Translating Chatroom Speech on the Internet

For someone who doesn’t often participate in online chatroom or forum discussions, keeping up with the chat in your online Bingo game can be quite confusing. Rather than take the time to type out what they want to say, players often use slang and acronyms to talk to you, which is basically jibberish to someone not familiar with online terminology.

To make your online Bingo more enjoyable, and hopefully help you understand what people are saying to you, I will try to define some of the most commonly used Bingo acronyms here for you in this article. It really isn’t that difficult to decipher online chat, once you know what all the acronyms and slang really mean. One of the easiest ways to spot an online newbie is that they don’t have a clue what you are saying when you type something like WTG, or ROFL. If you think about them long enough, you can probably figure out what they mean, but how many numbers are you missing by sitting there staring at lines of chat? You could win the game and not ever even know it, because you are so engrossed in what is being said.

Many of these acronyms are used in everyday chatroom talk, not just Bingo chat. A few of the easier ones are: AFK (away from keyboard), ASL (groan, age, sex, location, often used by teenagers), the dreaded ASLP (ASL plus picture, again a teen thing), BC (be cool), BRB (be right back), LOL (laughing out loud), NM (nevermind), NP (no problem), F2F (face to face), GG (good game), GL (good luck), SS (so sorry), PPL (people), and OMG (oh my gosh).

If you see someone type 1tg, 2tg, 3tg, etc, they are telling you how many more numbers they need to get in order to call Bingo and win the game. There are many more acronyms used frequently in chat rooms, too many to list here in one article without putting you to sleep. These are the basic ones that you will see, and if you one that is unfamiliar, look it up online, or just ask someone else in the room. Most people will be happy to tell you what the acronyms mean, however, you will on occasion meet someone who might be rude about it.

You should be familiar enough with online Bingo lingo now to not stand out so much in the chat room, and to be able to keep up with most of what is being said, so you should be G2G, (good to go)!

Some common chatroom acronyms:

AFK – Away from keyboard
ASL – Age, sex, location?
B4N – Bye for now
B4 – Before
BAC – Back at computer
BBL – Be back later
BF – Boyfriend
BC – Be cool
BFN – Bye for now
BOT – Back on topic
BRH – Be right here
BRB – Be right back
BTW – By the way
CU – See you
CUL8R – See you later
CUL – Catch you later
CYA – See ya
EAK – Eating at keyboard
DIY – Do it yourself
EOD – End of discussion
F – Female
EOL – End of lecture
F2F – Face to face
FYI – For your information
G2G – Gotta go
GAS – Greetings and salutations
GG – Good game
GF – Girlfriend
GL – Good luck
GJ – Good job
GM – Good move/match
gr8 – Great
Hb – Hurry back
H&K – Hugs and Kisses
HF – Have fun
IAC – In any case
IC – I see
IK – I know
Imo – In my opinion
IRL – In real life
J/P – Just playing
J/K – Just kidding
K – OK
L8R – Later
LTR – Long term relationship
LOL – Laugh out loud
N – In
M – Male
N2M – Not too much
NM – Nevermind
NP – No problem
OMG – Oh my gosh
OIC – Oh, I see
PLZ – Please
QT – Cutie
R – Are
S2R – Send to receive
SS – So Sorry
TCO – Taken care of
TMA – Take my advice
TIA – Thanks in advance
TNX – Thanks
TY – Thank you
U – You
UR – Your
U2 – You too
W8 – Wait
WB – Welcome back
W8AM – Wait a minute
WOT – Waste of time
WE – Whatever
WTG – Way to go!
? – Please explain
Y – Why?
?4U – Question for you
:eg: – evil grin
:g: – grin
:bs: – big smile
:s: – smile
:wg: – wicked grin
:vbs: – very big smile
2U2 – To you too
1tg- One to go
2tg- Two to go
3tg -Three to go

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