Text Abbreviations

The Internet has spawned a range of new abbreviations and acronyms often used in email, on the Usenet newsgroups, and on the IRC as short forms for longer phrases to make typing and therefore communicating easier. Some of the standard Internet text abbreviations are shown below.

Abbreviation

Translation

afaik

as far as I know

bcnu

be seein’ you

brb

be right back

btw

by the way

c

see

cwyl

chat with you later

fwiw

for what it’s worth

fyi

for your information

hhok

ha ha only kidding

hth

hope this helps

imho

in my humble opinion

iow

in other words

np

no problem

oic

oh I see

otoh

on the other hand

pov

point of view

ppl

people

rtfm

read the freakin manual

ttfn

ta ta for now

ttyl

talk to you later

u

you

wb

welcome back

wrt

with respect to

y

why

ymmv

your mileage may vary