# Tmi

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi/159215>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 5, 2003, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi/159215 "2003-03-05T10:17:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jammers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@Jammers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jammers)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi/159215/1 "2003-03-05T10:17:17Z")

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What does TMI stand for?

Is it “Totally MisInterpreted”?

Or have I TMI’d the true meaning.

He he he. Thats a paradox. (I think).

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**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi/159215/2 "2003-03-05T10:24:09Z")

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Too Much Information

often meaning, potential gross out ahead.

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**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi/159215/3 "2003-03-05T14:43:20Z")

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This will probably get moved to the About This Message Board forum soon, where I posted an answer to another “what does this abbreviation mean?” question. Here is my answer again…

For All Features Great And Small / All Things Bright And Beautiful, check out **Arnold Winkelried** ’s threads in ATMB: [FAQ - technical issues](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=103503) and [FAQ - Guidelines for posting at the SDMB](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=106617).

…for abbreviation explanations, check out this SDMB thread.  
[A SDMB thread re: acronyms (abbreviations?)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2528)

…and a couple outside references.  
[Netlingo: Acronyms & Shorthand](http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm)  
[Acronym Finder](http://www.acronymfinder.com/).

…and here are some other SDMB threads you might want to look at if you have a lot of time on your hands…  
[Abbreviations and stuff](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27417)  
[Phrase abbreviations in threads (Newbie alert!)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28369)  
[Attn Newcomers - Abbreviations List](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32636)  
[Message Board abbreviations](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=57452)  
[abbreviations](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80573)  
[YMMV and other SDMB abbreviations](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=115129)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi/159215/4 "2003-03-05T21:16:39Z")

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To me it means “You must read this thread, even if you wouldn’t otherwise.”

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**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi/159215/5 "2003-03-06T10:38:10Z")

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Yes - to me it means HUGE VIEW RATE.

I can see it getting abused for higher hit rates: “Ultra-academic obscure trigonmetric tangential mathematics Q (TMI)”

😉

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**Author:** ![The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Calculus_of_Logic)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi/159215/6 "2003-03-06T11:00:25Z")

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I take it you’ve never been a 14 year old white girl

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**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tmi/159215/7 "2003-03-06T11:10:54Z")

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This is better suited to ATMB, but since it’s been answered (thanks, **Algernon** ), I’ll just close it.

Unless some other mod moves it.

**DrMatrix** - GQ Moderator