h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Can someone compile, or direct me to :

A list of all those enigmatic abbreviations.

You know the ones - IMHO, LOL etc etc. (I know what they mean, but there are lots more)

Some are not obvious. And many are not obvious to non-native speakers or people like me, who have not been in contact with the language on a day-to-day basis since computers were invented. (I am more comfortable telling someone how to use a computer in German than in English)

For nitpickers: I know computers were invented before I was born, I mean "in common use".

Thank you.

You might find http://www.h2g2.com/A292367 of some help

;^)#
HHGTTG - Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy books, radio & TV as opposed to h2g2 the website

ISTR not having too much trouble understanding TLAs. YMMV. If in doubt RTFFAQ.

That makes about as much sense as if I sat and wrote a posting in German.

I probably would understand the German...

Or I did it in Welsh!!! As we are all sat in front of real keyboards, surely most of these abreviations are just laziness and should be kept for SMS messages? Personally I don't mind spelling mistakes & grammatical errors (there's one posting that made me giggle, not too far from here)from others, but it would be the height of bad manners to start correcting people (or is that just my British reserve?).

I have been known to correct people I know really well, and vice versa. Usually include a smiley to show it isn't serious. Beware, people who correct postings invariably include a mistake in the correction

I'm an Instant Messenger user (and ex-ICQ user - it just won't work on my PC any more), and if there's one thing I can't abide it's being greeted with "A/S/L"?

It's all so impersonal. If I answer "18/M/UK" and the other person turns out to be male as well, they just tend to say "oh, bye" and vanish.

And as for "LOL!!!". I mean, how many people actually _physically_ laugh out loud much at their computer? I have been known to (especially on h2g2), but not as much as people seem to randomly shove into Instant Messages. AND people think they can be rude, and then shoving a will make it all better!

And ANOTHER thing. Why do people feel the need to type 'R' 'U' etc. instead of typing the whole word? Three or four letters, that's all it takes. For some reason, I always end up with the feeling that the other person is illiterate.

My, I'm ranting again aren't I. It's because I recently watched an episode of One Foot In The Grave. (That's the British, not the Bill Cosby version).

Yes, the "RU" and "CU" business is rather silly, now it's been pointed out to me. It's like packet food. You can buy quick mixes for simple things like sponges or pancakes, that to make up are hardly any more bother than making them from the real ingredients. The more complicated dishes you have to make the longhand way, though -there aren't always quick packet versions of those.

Actually, I don't see too much of the TLA use any more. (sorry, couldn't resist). If I do use them, it's a hangover from my military days, way back when, when we used to use a sort-of Internet thing to communicate, and also communicate via telex. For me it was OK (I can type very fast and - usually - very accurately) but if we had to communicate with some squaddie in the field who's secondary job was to take one duty a week in the communications bit, then it was difficult for them to type the whole words/sentences without dropping the link. Then it was more important to keep the link going.
Some people use the acronyms as a hangover from that (ie. we wrinklies) and some are the younger ones are uset to "texting". But there is really no need....

Sounds like you two have bumped into my little sister online...

Send her over, we'll show her the difference between a packet mix cake and a real one.

And besides, LOL means "lots of love" to many people. Otherwise, why would they sign their messages, LOL, Janet.

What does ROtFL mean?

IMO seems to mean "in my opinion".
IMHO seems to mean "in my humble opinion" but actually means, "don't you dare contradict me".

Well, if you're giving cooking lessons (in your shiny new kitchen!)... sign me up.

ROTFL: Rolls on the floor laughing. If I did that I'd probably get strange looks from other people in the computer cluster.

IMHO is highly overused, though I quite like the slight piss-take thereon of IMOSVHO and IMNSHO.

Well, my interpretation of LOL always was 'lots of laughters'. That's not as silly as 'laugh out loud'.

Actually, IMO and LOL have never bothered me. At least if someone writes "IMO" at the end of a statement, it shows that they're thinking and realise that not everyone else necessarily shares the "O", as it were.
LOL - well haven't you ever been reading a funny book on a bus or train and wanted to burst out laughing, but haven't because everyone (in Germany, anyway) would just stare. To me writing LOL conveys the same thing. But that's just IMO (hahahahaha)
I try not to use them. Unless I want to annoy!

And what was all that from Bagpuss: can't remember the letters, but went something like IMOQWERTZWXO
Something like that.
And what about TTFN - that's way older than the internet.
And who remembers Ronnie Barker on The Two Ronnies, teaching us all to speak Swedish (LO - F U N E X?) brilliant