From: egreen@east.sun.com (Ed Green - Pixel Cruncher)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Acronyms (was: Re: DAK mail order)
Date: 25 Aug 1992 20:40:50 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, RTP, NC
Distribution: world
Reply-To: egreen@east.sun.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: laser.east.sun.com

In article 714772958@Ra.MsState.Edu, jpl1@Ra.MsState.Edu (John Patrick Lestrade) writes:
>what does IMHO stand for?  I Must Have Olives?  Idiosyncracy Must Hamper
>Obfuscation?  

IMHO, you should RTFM, or a FAQ if you can't find one.  OTOH, there are
others who don't know, too.  FYI, a FOAF's SO went crazy from curosity
about it once.  YMMV.  :^)

-Ed



A list of abbreviations, acronyms and buzzwords commonly seen on the
net, originally compiled by William December Starr
<wdstarr@athena.mit.edu>, and updated/expanded by Ed Green
(Ed.Green@East.Sun.COM):

ATFQ -- "Answer The F---ing Question!"
        (used when the speaker feels that the recipient has been
        evading the question or answering it incompletely)

BFD  -- "Big F---ing Deal"

BTBO -- "Bites the Big One" or "Bit the Big One"

BTW  -- "By The Way"

DYI -- "Do It Yourself[er]"

FAQ  -- (see "FAQL," below)

FAQL -- "Frequently Asked Questions List" 
        (A list of very commonly asked questions pertaining to the
        newsgroup in question, with answers.  Usually maintained by a
        hapless volunteer and reposted in the group at regular intervals)

FOAD -- "F--- Off and Die" (see ESAD)

FOAF -- "Friend Of A Friend" (qualifying 3rd hand information)

FYI  -- "For Your Information"

IMHO -- "In My Humble Opinion" or "In My Honest Opinion"
IMNSHO -- "In My Not So Humble Opinion"
IMO  -- "In My Opinion"

MFAQ, 
MFAQL -- variations on FAQ and FAQL, where M = "Most"

MOTAS,
MOTOS,
MOTSS -- "Member(s) of the {Appropriate | Opposite | Same} Sex"

Ob.  -- "Obligatory"  (usually used as in  "Ob. Star Trek: William
        Shatner couldn't direct his way out of a paper bag," when the
        comment is (a) at/near the end of the posting and (b) the only
        thing in the posting which clearly has anything to do with the
        newsgroup in question [in this example, rec.arts.startrek])

OTOH -- "On The Other Hand"

RFI  -- "Request For Information"

RSN  -- "Real Soon Now"

RTFM -- "Read The F---ing Manual!" or "Read the Fine Manual!"

RTM  -- derived from RTFM

[sic] -- "No, the immediately preceding word/phrase is _not_ a typo
        or a stupid mistake (or if it is, it's deliberate) -- it's
        exactly what I meant to say."  Most commonly used when
        reproducing _somebody else's_ mistake or misspeech, as in:

            "Congress is not the sole suppository [sic] of wisdom."

                                        -- Rep. Bill Schuette (R-Mich)

.sig -- a person's signature (appended at the end of an article or
        letter), or the file in which a person keeps his default
        signature

SO   -- "Significant Other"  
        (Usually refers to one's lover/wife/husband/girlfriend/
        boyfriend/mistress/master/slave/pet-goat/whatever)

typo -- a typographical error

WKF  -- "Well-Known Fact" (often used sarcastically)

WRT  -- "With Regard To"

YA... -- "Yet Another..." (unless the article is about writing or
        publishing, in which case YA might mean "Young Adult")

YMMV -- "Your Milage May Vary"

:-)  -- "Smiley"  Used to indicate that the preceding text is meant
        to be taken humorously rather than seriously.  There are a lot
        of variations on this --  :^)  ;->  8=)  etc. -- and sometimes 
        it's reversed (-: in which case it means, um, the same thing.

        (If you're having trouble figuring out why this symbol is used,
        try mentally rotating it 90 degrees clockwise and noting how
        the two dots of the colon become eyes, the dash a nose and the
        parenthesis a smiling mouth.)

        :-| and :-( are also seen ocasionally; the former means
        either "I'm being serious here" or "I have ambivalent feelings
        about this," and the latter means "this makes/has made me
        unhappy or angry."

	:-/ is often a smirk, implying sarcasm.

from rec.motorcycles:
Kot_ -- "Keeper of the [blank]"
DoD -- Denizens of Doom (a net motorcycle club, if you must ask, do it
	in email)

from alt.sex.bondage:
B&D  - bondage and domination, bondage and discipline
S&M -  s/m  - SM - sadism and masochism, slave/master, sex magic
P&T - p/t - power and trust
d/s - dominance and submission
top - the dominant partner
bottom - the submissive partner

---
Ed Green, former Ninjaite |I was drinking last night with a biker,
  Ed.Green@East.Sun.COM   |and I showed him a picture of you.  I said,
DoD #0111  (919)460-8302  |"Go on, get to know her, you'll like her!"
 (The Grateful Dead) -->  |It seemed like the least I could do...

Newsgroups: misc.consumers