BASIC
For any computer programmers and even a large number of almost computer programmers we all know that BASIC is an acronym for Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instructional Code. And while my focus is not on BASIC itself today, let me add that for a long time I used Advanced BASIC (a seemingly oxymoron in itself) at the office back in my days at IBM and Lexmark – which used basica for the command line launch of the compile and link. To this day, after typing b-a-s-i-c-a-<space>-something else a few hundred thousand times, in regular typing it almost occurs automagically and I can type “… it was a basic thought.” and I will get “…it was a basica thought.” All that aside, I thought a primer on some commonly used abbreviations and acronyms was in order.
Most of these come from chatting and such and some go back in history to 1988, when I got my first exposure to the hobbled together networking contraption that we now know as the internet. It is important to understand that technology gifted folks are inherently lazy. To the point of we would not likely pursue technology if we did see a way to make it work easier or faster by spending the time to pursue it. That leads of course to use wanting to shorten everything down to a simple keystroke or two as a way to describe it. And then of course, even if there is not plausible way to pronounce what you have, we will try to do it anyway.
Part of the reason I am making a note of these is I tend toward not using very many short cuts and tend toward a minimalistic approach. However, I am always amazed at the folks that are texting (140 character limit) and shortening everything under the sun do not know the basic (or is it basica) ones from long ago. So, without further ado, here we go.
- LOL – probably the most common one and the one with which everyone is so familiar. Surprisingly I have occasionally ran into the person that did not it stands for Laughing Out Loud.
- BRB – short cut that is simply Be Right Back, used commonly to polite use the bathroom, refill your coffee or get another beer, and do a head count on the kids, making sure you have at least the minimum number you are responsible for still present.
- BBS - can mean Be Back Shortly or Be Back Soon – though the former is probably more common. Used interchangeably with BRB.
- AFK - Away From Keyboard, used a lot of the time after you have been gone and had not noted you were going to be absent (see BRB, BBS), as in sorry for my lack of response, was AFK. May also be used to excuse yourself similar to BRB and BBS – but probably for a longer period.
- GMTA – though I have twice heard someone trying to fit something for A with Greenwich Mean Time, it has nothing to do with time at all. It is Great Minds Think Alike and usually refers to the situation where you both type a similar idea or thought and because of the lag neither it appeared roughly at the same time. It is almost scary how often my friends have the same thoughts I have – scary for them that is.
- RFLOL – Rolling on Floor and Laughing Out Loud. Come on now, how many are actually doing that?
- RLOL – to my knowledge this is Scarlet 100%. After some discussion she had, how many people are Really Laughing Out Loud when they say they are LOL? I know my observation indicates not many at all. So if you say RLOL people will know (going forward at least) that are REALLY doing it.
- PEBKAC - Okay, this one is getting a little bit deeper into the technology and is usually the code we put for solutions to problems reported. Probably Exist Between Keyboard And Chair – I will leave it to your on BKAC unit to figure out what it is referring to.
- I/O – Typically is Input/Output, though again, in the problem reporting technology world can also be used to refer to a special kind of input/output known as the Idiot Operator.
Well, that is probably enough for the time being, though check back in a few days, as I may come back to this for a few additions as I think on this some more.
* – Image used from a TRS-80 Revival website/blog – talk about the ultimate computer blast from the past, now all I need is to see some Timex Sinclair stuff and I am back to 1980 for sure.
