Internet Slang, or "IDK, What Do All These Acronyms Mean?"

Internet Slang, Webspeak, and Textspeak

(For an introduction to this blog, go here.)

Internet slang ("webspeak") and textspeak have become so popular that Valentine conversation hearts now contain such moving messages as “ILU” and girls in cell phone commercials comment, “IDK, my BFF Jill?” If you’re not in on these acronyms and phrases, it can sound like a mysterious code or insubstantial gibberish.

Obviously, Internet slang isn’t limited to teenagers. It’s prolific among my own twenty-something crowd, and you can find people of all ages using it. I'll try to focus on its use among teenagers.

But first, I'll address some Frequently Asked Questions.

But shouldn’t we discourage this kind of language?
Critics decry Internet slang as a deterioration of language, used by the lazy and semi-literate. But many people who abbreviate in text messages are perfectly capable of writing articulately. A lot of the people who use slang and acronyms online do so to be funny and informal, writing clearly and even eloquently when they so choose (I count myself among these people). There is a concern that younger people can't do this, that teenagers are unable to separate informal webspeak and formal language. In any case, I believe it's important to understand how students are communicating and to teach them how to know what type of language is appropriate for different settings.

(Some articles of interest: "Does Text Speak Affect Grammatical Ability?", Grammar Girl's thoughts on Text Messaging Grammar, "Instant Messaging: Friend or Foe of Student Writing?", "Literacy and Text Messaging," University of Toronto study shows texting may help grammar)


Why would someone choose to use Internet slang?
Using abbreviations and stock phrases saves a lot of time. The Internet represents instant communication—no one wants to dawdle. Also, the Internet is a sarcastic place. Many “mistakes” are made purposefully to mock people who can’t spell or can’t type. A lot of misspellings, grammatical mistakes, and acronyms are done on purpose for the laughs. (“For the lulz,” as we Internet nerds say).

But some of this language is inappropriate!
Interestingly, curse words are often accepted online when they wouldn’t be in person. This may be a product of the sarcastic and hyperbolic tone often used online. Many frequenters of the Internet freely use acronyms containing words they seldom use. For example, I sometimes catch myself typing WTF, even though I never say “What the F***” to anyone in person. Of course, there are people that fully mean every curse word they type, but you get foul-mouthed people in real life (IRL), too.

What’s the deal with the inconsistent capitalization?
With all slang, even acronyms, capitalization is optional. Typing something in all caps is usually done for emphasis, while leaving it in lower case letters gives it a more offhanded feel. Some people get made fun of for “yelling” if they type in all caps all the time. And, of course, capitalizing is sometimes just done “for the lulz.”

I actually heard a student say the letters “OMG!” in conversation.
A lot of Internet slang has spread and is now used in actual conversation. As on the Internet, this slang is primarily used to be funny—or, once again, “For the lulz.” Many young people use Internet and texting terms without thinking, which can cause confusion in more formal settings. Once again, we need to help students learn when it's okay to use webspeak and when it's not.

Hasn’t someone else already defined all these terms?
Urban Dictionary has defined all the slang I cover and more. I just thought it would be handy to have the most common Internet terms all in one place, with my own school-related definitions. If you have any questions that I don’t answer, please check this site. Just be warned that some terms and definitions on Urban Dictionary are rude and inappropriate (“nsfw,” as we say). As a wiki-like site to which anyone can add, Urban Dictionary can contain entries that aren’t fact-checked, so it's not 100% reliable.


And without any more ado, I present a list of common Internet and texting slang:

Abbreviations and Acronyms:

• LOL, also LUL or LAWL; plural LOLS, LULZ; adj. lulzy; v. “to lol”, past tense “I lol’d” – stands for “Laugh(ing) Out Loud,” though often used to express general amusement when the writer isn’t actually laughing aloud; sometimes said aloud (pronounced “lul” instead of L.O.L., an acronym instead of an initialism) instead of actually laughing, though almost always done in a sarcastic or ironic manner; Example: “LUL, I almost put toothpaste on my face this morning.”
• For the lulz – to do something for the lulz is to do it for the laughs, simply to be funny; often used as justification for bad jokes and pranks; Example: “I did it for the lulz!”
• ROTFL, also ROFL (occasionally shows up as the nonsensical roflcopter) – stands for “Rolling On The Floor Laughing,” or just “Rolling On Floor Laughing”; used to express amusement, like LOL, but implies more laughter; Example: “Best joke I’ve heard all day! ROTFL!”
• LMAO – stands for “Laughing My A$$ Off”; used to indicate amusement, more than LOL; about the same as ROFL; Example: “That is the funniest story ever! LMAO!”
• jk, or j/k – stands for “Just Kidding”, used to identify jokes and sarcasm online where it’s difficult to read for tone; Example: “j/k I’m not really dying my hair!”
• OMG – stands for “Oh My God!” Occasionally, typed as HOMG for emphasis, though the H doesn’t really stand for anything; Example: “OMG did you hear about Reginald and Clementine?!”
• WTH – stands for “What The Hell?” An exclamation of disbelief or frustration; Example: “I studied for this quiz but still got a C, WTH?”
• WTF – stands for "What the F***", a more severe version of WTH; Example: “WTF is she wearing? A tent?”
• STFU – stands for “Shut the F*** Up”; used in anger or dismissal, but also humorously, like how some people say “Shut up!” instead of “I don’t believe it!”; Example: “I'm reading Emma and in it, Miss Bates seriously needs to STFU.” or "He actually did it?! STFU!"
  
• GTFO – stands for “Get The F*** Out”; can be used to tell someone to actually leave, or simply to show anger; can be used to tell famous people, ideas, and concepts to leave; Example: “GTFO, Malvolio, no one likes you,” or “People with mullets seriously need to GTFO"
• 2 – stands for “to”; Example: “Going 2 the dance?”
  
• plz – short for “please”; Example: “Bring snacks, plz!”
  
• ppl – short for “people”; Example: “I’m not made of money, ppl.”
  
• k – short for “okay”; Example: “Let’s go together, k?”
  
• u – short for “you”; Example: “I’ll miss u!”
  
• bb – stands for “baby”; Example: “Hey, bb, how are you?”
  
• ur – stands for “your”; Example: “I’m in ur driveway, let’s go!”
  
• ru – stands for “are you”; Example: “ru kidding?”
  
• thx – short for “thanks”; Example: “Thx for the comments!”
  
• kthxbai – short for “Okay, Thanks, Bye”; used to end and/or dismiss a point; often used humorously; Example: “Americans HAVE to stop doing crappy remakes of Asian horror films. That’s all there is to it, kthxbai."
  
• srs – short for “serious”; also adj. srsly; sometimes said “for srs”; often pronounced as it’s written, like “sirs” or "sirs-lee"; Example: “It was the weirdest moment ever, srsly.”
  
• BF – stands for “boyfriend”; Example: “I’m going to a movie with my bf.”
  
• BFF – stands for “Best Friend(s) Forever”; Example: “Benvolio and I are BFFs.”
  
• brb – stands for “Be Right Back”; used to indicated a brief absence from the computer or phone, though use has grown to include any brief absence; sometimes used for the lulz; Example: “Dinner time, brb.” or “Going to Narnia, brb!”

• gtg – stands for “Got to Go”; indicates that the writer has to end the conversation and leave, sometimes abruptly; Example: “gtg nice talking to you! See you tomorrow!”
  
• TTYL – stands for “Talk To You Later”; used to end a conversation, like gtg; "Thanks for chatting! TTYL."
  
• FTW – stands for “For The Win”; expresses approval; usually follows a description of what you approve of; Example: “Red gummy bears FTW!”
• NVM - stands for "Never Mind"; Example: "I totally thought we were talking about the movie, not the book. NVM what I said."
  
• TMI – stands for “Too Much Information”; used to react to or warn about sharing unsavory details; Example: “Ewwww TMI! Definitely did not need to hear about your bowel movements, dude.” or “This may be TMI, but I’ve got some serious indigestion right now.”
  
• IDK – stands for “I Don’t Know”; Example: “He was in, IDK, swimming or diving or something like that.”
• IDEK - stands for "I Don't Even Know"; Example: "It was such a weird movie. It was a dream the whole time or something. IDEK."
  
• IMHO or IMO – stands for “In My Humble Opinion” or “In My Opinion”; used before commenting to establish that you’re giving your own opinion; helps you avoid being accused of misrepresenting information; Example: “He’s kinda skeezy, IMO.”
• tl;dr - stands for "Too Long; Didn't Read"; used in response to a post or blog entry that seemed too long and was thus left unread, though commenting on something you didn't read is pretty pointless; sometimes used by the poster to warn readers of impending verbosity or to summarize a post; Examples: "That trends blog entry on slang was massive! tl;dr." or "The tl;dr version of this entry is: people use a lot of jargon on the Internet."
  
• bada$$ - n. someone who is hardcore and awesome or cold-blooded; adj. describes something that is hardcore or awesome; the state of being bada$$ is bada$$ery; Example: “They had some bada$$ fight scenes in that movie.”
  
• BAMF – stands for “BadA$$Motherf***er”; often pronounced like one word; used to describe someone who is truly awesome and hardcore; popularized by stand-up comedian Dane Cook; Example: “Bruce Lee was a serious BAMF.”
  
• ILU – stands for “I Love You”; Example: “Lol, you’re so awesome! ILU, bb!”
  
• FML – stands for “F*** My Life”; used to express frustration and anger; has a site devoted to documenting people's FML moments; Example: “Today I got a flat tire, tore my favorite jeans, and got detention. FML.”
  
• MLIA – stands for “My Life Is Average”; an amusing opposition to FML; has a site devoted to documenting people’s everyday escapades; Example: “Caught myself reading the nutrition facts on my box of Cheerios this morning. MLIA.”
  
• IRL – stands for “In Real Life,” meaning offline; Example: “I work at Burger King IRL.”
  
• nsfw – stands for “Not Safe For Work”; indicates that clicking a link will lead to images or language that you wouldn’t want your boss or coworkers to see (like R or X rated material); also applies to content not safe for school, or not safe to look at while one’s parents are around; Example: “Warning—this video is nsfw.”
  
• amirite? – short for “Am I right?”; used rhetorically; Example: “Waiting at the DMV sucks, amirite?”
  
• iknorite? or inorite? or IKR – short for “I know, right?”; an expression of agreement; sometimes has a shallow, cheerleader-y connotation (characters in the movie Mean Girls were known for saying this); Example: “He’s completely conceited.” “iknorite? He thinks he’s so awesome.”
  
• HDU – stands for “How Dare You?”; usually used sarcastically; Example: “You like lavender better than purple? OMG HDU?!”
• JSYK - stands for "Just So You Know"; Example: "I'm losing my voice, JSYK."
  
• NBD - stands for "No Big Deal"; Example: "This essay is going to be easy. NBD."
  
• AFK – stands for “Away From Keyboard”; used to warn others in a chat or game that the writer will be unable to respond for a while; often used in gaming communities; Example: “Bathroom break – AFK”
  
• ETA – stands for “Edited To Add”; indicates a later addition made to a post; Example: “ETA: Just found out the name of the actor I couldn’t remember is Bill Murray.”
  
• IRC – stands for “If I Recall Correctly”; Example: “Ed Helms started out on the Daily Show, irc.”
• a/s/l? - question posed in chats, asking "Age? Sex? Location?"; Example: "a/s/l?" "18, Male, Kansas."
  

Terms:

• FAIL/WIN – expresses failure or success, also lameness or awesomeness; almost always written in all caps, optional addition of EPIC (EPIC FAIL, EPIC WIN) to emphasize; can be paired with a word describing the nature of the failure/success (DRIVING FAIL for a car smashed into a tree, SARCASM WIN for a particularly witty comment); FAILure has an entire blog devoted to it; always pronounced in a deep-voiced deadpan; Example: “I turned in my project without putting my name on it. FAIL.” or "I found twenty bucks in my pocket! WIN."
  
• EPIC –truly awesome, momentous, or severe; often placed before FAIL/WIN; Example: “Dude remember the part in 300 where there were so many arrows you couldn't see the sun? That was EPIC."
  
• OWNED/PWNED (occasionally spelled with a 3 instead of an E), n. pwnage, adj. pwnsome– a way of saying that someone or something has been schooled or utterly defeated; originally used in gaming communities for particularly impressive defeats (the P variation emerged when someone mistyped the word and others spread it around for the lulz; it’s pronounced like “poned”); often written in all caps for emphasis; like FAIL/WIN, often pronounced with a deep-voiced emphasis; Example: “I totally pwned that test!”
  
• NOOB, n00b, noobie, newbie – someone who is new to a field or activity; used derisively; Example: “He’s such a noob, he doesn’t even know how to use Facebook chat.” or “We’re going to pwn some noobs in this game.”
  
• WOOT, w00t – used to express joy, like “Woohoo!” “Woo” or “Yay!”; originally used in gaming communities as a shortened form of “Woo, loot!”; Example: “I'm going to Florida this summer, woot!”
  
• 733t – "eleet" (elite), part of leetspeak; a special Internet alphabet; if you're wondering, the 7 forms an upside-down L, and the 3s form Es; it’s an in-group way of typing that makes normal words hard to understand if you’re not in on the code; your average Internet nerd knows the term 733T but usually isn’t fluent in 733T speak because, well, it’s an elite thing; Example: “I am so 733T.”
  
• WHAT. or WUT. – not a question, but an expression of disbelief, often displeasure; there is an unspoken “--the hell is this?” at the end, but you're are showing that you're too upset to finish your sentence by leaving it off; almost always punctuated with a period; pronounced in the same deep deadpan as FAIL/WIN and OWNED/PWNED; Example: “They’re doing a crappy remake of my favorite movie? WHAT.”
• THIS. - written in response to something you agree with or something you think is awesome
  
• NOOOOOES! or nuuuuuu! – humorous, often sarcastic form of “NOOOO!”; Example: “He forgot to tie his shoes! Oh noes!”
• teh - mistyping of "the," often used sarcastically to make fun of poor typists; pronounced the way it's (mis)spelled, as "teh"; considered a way to make a statement extra lulzy; frequently used in mockery and macros; Example: "Oh, how I loves teh Interwebz!"
  
• flail – a spastic, gleeful thrashing and waving of the hands or arms; expresses extreme joy; also known as kermitflail, after Kermit the Frog's fantastic flailing in The Muppet Show; Example: “Did you see the trailer for the new Twilight movie? I flailed!” or “OMG DID YOU SEE THAT? FLAIL!”
• squee – a happy squealing noise, often made by fangirls; Example: "He took his shirt off and kissed her! Squeeee!"
  
• fangirl, also fangirling (the act of behaving like a fangirl) – a female fan of a book, movie, TV show, comic, video game, actor, etc.; known for enthusiasm and nerdiness; terrifying in large numbers; occasionally referred to as “rabid”; Example: “Robert Pattinson dresses like a hobo to ward off his crazy fangirls.”
  
• fanboy – a male fan of a book, movie, TV show, comic, video game, actress, etc.; known for enthusiasm and nerdiness; typically seen as whinier and less frantic than fangirls; Example: “The fanboys will really be complaining that the movie version didn’t live up to the graphic novel.”
  
• emo – usually refers to a sullen, self-pitying mood; can refer to an entire style of dress and behavior; Example: “Jacques is being so emo, wandering off by himself and sighing and crap.”
  
• angsty – full of angst; considered attractive in a fictional character by many fangirls (young ladies love it when guys show a dark and tormented side); Example: “Oooh, Edward was all angsty when he thought Bella was dead! He’s sooo hot!”
• legit - short for "legitimate"; Example: "Our guest speaker was a legit author."
  
• HAI, BAI, WAI, HAY – purposeful misspellings of the words "Hi," "Bye," "Way," and "Hey," respectively; used humorously (for the lulz); often used for emphasis; Example: "HAY GUYS!!"
  
• rly – short for "really"; Example: “Are you rly going out with him?”
  
• O RLY? – short for “Oh, really?”; expresses disbelief; used to question someone else’s statement; originated with an owl macro; part of a script of responses that goes O RLY? YA, RLY! NO WAI!

• ya – shortened version of yeah, often pronounced “ya” for the lulz; Example: "YA RLY!"
  
• OM NOM NOM – onomatopoeia signifying enthusiastic eating noises; sometimes used to indicate that the writer figuratively wants to “eat up” something; Example: “I loooooooove cheesecake! OM NOM NOM!” or “I can’t get enough of Terry Pratchett’s books. OM NOM NOM.”
  
• NOMs – food; Example: “The kitty needs more NOMs!”
• MOAR- purposeful misspelling of "more," done for the lulz; Example: "Kitty needs MOAR NOMS!"
• mah - common, purposeful misspelling of "my," done to indicate a lulzy pronunciation; Example: "I need mah cookies!"
  
• serious business (shortened as srs bizniz)– usually used sarcastically to describe something trivial that people take too seriously; Example: “YouTube is serious business.”
  
• whatevs – short for “Whatever,” a term of dismissal; Example: “Whatevs, I don’t have time for this.”
  
• probs – short for “probably”; Example: “I’m probs getting my license soon.”
  
• totes – short for “totally”; Example: “I’m totes going to see that movie when it comes out!”
  
• obvs – short for “obvious” or “obviously”; Example: “It’s a metaphor, obvs.”
  
• trufax – short for "true facts"; used to verify or agree with a statement, even one’s own statement; Example: “He has six TVs, trufax.”
  
• can has – a purposefully incorrect form of “can have,” used humorously; originally used in a cat macro that read “I can has cheezburger?”; Example: “I can has new car?”

• GURL – purposeful misspelling of the word "girl"; used humorously or lightheartedly; Example: “HAY GURL HAY!”
• fren, fran, frenz - purposeful misspellings of friend and friends, often used humorously; Examples: "I'm gonna call all mah frenz!" or "GURL I need to meet your new boyfran!"
  
• HALP! – purposeful misspelling of HELP!, used humorously; Example: "HALP! I'm stuck!"
• FFFFFFF or FFFFFUUUUU - beginning of a shouted curse, but never finished; occasionally, FFFFF will be used to indicated stifled laughter instead; popularized by the Rageguy comic; Example: "I completely forgot that was due today! FFFFUUUU--!"
  
• ____-a$$ – added to the end of words for emphasis, taken from the African American vernacular tradition; Example: “That is one lame-a$$ excuse.”
• lurking, lurker - to lurk is to frequent a site, message board, or other online community without officially joining and contributing posts; seldom has a creepy connotation - it's common for people to lurk on a site before joining; Example: "I used to be a lurker, so I've been around a while but this is my first post."
  
• shoop – to alter a picture; short for Photoshop (verb form, "to Photoshop"), humorously mispronounced as Photoshoop; Example: “She shooped herself into a picture with Robert Pattinson.”
• double rainbow - used to describe something awesome, a reference to a guy's awed reaction to two rainbows in a famous YouTube video; popularized as an adjective by actor Nathan Fillion; appropriate responses include, "Double rainbow all the way!" or "It's so beautiful!" or "What does it MEAN?"; Example: "Did you see that sweet explosion? It was double rainbow!" "All the way!"
  
• fierce – used to describe someone who is fashionable, posh, edgy, and fearless; first coined by Christian Siriano of Project Runway; Example: “Heidi Klum looks fierce in that designer dress.”
  
• fugly – portmanteau word of "f*** ugly"; a fug (n.) is one who is fugly; Example: “That is a fugly old couch.”
  
• durr or hurr – a dimwitted noise or chuckle; used satirically, often to make fun of oneself; Example: “I spent ten minutes looking for my sunglasses but they were on my head, hurr hurr.”
• derp or durp, sometimes herp a derp - a noise similar to durr or hurr made by someone being thoughtless or dorky, often acting more silly or reckless than usual; also used as a noun to indicate one who is thoughtless or dorky; Example: "I tried to pull the push door again, herp a derp!" or "Harry should have known the second task wasn't deadly--he's such a heroic derp."
• re: - short for “regarding;” taken from email subject lines; Example: “I make a lot of posts re: vampires, don’t I?”
  

Phrases:

• DO NOT WANT – used to express extreme displeasure at a situation; originated in poorly translated subtitles of a bootlegged Star Wars movie that people spread around for the lulz; almost always written in all caps; pronounced with emphasis; Example: “My allergies are so bad right now. DO NOT WANT.”
  
• DO WANT, or simply WANT – the opposite of DO NOT WANT; Example: “Those cookies look delicious. WANT.”
• let me show you them - a phrase originating with a cat macro in which a cat holds a Gameboy and says "My Pokemans: let me show you them"; now used when showing anyone anything; Example: "My vacation pictures: let me show you them."
  
• NOOOOO THEY BE _____ING MY _____! - a phrase originating with a walrus (or lolrus) macro in which a Sea World walrus tragically has its bucket taken, prompting an anguished "NOOOOO THEY BE STEALIN' MY BUCKET!"; Example: "Nooooo they be ruining my weekend!"

• ____: I has it - this sort of reverse sentence structure is common with macros and lolspeak; Example: "Charisma: I has it."
  
• for real or for realz or for realsies– "really," or "seriously"; sometimes seen as for realz this time, meaning what was before false or unsuccessful is now right; Example: "I'm going to ask her out, for real this time."
  
• ur doin’ it wrong – “You’re doing it wrong”; often said after stating what is being done wrong; Example: “Science: ur doin’ it wrong.”
  
• you win the internet, also you win an internet, have an internet– a phrase expressing wholehearted approval, usually in response to an especially clever joke; funny because it implies that the Internet is an object you can be awarded, or that there is more than one Internet to give away; Example: “That was the lulziest thing I’ve seen all week. You win the internet.”
  
• I see what you did there, or i c wut u did thar – letting another writer know you caught their joke or reference; Example: “Oh, foreshadowing! I see what you did there, Mr. Author.”
  
• what is this I don’t even, occasionally shortened to “I don’t even”– short for “What is this? I don’t even know!”; a confused, horrified, or disbelieving phrase, with the “know” at the end left unspoken to show just how baffled you are, like you couldn't even complete your sentence; sometimes written without spaces between the words; Example: “They made bacon...soap? WhatisthisIdonteven.” (they did, in case you were wondering)
• I am disappoint or I am excite - originally a caption for a silly image that spread around the Internet; has led to many people leaving off the -ed or -d at the end of words for the lulz; Example: "I can't believe you lost the game last night. I am disappoint." or "The new season starts tomorrow! I am excite!"
  
• It’s over 9000! – emphasizes extreme quantity or degree; originally a line from the anime Dragon Ball Z when one character over-dramatically describes another character’s power level as “Over 9000!”; rarely describes a quantity that is actually over 9000; Example: “This is so much WIN. It’s over 9000!”

• The cake is a lie! – quote from the renowned computer game Portal, used whenever possible by Portal fans; in the game, the player is falsely promised cake by a corrupt computer (the game's antagonist)--cake is never provided, but the player does see some creepy graffiti warning that "the cake is a lie"; may be used to refer to either lies or cake—the presence of both isn’t needed, but of course having your cake and lies, too, is ideal; Example: “WHAT. Lemon cake? I thought it was vanilla! The cake is a lie!”
  

Concepts

• macro – a photo or other image to which a caption has been added; cat macros are the most popular, though people will turn anything into a macro; webspeak (or lolspeak) and purposely incorrect grammar in captions are preferred but not required; Example: “I made some macros last night of my cat being all, ‘I eated your cookie.’”

• meme – an Internet phenomenon; a popular picture, phrase, or video that gets spread around all corners of the Internet; pronounced "meem"; often, memes get parodied and tweaked beyond recognition; Example: “The dramatic prairie dog became a huge Internet meme.” You can look up explanations of popular memes on the site Know Your Meme.
  
• Rick Rolling – when someone is Rick Rolled, she is tricked into clicking a link that leads her to the music video for Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”; a popular prank and Internet meme for a long time, though presently falling from favor; Example: “Remember when that Cartoon Network float at the Thanksgiving Parade got Rick Astley to actually come out and sing? That was the most epic Rick Roll ever.”
  
• spam – an overload of information; also v., the act of sharing overabundant information; way back in the early days of the Internet, someone compared the relentlessness of junk email to the relentless repetition of the word "SPAM" in a Monty Python sketch, and the term stuck; a huge list (like this one!) can be called spam; Example: “So sick of spam in my inbox.” or “I’m spamming you with links!”
  
• troll, also v. "to troll" – someone who makes inflammatory comments on the Internet just to upset other people for his own amusement; trolls claim to be acting “for the lulz,” but often offend others; most websites have a “Don’t feed the trolls” policy, which means that site members are to ignore the troll, denying him the attention he wants; sometimes represented with the troll face; Example: “At first I was like, ‘How could anyone be so stupid?’ but then I realized he was a troll and stopped talking to him.” and "No trolling this site!"
• Omegle - a site where you can chat with random strangers; not intended for younger users, but students may use the site anyway; often, online communities will flock to Omegle for "parties," so there may be sudden swarms of users all talking about the same topic (Justin Bieber, for example); some users love to troll Omegle and will pretend to be fictional characters; Example: "I was trying to chat about Justin Bieber on Omegle, but the other people kept pretending to be Star Trek guys!"
• ChatRoulette - a site where you can video chat via webcam with random strangers; not appropriate for younger users, but, again, students might use it anyway; many users do extremely inappropriate things on video, so students should be discouraged from using the site; Example: "I tried using Chatroulette, but the only people on there were creepers."
  
• Cthulhu - pronounced something like "kuh-THOO-loo"; a terrible, tentacled being created by writer H.P. Lovecraft, appearing in his works like a sort of extraterrestrial deity and forming an entire mythos; now a popular and frequently referenced figure on the Internet, achieving meme-like status in popular culture; Example: "All hail Cthulhu!"
  
• mudkips – a type of Pokemon that became an Internet meme with the awkward “So I heard you like mudkips” story (courtesy of 4chan); now synonymous with lulz; Example: “Lol, I drew a mudkip in his notes!”

• 4chan – a site looked down upon by most of the Internet community for being tasteless and populated by pedophiles; however, 4chan is the origin of many famous Internet memes (like mudkips); avoided like the plague by most people; DO NOT endorse students visiting this site; Example: “Where did that horrible picture come from? Oh. 4chan. Not surprised.”
  
• Rule 34 – Rule 34 of the Internet: If you can imagine it, there is porn of it; originally from an xkcd comic; reflected in the song "The Internet is for Porn" from the musical Avenue Q; easily confirmed through search engines; Example: “She said there wouldn’t be any Care Bear porn, but I Googled it, and there totally was. Rule 34, bb.”
  

Emoticons
There are two main families of emoticon.

First, there’s the classic smiley, :-)
This one is always read sideways by tilting your head to the left. See, the colon forms his eyes!
Common classic emoticons include
:-) for happy
:-( for sad
>:-( for angry (see, he has an angry unibrow)
;-) for winking
:-P for sticking out a tongue
(hyphen noses are considered optional)

Then, there’s the anime smiley, :D or ^_^
:D is read sideways, like the classic smiley. See, his mouth is extra wide because he’s sooo happy!
^_^ is read rightside-up. See, the carrots are closed eyes, and the underscore is her mouth.

In many Internet circles, the anime family of emoticon is more popular, but it really depends on the sites you visit.

Common anime emoticons include
:D for happy
D: for distressed (you tilt your head to the right for this one)
XD for happy—often a silly or sheepish sort of happiness (tilt head to the left, the X is her scrunched-up eyes)
^_^ or ^^ for extra-cute happy
O_O or O_o or ((O_0)) for wide eyes (confusion, fear, surprise, etc.)
T_T or ;_; or ;; for crying (the stems of the Ts and comma bits of the semicolons are tears)
x_x or x.x for dead
>_> or >.> for a sideways glance
:3 for a silly face with a feline mouth
c: also for happy (another head tilt to the right)
:c for sad (tilting back to the left now)
=^_^= for a face with cat whiskers

For a comprehensive list of emoticons, see the Wikipedia page.

Many websites have their own sets of emoticons, actual yellow happy face pictures, but those won't show up in text messages. These aren't used as often, but a few are still popular. Like this guy, widely loved for his eye-rolling, over-the-top grin:

Ways to use what you know about Internet slang/texting in teaching:

• You can better understand what students are saying!
• You can use webspeak examples to teach acronyms and initialisms.
• You can use it to teach writing for different settings.
• You can accept Internet slang in informal assignments—kids will like being able to write in a familiar and comfortable format, and may be eager to use slang for the lulz. I’d consider allowing slang when kids summarize pieces, draw pictures or comics, write in open journals, and “translate” difficult or antiquated texts into modern terms (Shakespeare can become EPIC WIN when you try this).

Next entry: Facebook, or "How Can You Really be Friends with All These People?"