# Define an Acronym **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 20, 2015, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933 "2015-09-20T07:52:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/21 "2015-09-21T20:07:46Z")
Others used - IANAL (I am not a lawyer) and ATM (at the moment). ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/22 "2015-09-21T22:27:36Z")
I got a kick out of when my parents got on the internet also. Welcome brovolone! ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/23 "2015-09-22T06:35:40Z")
The Vietnam war seemed to provide a good one when "I was there"type stories are being told: NSTRH (no shit, this really happened) or TINS (this is no shit). ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/24 "2015-09-22T08:55:43Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > The Vietnam war seemed to provide a good one when "I was there"type stories are being told: NSTRH (no shit, this really happened) or TINS (this is no shit). My favorite initialization is one I haven’t seen in years: TINLC: There Is No Lumber Cartel. Popular with anti-spammers around the turn of the century after they were accused in a pro-spam conspiracy theory of secretly acting on behalf of the dead tree media sector to wipe out electronic advertising. Any mention of the Lumber Cartel was appended (tinlc), including membership numbers in people’s email sigs. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/25 "2015-09-22T09:03:51Z")
One I’ve seen here, mainly in “truther” threads, is WONJCT. Whacked-Out Nut-Job Conspiracy Theorist. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/26 "2015-09-22T11:23:48Z")
TIL stands for Today I learned. I just learned that, today actually. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/27 "2015-09-22T12:06:42Z")
I was on this board for a couple of years before I realized that “QFT” meant “Quoted For Truth” rather than “Quite Fucking True.” The beauty, though, is that in just about every scenario, either interpretation works. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/28 "2015-09-22T12:12:41Z")
ION nobody really cares if they can’t figure out WTFYM, because LIS and YOLO. A long time ago on another board we came up with ACROs (that were really intiials of course), even adding them to Acrofinder, it used to drive the Mods nuts, because they didn’t know what was being communicated. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/29 "2015-09-22T12:44:24Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > One acronym that is very common on certain other boards but nearly unheard of here is SWIM. I saw that one for the first time just today. I didn’t know what the heck it was, context gave no clues. It looked like they were referring to a username rather than a generic acronym. One that confused me for a long time was FTW, because it used to mean “Fuck The World!” but that didn’t make sense in recent usage. It now means the opposite: “For The Win!”. Took me ages to figure that out. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/30 "2015-09-22T13:03:05Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > One acronym that is very common on certain other boards but nearly unheard of here is SWIM. never heard of it, never saw that on any other board. You have a source? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/31 "2015-09-22T16:03:12Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Of course, there’s SDMB itself, which has occasionally been noted as simply being a permutation of BDSM. The board’s demographic is ninety percent people fighting ignorance and ten percent kinky dyslexics. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/32 "2015-09-22T16:03:39Z")
Re: SWIM > [@FXMastermind](#): > > never heard of it, never saw that on any other board. You have a source? I came across this one when looking to taper my (legally prescribed for panic disorder) Xanax dosage with the fewest of side effects. In addition to message boards devoted to those in my situation (such as mental health support communities or people seeking assistance w/benzo withdrawal), I found several sites for recreational drug users. The most popular one (and really the only one I remember) is Bluelight–[Here’s it’s Wikipedia entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluelight_(web_forum))–which says it’s devoted to “harm reduction” from using recreationals like MDMA, benzos, et al. They request that members only discuss the drug-using actions of “someone who isn’t me” – seems dubious but I guess they want plausible deniability? Since they’ve been around for years it must work! So that answers your question. Not linking directly to it, just in case the SDMB prefers it that way. But that’s one, and there are certainly others. HTH\* - Hope that helps. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/33 "2015-09-22T16:06:58Z")
I knew TL;DR stood for “too long; didn’t read” but I was confused the first time I encountered teal deer. I originally thought it might be related to a grass mud horse. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/34 "2015-09-22T17:41:42Z")
> [@choie](#): > > - Hope that helps. 🙂 Yep, and explains why I never heard of it as well. Back in the day, we would start any post about anything controversial/illegal with “I have this friend …” Same concept ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/35 "2015-09-22T18:00:36Z")
You’re very welcome, and yep, it is the same concept. As an aside, I want to apologize to everyone in the world for using “it’s” instead of “its” in the link text in my earlier post. That kinda sloppiness is pretty frickin’ embarrassing for an editor! I throw myself on the mercy of the SDMB court. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/36 "2015-09-22T21:35:01Z")
TLA=Three letter acronym (or abbreviation) XTLA = Extended three letter acronym. XTLA is an XTLA. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/37 "2015-09-22T23:25:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The board’s demographic is ninety percent people fighting ignorance and ten percent kinky dyslexics. The board’s demographic is ten percent people fighting ignorance and ninety percent kinky dyslexics. You got those numbers backwards, FTFY. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/38 "2015-09-22T23:35:10Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > TLA=Three letter acronym (or abbreviation) > > XTLA = Extended three letter acronym. XTLA is an XTLA. FFLA = Four or Five Letter Acronym. TANSTAAFL!! ---
**Author:** ![brovolone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@brovolone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brovolone)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/39 "2015-09-22T23:54:10Z")
> [@Doyle](#): > > Time for me to be pedantic. > > Acronyms spell a made up word. NATO is an acronym. IIRC is an Initialism. Thank you for this information. I was unaware. For some reason my Galaxy keeps autocorrecting “intialism” to “initialise.” It is not recognizing initialism as a word, which I think may contribute to the ignorance of people, like myself, regarding this word and unrecognized initialisms such as “IIRC.” I wonder if iOs recognizes the word “initialism.” I didn’t even know it was a thing. It makes perfect sense though. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933/40 "2015-09-23T00:10:13Z")
Acronyms: SCUBA SNAFU FUBAR Not acronyms: ROTFLMAOSTC YMMV NCIS [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-an-acronym/731933.md?page=3)