The internet and its associated chat rooms and message boards have developed their own language. It is a language that makes sense in some respects but absolutely not sense whatsoever in other respects. Online jargon has started to move off line and it is taking over communication in all arenas. Online jargon was originally developed by teenagers communicating over the information super highway and now online jargon is becoming real life jargon. Have you ever seen those commercials where the mother is asking the daughter about all of her texting activity and the daughter seems to be responding in gibberish that has to be translated with subtitles? It isn’t gibberish, it is online jargon and here is a rundown of some of the terms you absolutely need to know to properly understand the rising tide of online jargon.

LOL – It means laugh out loud and you use it for the times when you find something particularly funny. When someone says that they LOL’d that means they laughed out loud. This one is pretty common.

OMG – Simply means Oh My God! It is usually an expression of disbelief or surprise.

BFF – Best Friend Forever. This one actually started before online jargon took over but online jargon assimilated it quickly.

Pwnd – This is the online way of spelling the word “owned” and it is an indication that you have either been insulted or someone’s witty remark to one of your statements seemed rather effective to other people on the message board or in the chat room. It comes from a common misspelling of the word owned by mistakenly hitting the “p” key instead of the “o” for the first letter. Why the “e” was removed from the end is anyone’s guess.

OMGBBQ – Many of these online terms are simply the first letters of the words from the phrase. This is a good example. This means Oh My God Bar – Be – Que! Why this caught on no one really knows but it is getting extremely popular. Its use is debated but it is usually used as an expression of surprise.

teh – The word “the” is the single most common typographical error made today so online jargon made the whole thing easier and just left it as “teh.” This was before automatic spell check of course.

j/k – This one means “just kidding” and it is exactly what it appears to be. When you have said something and you want to make sure the person you are talking to understands it is a joke then you add this to it.

;) – This is a smiley face on its side with a winking eye. This is the same message as just kidding but this one is much more common.

;-P - A face with a winking eye and sticking its tongue out. This one can be used in many different ways but it is mostly used as an expression of playful joking around.

There are so many others that we could fill a volume of encyclopedias with them but these are the most common. Remember that many of these online jargon terms are simply the first letters from the word in the phrase stuck together to make one word. For example if someone sends you a message that says AYS then this usually means “Are You Serious.” Some of it is creative and some of it is basic but either way it is a language that is going to be around for a very long time.