What exactly does "asdf" mean?

John_DiFool · January 13, 2011, 1:24am

Thankfully, I don’t see this acronym here, but I have seen it used on other sites. I know it is the first four letters on the left middle side of the keyboard, but I can’t grasp how that got mutated into whatever context the acronym is supposed to symbolize.

Punoqllads · January 13, 2011, 1:28am

Imagine someone bored tapping their fingers while some idiot is yapping.

Apex_Rogers · January 13, 2011, 1:29am

I think it’s just lazy or exasperated typing wherein the first keys your hand hits are used. Since they are the keys on the home row, if you just quickly “blurt out” something with a keyboard, these are the likely keys. Usage may have expanded beyond that, but that’s my understanding.

Urban dictionary seems to agree.

Omniscient · January 13, 2011, 1:29am

It means nothing. I’ve never seen anyone use it as a descriptive of anything. It’s just what people type when they are too lazy to enter meaningful text into a form or whatnot.

Ale · January 13, 2011, 2:03am

As far as I know it doesn’t have any meaning besides being a mindless interjection, IIRC it comes from online games, where players can send messages, A S D are common motion keys so asdf is a quick way of saying WTF!.

simster · January 13, 2011, 2:09am

“Ask Something Dumb, Fuckhead”

“Another shithead done fuckedup”

BigT · January 13, 2011, 5:42am

I am not surprised it has a backronym.

Walmarticus · January 13, 2011, 5:53am

It’s comes from a Hebrew prophecy that establishes Volvo as the future leader in the automobile industry.

Cite.

JpnDude · January 13, 2011, 7:25am

In Japan, it’s stands for “Air Self-Defense Force”.

Raguleader · January 13, 2011, 7:41am

Always Support Duck Flocks.

(I was tempted to just mash asdf by way of reply, I really was)

_cc · January 14, 2011, 8:46am

In some online communities, it has become a synonym for laughter like “hah!” or “lol”, though slightly less nauseating than the latter in my opinion. The basic premise is that you’ve just witnessed something so hilarious that your fingers went wild on the keyboard and you just mashed random letters during the course of your gut-cramping laughter. Since the asdf keys occupy the home row of the left hand, these are the keys most likely to be struck when just randomly tapping a few letters.

GuanoLad · January 14, 2011, 9:15am

A Sequential Distribution of Fingers

psychonaut · January 14, 2011, 10:45am

Quoth Wikipedia:

asdf or ASDF may refer to

* Alabama State Defense Force, a military entity
* Alaska State Defense Force, a military entity
* Another System Definition Facility, the most commonly used build system for Common Lisp
* Association of Synchronous Data Formats, an organization that advances the use of synchronous data transmission technology
* Average Squared Difference Function, a mapping used in pitch detection algorithms
* asdf, the first four letters in the home row on a QWERTY keyboard
* asdf movie, a series of viral videos

EristicKallistic · January 14, 2011, 2:42pm

To me it always had the connotation of just being so frustrated at someone or something that you bash your head against the keyboard.

Raguleader · January 14, 2011, 4:59pm

Just tried it. I ended up with “y”. Lemme try it without my glasses.

uy

Dunno about that theory man. Maybe if you have one hand on the mouse and just spazzed with your left hand.

EDIT: Mind you, I tried this at about 2% power. I have a hard head and a mildly expensive keyboard.