talk mode

n.

A feature supported by Unix and some other OSes that allows two or more logged-in users to set up a real-time on-line conversation. It combines the immediacy of talking with all the precision (and verbosity) that written language entails. It is difficult to communicate inflection, though conventions have arisen for some of these (see the section on writing style in the Prependices for details).

Talk mode has a special set of jargon words, used to save typing, which are not used orally. Some of these are identical to (and probably derived from) Morse-code jargon used by ham-radio amateurs since the 1920s.

AFAIAC

as far as I am concerned

AFAIK

as far as I know

BCNU

be seeing you

BTW

by the way

BYE?

are you ready to unlink? (this is the standard way to end a talk-mode conversation; the other person types BYE to confirm, or else continues the conversation)

CUL

see you later

ENQ?

are you busy? (expects ACK or NAK in return)

FOO?

are you there? (often used on unexpected links, meaning also “Sorry if I butted in &ellipsis;” (linker) or “What’s up?” (linkee))

FWIW

for what it’s worth

FYI

for your information

FYA

for your amusement

GA

go ahead (used when two people have tried to type simultaneously; this cedes the right to type to the other)

GRMBL

grumble (expresses disquiet or disagreement)

HELLOP

hello? (an instance of the ‘-P’ convention)

IIRC

if I recall correctly

JAM

just a minute (equivalent to SEC.... )

MIN

same as JAM

NIL

no (see NIL)

NP

no problem

O

over to you

OO

over and out

/

another form of “over to you” (from x/y as “x over y”)

lambda (used in discussing LISPy things)

OBTW

oh, by the way

OTOH

on the other hand

R U THERE?

are you there?

SEC

wait a second (sometimes written SEC... )

SYN

Are you busy? (expects ACK, SYN|ACK, or RST in return; this is modeled on the TCP/IP handshake sequence)

T

yes (see the main entry for T)

TNX

thanks

TNX 1.0E6

thanks a million (humorous)

TNXE6

another form of “thanks a million”

TTBOMK

to the best of my knowledge

WRT

with regard to, or with respect to.

WTF

the universal interrogative particle; WTF knows what it means?

WTH

what the hell?

<double newline>

When the typing party has finished, he/she types two newlines to signal that he/she is done; this leaves a blank line between ‘speeches’ in the conversation, making it easier to reread the preceding text.

YHTBT

You Had To Be There. Used of a situation which loses significant meaning in the telling, usually because it’s difficult to convey tone and timing.

<name>:

When three or more terminals are linked, it is conventional for each typist to prepend his/her login name or handle and a colon (or a hyphen) to each line to indicate who is typing (some conferencing facilities do this automatically). The login name is often shortened to a unique prefix (possibly a single letter) during a very long conversation.

///

A giggle or chuckle. On a MUD, this usually means ‘earthquake fault’.

<g>

grin

<gd&r>

grinning, ducking, and running

BBL

be back later

BRB

be right back

HHOJ

ha ha only joking

HHOK

ha ha only kidding

HHOS

ha ha only serious

IMHO

in my humble opinion (see IMHO)

LOL

laughing out loud

NHOH

Never Heard of Him/Her (often used in initgame)

ROTF

rolling on the floor

ROTFL

rolling on the floor laughing

AFK

away from keyboard

b4

before

CU l8tr

see you later

MORF

male or female?

TTFN

ta-ta for now

TTYL

talk to you later

OIC

oh, I see

rehi

hello again

Most of these are not used at universities or in the Unix world, though ROTF and TTFN have gained some currency there and IMHO is common; conversely, most of the people who know these are unfamiliar with FOO?, BCNU, HELLOP, NIL, and T.

The MUD community uses a mixture of Usenet/Internet emoticons, a few of the more natural of the old-style talk-mode abbrevs, and some of the ‘social’ list above; specifically, MUD respondents report use of BBL, BRB, LOL, b4, BTW, WTF, TTFN, and WTH. The use of rehi is also common; in fact, mudders are fond of re- compounds and will frequently rehug or rebonk (see bonk/oif) people. The word re by itself is taken as ‘regreet’. In general, though, MUDders express a preference for typing things out in full rather than using abbreviations; this may be due to the relative youth of the MUD cultures, which tend to include many touch typists and to assume high-speed links. The following uses specific to MUDs are reported:

CU l8er

see you later (mutant of CU l8tr)

FOAD

fuck off and die (use of this is generally OTT)

OTT

over the top (excessive, uncalled for)

ppl

abbrev for “people”

THX

thanks (mutant of TNX; clearly this comes in batches of 1138 (the Lucasian K)).

UOK?

are you OK?

Some B1FFisms (notably the variant spelling d00d) appear to be passing into wider use among some subgroups of MUDders.

One final note on talk mode style: neophytes, when in talk mode, often seem to think they must produce letter-perfect prose because they are typing rather than speaking. This is not the best approach. It can be very frustrating to wait while your partner pauses to think of a word, or repeatedly makes the same spelling error and backs up to fix it. It is usually best just to leave typographical errors behind and plunge forward, unless severe confusion may result; in that case it is often fastest just to type “xxx” and start over from before the mistake.

See also hakspek, emoticon.