# "RO" and "ETA." What do they stand for?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-and-eta-what-do-they-stand-for/418630>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [September 10, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-and-eta-what-do-they-stand-for/418630 "2007-09-10T00:27:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sir\_Dirx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b77776/32.png) [@Sir\_Dirx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Dirx)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-and-eta-what-do-they-stand-for/418630/1 "2007-09-10T00:27:34Z")

</div>

So I’ve been gone for quite a long while now, and I’m seeing some new acronyms all over. And they’re short, so I can’t search for either, which is why I’m posting here.

The first is “ETA.” I understand this basically indicates material added during an edit, but what’s it stand for? I still keep thinking “Estimated time of arrival” whenever I see it. Is this official convention here, or just a widely-adopted one? I prefer the simple, old, “EDIT:” msyelf.

In the pit, there’s a lot of “RO;” I can’t even glean from context what this is supposed to mean, and it’s bugging the heck out of me now. Can someone enlighten me?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-and-eta-what-do-they-stand-for/418630/2 "2007-09-10T00:30:51Z")

</div>

“edited to add” and “recreational outrage”, respectively.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-and-eta-what-do-they-stand-for/418630/3 "2007-09-10T00:30:54Z")

</div>

ETA: edited to add…  
RO: Recreational Outrage

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-and-eta-what-do-they-stand-for/418630/4 "2007-09-10T00:31:56Z")

</div>

These are both in the “glossary” stickie immediately above.

ETA: **E** dited **T** o **A** dd  
RO: **R** ecreational **O** utrage: The person posting isn’t personally affected, but needs rend his or her garments in outrage over some public malfeasance

ETA – yeah, it took me an extra minute, but I\* explained \* RO. 😛