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English Internet Slang - 30 Essential Slang Terms For Surviving Online
English Internet Slang - 30 Essential Slang Terms For Surviving Online
By YULIYA GEIKHMAN
Wait, what??
That first sentence might not belong in a blog post, but you’ll often find strange
phrases, abbreviations and words like that on the Internet.
That’s because talking on the Internet can be very different from talking in
person or even in emails. Online English is casual and personal, and uses a lot
of slang.
So to help you keep up, we’ve made a list of 30 slang terms you might see
online. But first…
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The first is Formal Internet English. This is used in formal internet situations
such as in an important email or in a remote working environment.
Before you dive into the world of Informal Internet English, remember that
there are many profanities and curses in Internet slang, and sometimes words
are misspelled or used incorrectly. Many of the words people use online all the
time would not be used in face-to-face communication. So learn this side of
English only for online use!
To keep up with English words even as the language changes so quickly, try
learning English with the videos on FluentU.
FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and
inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
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7/1/2021 English Internet Slang: 30 Essential Slang Terms for Surviving Online
When you tell someone goodbye, you usually just say “bye.” This is a
shortening that was created to save time since the word “goodbye” is so
common.
The same is true for the Internet! Much of Internet slang is made up of
abbreviations and shortenings. Here some of the most commonly used Internet
abbreviations:
g2g — got to go
If you can’t figure out what a certain abbreviation stands for, try checking
Google. Just search for “what does [abbreviation] stand for?” and replace the
[abbreviation] with the term you’re confused about.
30 Essential Internet Slang
Words and Phrases in English
A few websites have their own terminology, abbreviations and slang. Twitter
and Reddit, two social media websites, are two big sites that use a lot of their
own slang.
On Twitter
1. Hashtag
Many websites and blogs use tags to make it easier to search for content. When
Twitter first came out, it didn’t have the option to add these tags. People who
used Twitter decided to create their own way of tagging their posts: the
hashtag.
Hashtags use the # symbol before the keywords, which are written without
spaces. The hashtag has expanded into the rest of the Internet, and doesn’t
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Example:
english-internet-slang-hashtag-tweet
2. DM (Direct Message)
Example:
english-internet-slang-DM-tweet
3. RT (Retweet)
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A retweet on Twitter is when someone shares your tweet with their followers.
Retweeting something means you like what that person said, agree with it or
have something to add.
Example:
On Reddit
Example:
On Forums
A forum is a comment board where people discuss different topics. Forums
have their own slang too!
5. Bump
In forums, topics are usually listed in the order of the last comment received. If
they move too far down the list, they get onto the second page, and are not as
likely to be seen.
When you want to push a topic back to the top of the list, you “bump” the
topic by just writing “bump” as a new comment.
Example:
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6. Troll
Online, trolls are people who take pleasure from starting disagreements and
angering people. Trolls usually post or respond to comments in a way that will
annoy or anger the most people possible.
There’s a saying online, “Don’t feed the trolls.” This means you shouldn’t
interact with someone who is “trolling,” since it will only encourage them.
You usually find trolls hanging out on forums, but they can be anywhere
online, from your Facebook, to the comments section on a news article.
Example:
7. Lurker
This is someone who visits a forum, blog or website often, but doesn’t leave any
comments. The word can be used in offline conversations too—”to lurk” means
to hide just out of sight.
Example:
“In my humble opinion,” or just “in my opinion” can be used before stating
your opinion on a matter being discussed. Adding the word “humble” makes
the opinion seem less important or significant.
Example:
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Creativa provides premium, highly produced videos for learning English and
business communication skills. Creativa provides entertaining videos, useful
but unexpected tips, and goes beyond just English to teach you body language,
intonation and specific pronunciation tips. Creativa is a new product from the
FluentU team.
9. Meme
The word “meme” has been around longer than the Internet. Outside the
Internet, the word describes a part of culture that developed because it was
passed on from one person to another, usually by imitation. A meme can be an
idea, a tune, an image—anything that can be passed on and altered.
Online, though, a meme is an image, text or video that’s copied and modified
over and over again. Most of the time, people add their own funny change to
the image or text.
You’ve probably already seen a few memes, like Grumpy Cat or Confession
Bear.
If you’re not sure what a certain meme means, you can see information about it
at Know Your Meme.
Example:
When the singer Drake released his ridiculous music video for “Hotline
Bling,” it immediately became a meme. People copied and parodied
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(made fun of) the video with their own silly videos and vines (very short
videos).
10. Facepalm
A facepalm is a gesture where you put the palm of your hand on your face. This
is usually done in response to someone saying something very obvious or not
very smart.
Example:
B: …*Facepalm*
Today we use the word “epic” to talk about anything huge or important, like
that epic sandwich we ate last night.
Example:
Did that guy just crash his bike into the only tree on the street? What an
epic fail.
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Now this phrase is used as a hyperbole (exaggeration), and usually looks like
“X all the Y”: Eat all the pizzas, catch all the Pokemon, pass all the tests. It’s
actually another meme!
Example:
When I get rich I’m going to buy all the houses. All of them.
Example:
“Well played” can also be used when someone proves you wrong in an obvious
way.
Example:
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B: Today’s Wednesday.
A: …Well played.
The term “FAQ” is not used often in conversations, but it’s good to know for
navigating websites.
Example:
Example:
Example:
18. Pwned
Example:
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19. Lag
Even if you’re lucky enough to have a steady Internet connection or a great
computer, you’ve probably experienced lag. Lag is when a computer
application is slow to respond, or any other device slows down because of a
poor connection or old hardware (computer parts).
The term is often used when videos or online games are too slow/choppy to
show what’s happening in real time.
The word “lag” is also used outside of the Internet, to mean the same thing: to
fall behind, or to go slower than everyone else.
Example:
20. Noob
Someone who is new to something, a beginner. Noob can be a mean way of
saying someone ignorant about a topic or is not good at something, or it can be
a way to explain that you’re new and don’t know much yet. You might also see
it written as “newb” or “n00b” (with the number zero used as the letter “o”).
Example:
But many people use it when they feel like what they’re about to say is extra
honest, something they really believe, or something they’ve thought about
thoroughly before saying.
Example:
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22. Photobomb
Example:
This would have been a great picture if that bird hadn’t photobombed it
at the last second!
23. Spam
Spam is a type of email (and regular mail) which is not meaningful or personal
to you. Spam emails are usually annoying advertisements that you never
wanted to receive. Most spam is filtered out by email providers—like Google
and Yahoo—into a separate “Spam” folder.
Example:
I’m waiting for an important email but all I keep getting instead is spam.
24. Trending
A trend is what is popular or fashionable at the moment. When something is
trending online, it’s popular and has a lot of people talking about it. What’s
trending online and on social media is always changing, and is usually
influenced by current events and pop culture.
Example:
Twitter and many news sites have a “now trending” section, where you
can see the most popular topics or keywords right now!
Both “handle” and “alias” are words from regular English, and they mean the
same thing: a name that you take instead of your own to protect your identity.
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Example:
26. Haha
This is exactly what is looks like—laughter! Haha, its evil cousin “mwahaha”
and the belly laugh “bahaha” are all ways of writing laughter in English.
Since you can’t see others when they type, writing “haha” is a good way to show
that you’re joking, or think something is funny.
Example:
Example:
Example:
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long; didn’t read.” This means the person just skimmed the comment (or is just
pointing out that it’s long).
This phrase has now also become a way to summarize what you’re saying. If
you write a long article or comment, you can add a TLDR at the end with a one
sentence summary of what you wrote above.
Example:
30. OTL
This is a fun one simply because it took me forever to understand what this was
short for. Actually, it’s not an abbreviation at all— it’s an emoji (an icon used to
show an expression or feeling).
Example:
Now you’re armed with many of the phrases, abbreviations and other English
words you might come across online. Online English is constantly changing,
but it’s easy to look up anything you don’t understand!
Learn these 30 words and you’ll be one step closer to understanding English
speakers online.
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The FluentU app and website makes it really easy to watch English videos.
There are captions that are interactive. That means you can tap on any word to
see an image, definition, and useful examples.
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For example, when you tap on the word "searching," you see this:
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Learn all the vocabulary in any video with quizzes. Swipe left or right to see
more examples for the word you’re learning.
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The best part? FluentU remembers the vocabulary that you’re learning. It gives
you extra practice with difficult words—and reminds you when it’s time to
review what you’ve learned. You have a truly personalized experience.
Start using FluentU on the website with your computer or tablet or, better yet,
download the FluentU app from the iTunes or from the Google Play store.
If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way
to learn English with real-world videos.
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