- Image by luc legay via Flickr
This past January, I wrote up the “Top 15 Twitter acronyms” for @pistachio‘s Touchbase blog. As readers rightly pointed out, many were abbreviations or initialisms — hence the title for this post. I followed that up with a “Top 10 NSFW Twitter Abbreviations.” This list combines the two and includes some key additions, like HT, RE and FML. If you have others you think I missed, add ‘em in the comments.
@
Reply to [username]
AFAIK
b/c
BFN
BR
BTW
Direct Message. d username sends one.
EM
FB
FF
Usually #FF for Follow Friday. #FollowFriday is supposed to work better than it does. If you #FF someone, take the characters to explain why.
FFS
FML
FTF
Face To Face. Also, F2F. Or the Fair Trade Federation. Many other options.
FTL
FTW
FWD
FWIW
HT
HTH
IMHO
IMO
IRL
JV
J/K
LI
LMAO
LMK
LOL
MT
NSFW
OH
OMFG
OMG
PRT
Partial Retweet (at the start of a tweet). Sometimes “Please Retweet” Old School: Party
RE
In reply to. As in, use RE for @replies on Twitter. Used in front of the @ to ensure all followers can see the conversation. Further ontext: “Community, @replies, #fixreplies and Change“
RR
RT
RTF
Read The FAQ. RTFF shows up too. RTF also stands for Rich Text File.
RTFM
RTHX
SNAFU
SOB
STFU
TMB
TMI
via
My one cheat: “via” is not an abbreviation or acronym. It simply means that a tweet is from @username, though in some cases it may mean that it’s also an exact retweet. Tricky, this online user-defined lingo and twitribution is.
WTF
WTH
YMMV
YW
BONUS:
Since this list was first published, some of these have become more popular and others have emerged. RT is still – by far – the most frequent acronym. New additions are added below, along with many suggestions in the comments.
NB
Nota Bene. Make sure to read the comments, where there are many great additions.
ICYMI
In Case You Missed IT [HT @BrianStelter]
Update: Justin Kownacki thinks we should stop saying “in case you missed it” on Twitter. (That includes ICYMI, too.) I agree.
CX
RTQ
Read The Question or Retweet Question
STFW
TL;DR
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Well this is an interesting post. OMG, AFAIK FWIW I generally try and use ummmm words b/c I can & IMHO IRL, most people do like the fuller word versions. This post did make me LMAO tho.
BFN,
BR,
Katie
Oh & BTW, HTH.
You forgot a word in the explanation of RTFM…
(As you might guess, I can’t say the word… But, under precedent established above, you’d write F–king in its place, no?)
IIRC ~~If I remember correctly.
I see that used fairly often.
TY (thank you)
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OMW – Oh, My word
I actually see this used more as “On My Way.”
Another one that nobody has added is the use of the number 4 to mean “for”.
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Thanks for the information..nice collection
TQ: as Thank you
TQVM : Thank you very much
TQRT : RT thanks
CZ: cause
BCZ: because
great list by the way
Amazing. in spanish TQ es Te Quiero (I want or I love you) and TQM means Te Quiero Mucho ( or I Love you so much). Be careful if your twitt is in spanish
Very insightful and useful too
This is not only works with Twitter. I also use some of them while SMS to my friend. Anyway, nice collection.
Thanks!!! This definitely helps me out.
I always used to hate acronyms when people would send them via text messages but it’s starting to become more mainstream…causing me to accept them. :-/
Thanks for the resource!
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Twitter is so inspiring it makes us think of new stuff all the time. Love live inspired Twitter abverbs.
Just subing is that short for subscribing. LOL
great list! I just have two additions
JFGI-Just F*%#ing Google It
ORLY-oh really!
SMH = Shaking My Head
Someone said the other day in a tweet copied to me but the sentiment was directed chiefly to her; as an old-school Usenet buff I recognised it, but I wonder how many Tweeters would. “Grinning, ducking and running” (ie, I expect this comment to make you want to smack me, but in a light-hearted way).
YGTR means you got that right
I’ve got a whole lot that I use all the time. You know us kids… LOL
4U2C- For you to see
B4- Before
BRB- Be Right Back
GTG- Got To Go
F-U (need not explain this)
L8er- Later
Ppl- People
TTYL- Talk To You Later
TTYS- Talk To You Soon
Tmrw- Tomorrow
W/ – With
YT- YouTube
I substitute ‘the’ with d, some ppl sub it w/ e.
Great list! he should def. add all of these as I use them myself!
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Great INFO … THNKS
My current favourite as of yesterday is PMSL – Piss Myself Laughing. Thanks for the list – very useful
You forgot IKR= I know right?, srsly= seriously. I’m so bookmarking this page. It’ll come in handy when my teenage nieces txt me.
Awesome info! Thanks for compiling them in one spot.
What in the heck does the # symbol mean in Twitter? I see this placed before keywords a lot. (I can’t find this answer online.)
The # is called a hashtag which confused me b/c that has always been a pound symbol. But anyway it is for trending topics or a trend u would like to start. The # makes it “searchable” so u can search 4 tweets that discuss various topics. Google “hashtag” for an even better explanation.
Basically, a hashtag is a way to make any word in a tweet a keyword or a channel. This idea was started by Twitterers and later incorporated into the Twitter code — they now automatically link to search results for any #hashtag in a tweet. It’s a great way to follow a conversation, conference, event, etc.
Quora.com has some great threads re. hashtag usage. And here’s some info straight from the horse’s mouth:
http://support.twitter.com/entries/49309-what-are-hashtags-symbols
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im trying to find out what POW and LBS stand for
Most people understand POW to mean prisoner of war. LBS can either mean a location-based service, like Gowalla or Foursquare, or lesbian-bisexual, as one might find in a personal ad.
Amazing, but TQ is Te Quiero (I love you) in spanish and TQM is Te Quiero Mucho (I love you so much). Be careful if your twitt is followed in hispanic communities. And whata a h. means #?
You forgot a couple: RTFM can be stated as “read the fine manual.” A lot of fine work went into writing it so READ THE FINE MANUAL!
MT – Modified Tweet (for when you must edit for space while retaining the meaning and credit). Created by @Shoq.
FCO – For Crying Outloud…. One of my faves.
RTL = Retweet Love
YRVW = You Are Very Welcome
TYVM = Thank You Very Much
BBL = Be Back Later
TTFN = Ta-Ta For Now
TTYS = Talk To You Soon
C ya = see ya
Great additions.
Good list!
You forgot a treasured oldie that could easily still be used today.
FUBAR
F___ed Up Beyond All Repair.
I’m sure grandad would have appreciated that one.
I love your list here I think you should incorporate their abbreviations.
I have some that I use
bc = because
w/o = without
b/w = black and white, like in photo.
FUBAR = Fraked Up Beyond All Recognition
CAMEL BACK CODE TO SAVE SPACE LIKE
(1st letter of every word a CAP)
CamelBackCodeToSaveSpaceLike
Thx = Thanks
Pls = Please however others seem to use Plz.
Abt = About
thght = thought
MB = maybe
FFT = Food for thought
FS = For Special
RTFM = Read the fraking manual
RTFP = Read the fine print
w = with
OTC = Over the counter drug or purchase.
n giv = not given
MOW = Meals on Wheels
H2O = Water Element codes used here.
AU = Gold
AG = Silver
Thanks. I listed the most frequent acronyms used on Twitter, but these add more flavor.
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Ive seen pwn and ZOMG but I don’t know what they mean.
pwn is hacker slang for “own,” as in they’ve taken over a computer system. ZOMG is an alternate version of OMG, or oh my god.
I have heard someone on TV say ROFL but I can’t find out what it means. HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Usually ROTFL – as in rolling on the floor laughing.
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Uh? And /cc ?
Widely used in Twitter to “carbon copy” a tweet to another user
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What does <3 mean?
<3 = heart/love
SAHM stay at home mom
<3 is a heart
Can anyone tell me what > mean used in a tweet?
cheers!
Great! Really helped me a lot! But what does }: mean? I’ve seen it a few times after a tweet.
}: is a variation of ):- which is a smiley meaning either a frown or a wry grin.
is sticking out the tongue. =^_^= is a cat; some others work only in Twitter and apps where unicode is supported. There are tons of those. •^•
what does smd stand for?
Please, what’s the meaning of TGIF? Have always wanted the meaning to that.
Thanks God It’s Friday
TGIF = Thank Ghod It’s Friday. Goes back decades.
You missed OMLG – oh my lady ga ga
As per urban dictionary http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=omlg
what’s meant by
=
An equal sign declares that the author of the tweet has no vested interest in products or companies named in the tweet. It doesn’t require anyone with conflicting interest to disclose them (although they should) — they can simply leave the = off their tweet.
what does #NT mean?
what does tHnM stand for?
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What does “>” mean at the end as in:
John Doe singing on that commerial. >
MT = Modified Tweet
What’s the meaning of mxm?
TY for twitteri diction! May the birdies all fly and abound correctly!
Gr8 List. Thx.
AFAIC-as far as im concerned
STE scroll to end
STB scroll to bottom