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The Internet is a great example of how language changes. As more people become interconnected through the world wide web, and communicating across different languages becomes more common, communicating on the web is changing with common jargon, phrases, slang, and acronyms. This new vernacular transcends traditional language barriers. Smart phone technology and texting has motivated many people to embrace this new “short-hand” way of communicating.
A lot of this vernacular is foreign to many people. For example, do you know the meaning of the following common terms?
- IANAL
- YMMV
- ROTFL
- MOS
- TL;DR
- IMHO
- BFF
- IIRC
- AFAIK
- NSFW
- PEBKAC
Here is what those terms mean:
IANAL: I Am Not A Lawyer
YMMV: Your Mileage Might Vary
ROTFL: Rolling On The Floor Laughing
MOS: Mother Over Shoulder
TL;DR: Too Long; Didn’t Read
IMHO: In My Humble Opinion
BFF: Best Friend Forever
IIRC: If I Recall Correctly…
AFAIK: As Far as I Know
NSFW: Not Safe For Work
PEBKAC: Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair
How can you learn all of these terms? There are too many for most people to memorize. Fortunately, only a minority of the terms and phrases are widely used. Many of the terms are obscure and seldom used. The good news is learning what any of these new terms mean is easy. There are several web sites dedicated to listing these terms and phrases. For example:
Often, just typing the term into a general search engine will reveal the meaning.
There is a web site for finding the meaning of phrases and street jargon. Many of these phrases are now common in everyday language and not just the world wide web. Understanding the grand kids can be much easier these days. For example:
Confused about emoticons, sometimes called “smiley faces”? Try this short list:
Looking for old fashioned reference tools for words and phrases? Try these sites:
Want to see how definitions have evolved? Use the Webster’s 1828 or 1913 dictionary:
Never again feel left out of an online conversation. TTYL (Talk To You Later)!
Technical trivia: July 14, 1965. The first human made flyby of Mars by Mariner 4. Fifty years later to the day, July 14, 2015, the New Horizons space probe, a few billion miles away, traveling 9 miles per second, requiring about 4.5 hours to transmit and receive radio signals, sends flyby images of Pluto. The Pluto images make us the first human generation to have viewed up close all of the traditional solar system planets.
Next issue: Privacy Observations About Windows 10.
46 years ago, 20 years before the world wide web existed, humans connected to one another — in spirit — with the most widely watched TV event at the time.
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