Common forum abbreviations list

[Ireth]

Found another abbreviation popping up now and again: HTH, for "hope this helps!"

 

[Tevaras]

Good evening Ireth,

good to 'see' you online again, I hope the computer issues are well and truly sorted by now?

Anyway, thank you for the addition, nice to see you remembered the thread .


Have a good Christmas and New year,

Tevaras

 

[Tevaras]

The abbreviations list to date (big thank you to all the contributors):
WIP = Work In Progress
NIP = Novel In Progress
MC = Main Character
POV = Point Of View
FMC = Female Main Character
GOT = Game of Thrones
ASOIAF = A Song of Ice and Fire
GRRM = George R.R. Martin
LOTR = Lord of the Rings
HP = Harry Potter
UKL = Ursula K. Le Guin
OP = Original poster (the person) or Original Post (the first post in the thread)
WC = Word Count
WOW = for World of Warcraft
FP = first person
SP = second person
TP = third person
MS = Manuscript or Mythic Scribes
TINSTAAFL = There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
TANSTAAFL = There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (grammatically incorrect)
BD = Black Dragon
HTH = Hope This Helps

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Not to be sexist but why do we have a female main character (FMC)? And if we must specify main characters by gender why is there not a male main character? (Of course MMC is also Mitsubishi Motors Corp but I don't think anyone will mind.)

To add to the list there's ROTF and ROTFLMAO (sometimes ROTFLMFAO) Rolling On The Floor Laughing My F***ing A**e Off!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Pythagoras]

what does IMO mean?

 

[Devor]

what does IMO mean?

IMO = In My Opinion. Sometimes you'll also see IMHO = In My Honest Opinion

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I thought it was In My Humble Opinion.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Hi,

Not to be sexist but why do we have a female main character (FMC)? And if we must specify main characters by gender why is there not a male main character? (Of course MMC is also Mitsubishi Motors Corp but I don't think anyone will mind.)

Cheers, Greg.

Not sexist, it's a valid question. It's the answer that has it's roots in ambient sexism, and it's awesomesauce that you even have to ask - that means things are looking up. A white male main character, as I'm sure many of us know, is seen as the default. Therefore we have terms such as Female Main Character and Person of Color (POC) to specify that we are not working with the default settings.

 

[Devor]

I thought it was In My Humble Opinion.

Woops, you're right.

 

[BWFoster78]

Can we refer to this list as the CFAL?

 

[CupofJoe]

Can we refer to this list as the CFAL?

And there really should be a TLA for CFAL... maybe its TFC - Tla For Cfal...
YMNF - Your mileage may vary [you might have a different opinion/experience]
TL-DR - Too long - didn't read [often meant somewhat ironically at the end of a long post so you can just read the summary of their argument]
and for authors I'd add
JRRT - Daddy Tolkien
PKD - Philip K Dick
HPL - Howard Philip Lovecraft
but I guess this list could be almost endless...

 

[A. E. Lowan]

And there really should be a TLA for CFAL... maybe its TFC - Tla For Cfal...
YMNF - Your mileage may vary [you might have a different opinion/experience]
TL-DR - Too long - didn't read [often meant somewhat ironically at the end of a long post so you can just read the summary of their argument]
and for authors I'd add
JRRT - Daddy Tolkien
PKD - Philip K Dick
HPL - Howard Philip Lovecraft
but I guess this list could be almost endless...

You and Brian are both bent... just tossing that out there, FYI.

 

[Caged Maiden]

Right, I've seen it listed FPOV for first person POV, and I think that's how I write it more often than not, rather than spelling it out. Otherwise, I'll say something like, "In a deep third limited POV, you get sentences like..." I would not advocate overusing acronyms and getting really confusing. We don't need it looking like a lonely hearts column.

I'd also just like to mention a few abbreviations we use that have meanings too.

Beta- Beta reader
Crit- Critique
fasterskating is a way of saying the author is writing details to please them self rather than considering the reader in the process.

 

[chrispenycate]

and for those who're not as forum savvy I've copy/pasted a list of odd standards. Though I admit in my first forum I didn't even know what pm stood for until it was explained.


AAMOF = As a matter of fact
ASAP = As soon as possible
AFAIK = As far as I know
BEG = Big evil grin
EOT = End of text
FTL = faster than light
FYI = for your information
GEO = Geosynchronous Orbit (orbit with revolution period matching Earth's rotational period; in general, orbits with apogees and perigees between 30,000 and 40,000 km. Geostationary orbit = circular orbit with zero inclination irt equator -- most comm sats)
GMTA = Great minds think alike
HTH = Hope this helps
IMAO = In my arrogant opinion
IME = In my experience
IMO = In my opinion
IMHO = In my humble opinion
IMNSHO = In my not so humble opinion
KISS = Keep it simple, Stupid
LEO = 1. Law enforcement officer, 2. Low-Earth orbit (apogees and perigees below 3000 km -- most satellites)
MEGO = My Eyes Glaze Over. Informational overload, lost in jargon and/or technicalities.
NIMBY = Not in my back yard
OTL = Our timeline (vice alternate history timeline)
OT = Off topic
OTOH = On the other hand
PC = 1. Personal computer (esp. IBM-based technology); 2. Political Correctness (a statist political and social philosophy demanding (usu. quota-based) equal outcome at the expense of equal opportunity, and the elimination of all "offense" and "inequality" for defined minorities at the expense of those not defined as minorities.
PEBCAK = Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard
POV = Point of View
SWMBO = She Who Must Be Obeyed. Spouse/SO. Sometimes meant ironically, sometimes jokingly, sometimes facetiously, sometimes seriously. From Rumpole of the Bailey (pos. orig. She by H. Rider Haggard)
TAFITGFT = Tar And Feathering Is Too Good For Them
TfHB = Tinfoil Hat Brigade
TFIC = Tongue firmly in cheek
TIA = Thanks In Advance
YA = young adult (usually refers to books aimed at teenagers)

 

[Devor]

I'm not sure how many of those I've seen. But every time I look at this thread I think of at least one more.

YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary. It means that people are going to disagree about how much a particular point is a good thing or a bad thing. People use all sorts of crazy abbreviations. YMMV about whether that's butchering the English language.

And of course, Mod = Moderator