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an electronic forum in which users can communicate with each other in real time. Chat rooms are found on the Internet (see IRC ) and on online services such as CompuServe and AOL.
People in chat rooms use a lot of abbreviations so they can type as quickly as possible and to offer hints of their emotional reactions (see also emoticon ). Many times the abbreviations are recognized from their context, but until you get the hang of it, a chat room can be a bewildering place. For example, the words two, too, and to are almost never written out-they are replaced by the numeral 2. The numeral 4 is used to replace four and for. See Table 5 for some common phrases.
| TABLE 5 CHAT-ROOM ABBREVIATIONS |
|
| AFAIK | as far as I know |
| AFAIR | as far as I remember |
| AFK | away from keyboard |
| ATM | at the moment |
| BAK | back at keyboard |
| BBL | [I'll] be back later |
| BRB | [I'll] be right back |
| BWAHAHAHAHA | (representation of evil laugh) |
| CUL8R | see you later |
| F2F | face to face |
| FS | for sale |
| FWIW | for what it's worth |
| GR8, GR8T | great |
| IANAL | I am not a lawyer |
| IIRC | if I remember correctly |
| IMHO | in my humble opinion |
| IMO | in my opinion |
| IOW | in other words |
| IRL | in real life |
| ISO | in search of |
| ISTR | I seem to remember |
| J/C | just chilling |
| L8ER, L8TER | later |
| LOL | laugh(ing) out loud |
| MWAHAHAHAHA | (representation of evil laugh) |
| PMJI | pardon me for jumping in |
| QT | cutie |
| ROFL | rolling on floor, laughing |
| S/AC | "sex and age check" (please tell me your age and gender) |
| S/H | same here |
| SW:() | say what!? (gasp) |
| TIA | thanks in advance |
| THX, TNX | thanks |
| TTFN, TT4N | ta-ta (goodbye) for now |
| Y | why? |
| WAZ^ | what's up? |
| WBASAYC | write back as soon as you can |
a computer channel where two or more users can communicate with each other in real time. Chat rooms can be found on many on-line services and on the Internet. One on-line chat room directory lists over 575 available chat room addresses with topics ranging from discussions about the works of Shakespeare to discussions about public health, dinosaurs, airplanes, or life in Hong Kong.
Copyright c 2000, 1994, 1987 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. Reprinted by arrangement with Publisher.
