If you participate in chat (realtime conferencing) sessions, you will find many of the abbreviations, acronyms, and emoticons you see in the online discussion groups are used and more. Some of these short-cuts you should have seen a lot in Chat Rooms. The following are some of the popular chat shortcuts:
| SYMBOL | DESCRIPTION |
| AE | Alter Ego |
| AFK | Away From Keyboard |
| AOL | America Online |
| ASAP | As Soon as Possible |
| A/S/L | Age, Sex, Location |
| BAK | Back at Keyboard |
| BAU | Business as Usual |
| BBI5 | Be Back in 5 (no. variable) Minutes |
| BBL | Be Back Later |
| BBIAS | Be Back In A Second |
| BBS | Be Back Soon |
| BBW | Big Beautiful Woman |
| BG | Big Grin |
| BIZ | Business |
| BPS | Bits Per Second |
| BRB | Be Right Back |
| BTW | By The Way |
| BUSY | Been Up Since Yesterday |
| CAR | Chat and Run |
| CGYT | Cat Got Your Tongue? |
| CIS | CompuServe |
| CNP | Continue in Next Post |
| CU | See You |
| CWI | Chatting While Intoxicated |
| CYL or CYL8R | Catch You Later |
| DA | Disappearing Act |
| DGA | Don't Go Away |
| DI | Doubt It |
| DLT | Disregard Last Transmission |
| DOA | Dirty Old Adult or Dead on Arrival (often used synonymously in online references) |
| DS | Disconnect Soon |
| DU | Don't Understand |
| EAK | Eating at The Keyboard |
| ET | Evil Twin |
| FAQ | Frequently Asked Question |
| FOF | Friend or Foe |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol |
| FUBAR | Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition |
| FWIW | For What It's Worth |
| FYI | For Your Information |
| GF | Grinning Fool |
| GI | Get It? |
| GLTC/DO | Gotta Let The Cat/Dog Out |
| GMA/BO | Giggling My Arse/Butt Off |
| GMTA | Great Minds Think Alike |
| GOK | God Only Knows |
| GOL | Groaning Out Loud |
| GR&D | Grinning, Running & Ducking |
| GTRM | Going to Read Mail |
| GWTD | Gotta Walk The Dog |
| H&K | Hugs & Kisses |
| HAGO | Have a Good One |
| HAND | Have a Nice Day |
| HS | Heavy Sigh |
| IAP | Internet Access Provider |
| IE | Internet Explorer |
| IM | Instant Message |
| IMHO | In My Humble Opinion |
| IMO | In My Opinion |
| IOW | In Other Words |
| IP | Information Provider |
| IRL | In Real Life |
| ISO | In Search Of |
| ISP | Internet Services Provider |
| IT | Information Technology |
| KISS | Keep It Simple, Stupid |
| JC | Just Curious |
| JK or J/K | Just Kidding |
| JMO | Just My Opinion |
| KT | Know (or Knew) That |
| LAB | Leaps And Bounds |
| LIC | Lost in Cyberspace |
| LU | Lighten Up |
| LOL | Laughing Out Loud |
| LOLO | Laughing Out Loud Outrageously |
| LMAO | Laughing My Arse Off |
| LTNS | Long Time No See |
| MIDS | Multiple ID Syndrome |
| MSG | Message |
| NIMBY | Not in My Back Yard |
| NOYB | None of Your Business |
| NRN/R | No Reply Necessary/Required |
| NSDF | Not So Darn/Damn Fast |
| OIC | Oh, I See |
| OOL | Out of Luck |
| OTL | Out to Lunch |
| OTOH | On The Other Hand |
| PDQ | Pretty Darn Quick |
| PITA | Pain In The Arse |
| PW | Password |
| pls | Please |
| PMP | Peed My Pants |
| PS | PostScript |
| QT | Cutie |
| ROFL | Rolling On Floor Laughing |
| ROFLAY | Rolling On Floor Laughing At You |
| ROFLOL | Rolling On Floor Laughing Out Loud |
| ROFLOLPIMP | Rolling On Floor Laughing Out Loud Peeing My Pants |
| ROFLAPMP | Rolling On Floor Laughing And Peed My Pants |
| ROFLMAO | Rolling On Floor Laughing My Arse Off |
| ROFLUTS | Rolling On Floor Laughing Unable To Speak |
| ROFLWTIME | Rolling On Floor Laughing With Tears In My Eyes |
| ROTFL | Politically correct version of ROFL |
| RTF | Read The FAQ |
| RTFM | Read The F*cking Manual |
| SAD | Search And Destroy |
| SD | Sweet Dreams |
| SFSG | So Far So Good |
| SHKT | Should Have Known That |
| SNAFU | Situation Normal, All F*cked Up |
| SO | Significant Other |
| SPAM | Stupid Person's AdvertiseMent |
| SSC | Sexy Senior Citizen |
| SWAK | Sealed With A Kiss |
| SWL | Screaming With Laughter |
| TAFN | That's All For Now |
| TFOF | Thinks Fast on Feet |
| TFU | Thanks For Understanding |
| TIA | Thanks In Advance |
| TTFN | Ta Ta For Now |
| TTYL | Talk To You Later |
| TTYS | Talk To You Soon |
| TWHE | The Walls Have Ears |
| TX | Thanks |
| WAG | Wild Ass Guess |
| WAM | Wait a Minute |
| WB | Welcome Back |
| WTG | Way To Go! |
| WYSIWYG | What You See Is What You Get |
| WWYS | Watch What You Say |
| WRT | With Respect To |
| WTF | What/Who The F*ck? |
| WTH | What/Who The Hell? |
| YBS | You'll Be Sorry |
| <g> | Grin |
| <s> | Smile |
| <G> | Big Grin |
| (h) | Hug |
| (H) | Big Hug |
| (c) | Copyright |
| (tm) | Registered Trademark with State |
| (TM) | Registered Trademark with Federal |