A feature supported by Unix and some other OSes that allows two or
more logged-in users to set up a real-time on-line conversation. It
combines the immediacy of talking with all the precision (and
verbosity) that written language entails. It is difficult to
communicate inflection, though conventions have arisen for some of
these (see the section on writing style in the Prependices for
details).
Talk mode has a special set of jargon words, used to save typing,
which are not used orally. Some of these are identical to (and
probably derived from) Morse-code jargon used by ham-radio amateurs
since the 1920s.
AFAIAC as far as I am concerned
AFAIK as far as I know
BCNU be seeing you
BTW by the way
BYE? are you ready to unlink? (this is the standard way to end a
talk-mode conversation; the other person types BYE to confirm, or
else continues the conversation)
CUL see you later
ENQ? are you busy? (expects ACK or NAK in return)
FOO? are you there? (often used on unexpected links, meaning also
"Sorry if I butted in &ellipsis;" (linker) or "What's up?" (linkee))
FWIW for what it's worth
FYI for your information
FYA for your amusement
GA go ahead (used when two people have tried to type simultaneously;
this cedes the right to type to the other)
GRMBL grumble (expresses disquiet or disagreement)
HELLOP hello? (an instance of the `-P' convention)
IIRC if I recall correctly
JAM just a minute (equivalent to SEC.... )
MIN same as JAM
NIL no (see {NIL})
NP no problem
O over to you
OO over and out
/ another form of "over to you" (from x/y as "x over y")
\ lambda (used in discussing LISPy things)
OBTW oh, by the way
OTOH on the other hand
R U THERE? are you there?
SEC wait a second (sometimes written SEC... )
SYN Are you busy? (expects ACK, SYN|ACK, or RST in return; this is
modeled on the TCP/IP handshake sequence)
T yes (see the main entry for {T})
TNX thanks
TNX 1.0E6 thanks a million (humorous)
TNXE6 another form of "thanks a million"
TTBOMK to the best of my knowledge
WRT with regard to, or with respect to.
WTF the universal interrogative particle; WTF knows what it means?
WTH what the hell?
<double newline> When the typing party has finished, he/she types two
newlines to signal that he/she is done; this leaves a blank line
between 'speeches' in the conversation, making it easier to reread
the preceding text.
YHTBT You Had To Be There. Used of a situation which loses
significant meaning in the telling, usually because it's difficult to
convey tone and timing.
<name>: When three or more terminals are linked, it is conventional
for each typist to {prepend} his/her login name or handle and a colon
(or a hyphen) to each line to indicate who is typing (some
conferencing facilities do this automatically). The login name is
often shortened to a unique prefix (possibly a single letter) during
a very long conversation.
/\/\/\ A giggle or chuckle. On a MUD, this usually means 'earthquake
fault'.
<g> grin
<gd&r> grinning, ducking, and running
BBL be back later
BRB be right back
HHOJ ha ha only joking
HHOK ha ha only kidding
HHOS {ha ha only serious}
IMHO in my humble opinion (see {IMHO})
LOL laughing out loud
NHOH Never Heard of Him/Her (often used in {initgame})
ROTF rolling on the floor
ROTFL rolling on the floor laughing
AFK away from keyboard
b4 before
CU l8tr see you later
MORF male or female?
TTFN ta-ta for now
TTYL talk to you later
OIC oh, I see
rehi hello again
Most of these are not used at universities or in the Unix world,
though ROTF and TTFN have gained some currency there and IMHO is
common; conversely, most of the people who know these are unfamiliar
with FOO?, BCNU, HELLOP, {NIL}, and {T}.
The {MUD} community uses a mixture of Usenet/Internet emoticons, a
few of the more natural of the old-style talk-mode abbrevs, and some
of the `social' list above; specifically, MUD respondents report use
of BBL, BRB, LOL, b4, BTW, WTF, TTFN, and WTH. The use of rehi is
also common; in fact, mudders are fond of re- compounds and will
frequently rehug or rebonk (see {bonk/oif}) people. The word re by
itself is taken as `regreet'. In general, though, MUDders express a
preference for typing things out in full rather than using
abbreviations; this may be due to the relative youth of the MUD
cultures, which tend to include many touch typists and to assume
high-speed links. The following uses specific to MUDs are reported:
CU l8er see you later (mutant of CU l8tr)
FOAD fuck off and die (use of this is generally OTT)
OTT over the top (excessive, uncalled for)
ppl abbrev for "people"
THX thanks (mutant of TNX; clearly this comes in batches of 1138 (the
Lucasian K)).
UOK? are you OK?
Some {B1FF}isms (notably the variant spelling d00d) appear to be
passing into wider use among some subgroups of MUDders.
One final note on talk mode style: neophytes, when in talk mode,
often seem to think they must produce letter-perfect prose because
they are typing rather than speaking. This is not the best approach.
It can be very frustrating to wait while your partner pauses to think
of a word, or repeatedly makes the same spelling error and backs up
to fix it. It is usually best just to leave typographical errors
behind and plunge forward, unless severe confusion may result; in
that case it is often fastest just to type "xxx" and start over from
before the mistake.
See also {hakspek}, {emoticon}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {ACK}{B1FF}{bonk/oif}{comm mode}{ENQ}{forum}{hakspek}{IRC}{mode}{MUD}{talker system}{voice}]