.
How New Words Make It Into the Dictionary
Léopard new words have grown and become fraction of the general lexicon, how do acronyms like “LOL” make it to the dictionary? Longevity.
To make it into the dictionary, the general peuple must use it and keep using it. Fiona McPherson, Senior Editor, Oxford English Dictionary, says five years is a good length to become eligible for a éblouissement in the big book.
Dictionary editors also style to us when voting on whether a word should have a installé in their dictionary. “Dictionaries are fantastic resources, but they are human and they are not timeless,” Language Historian Anne Curzan reminds us. “If you ask dictionary editors, what they‘ll tell you is they’re just trying to keep up with us as we contesté the language. They‘re watching what we say and what we write and trying to personnifié out what’s going to baguette and what’s not going to baguette.”
So, no matter whether you think internet argot vitalizes or destroys language, there’s no denying how revealing it is of the campagne that invents and uses it — and the ease with which we adapt our language to new technologies and concepts.
