Tales of Fidonet: The SF Echo Acronym List

[tbutler]

Maintained by Kay Shapiro. A number of these were common in the wider online universe at the time, but a few just may have been created here... and several were pretty much Echo-only, but carry some of the flavor of the place.

ACRONYMS (and things that look like them)
(last updated February 7, 1995)

[Editor's note... dear Ghu, has it been 20 years? o.O ]

This is getting too long again, and I don't see enough of the echo these days to know what can be culled. Please send me netmail nominating things to remove from the monthly list (worry not, everything stays in the full list). Thanks.

This is the edited list; for the full list (including more detailed definitions and things not particularly current) file request ACRONYMS.ZIP from StormGate Aerie (1:102/524). A couple of notes:

The purpose of this list is to provide folks with a place where they can find out what all of those strange acronyms they see in here mean without having to write a lot of "What is that?" messages (goodness knows we've enough traffic in here already.) Please don't deluge me with obscure acronyms unless they're actively in use...) Also please tell me if you see something not currently in use so I can delete it. I post this on BOTH SFFAN and in SF - not everything in here is on topic in the latter echo!

• 0-m: Jo Peshek's key
  
  
• <g>: Grin, <G>: Great Big Grin), <g,d,r>: Grin, Duck and Run
  
  
• AAMOF: As A Matter Of Fact
  
  
• AFAIK: As Far As I Know
  
  
• APA: Amateur Press Association. Sort of like this bulletin board only each member prints up his/her own comments and passes them to the Official Collator (or Official Editor) to fasten together and distribute copies to members. Most, but not all, appear monthly or bimonthly.
  
  
• APOL: Alternate Persona On Line. Warns folks that someone else in the Gallery is about to take the helm to have their say on the matter. Those without MPD occasionally utilize. (Sam Tuirel)
  
  
• ATST: At The Same Time (used by John Kahane)
  
  
• Authors abbreviated: Agberg = Silverberg, AnneMc = Anne McCaffrey, DeJohn = John DeChancie, JRRT = J.R.R. Tolkien, KMac = Michael P. Kube-McDowell, LWE = Lawrence Watt-Evans, PTerry = Terry Pratchett, RAH = Robert A. Heinlein, Xanthony = Piers Anthony
  
  
• AWGTHTGTTA?: Are We Going To Have To Go Through This Again? Alternative form is AWGTHTGTATA (...Through ALL This Again?).
  
  
• BIP: Books In Print
  
  
• BLORF: The sound generated by a very large number of EchoMessages arriving in a very short period of time.
  
  
• BNF: Big Name Fan
  
  
• BOOF: A typo for "book" which appears to have caught on. It means "book". "Bif", "bhooves" and "bhoven" have been suggested as the plural of "boof", possibly rotten "bif" are "barf", "bif in a series are "biffies" and so on. Really LARGE bif may be called "beef".
  
  
• BOZON: Described in the Wunderment echo as: A particle which causes large problems which can often be looked at in a humourous light; most often applied to computer hardware and/or software, but not exclusively so. See the full list for the delightfully silly details.
  
  
• BTIC: But then, I'm crazy. (Sam Tuirel)
  
  
• BTW: By The Way
  
  
• CBIP: Current Book In Progress. Used when you want to talk about the book you're reading now but don't need an OOTC because your message is already on-topic. (Travis Butler)
  
  
• CHVC: Columbia House Video Club (Mainly tapes)
  
  
• CHLC: Columbia House Laserdisc Club (Self-explanatory)
  
  
• DUFF and TAFF: Respectively the Down Under Fan Fund and the Trans Atlantic Fan Fund (funds to import fen from same for Worldcons.) A Mid Atlantic Fan Fund for well known fuggheads is occasionally suggested...
  
  
• DUOE: Dried-Up Old Eunuch. To quote Jo Peshek "DUOE was formed in reaction to the claim of one infamous poster who asserted that an *** novel, or short story, could NOT be believable or realistic unless it had sex in it. Not just hand holding, not flirtation, not simple attraction, but full-blown (oops! 8* ) explicit, juicy sex scenes. The poster said anyone who disagreed had to be a dried-up old eunich...several of us disagreed. We do not object to *** content, merely disagree that it MUST appear. Thus was born the DUOE and Pruney...Pruney usually shows up when a member wants to convey shock (or mock shock). [This :* is a pruney. KS]
  
  
• ETOL: Evil Twin On Line. For those occasions when you couldn't _possibly_ be saying the things you really want to say... (Sam Tuirel)
  
  
• FASA: A game company that made a Star Trek role playing game, before Paramount (or someone) decided it was a mistake and pulled the rights. AKA F**A by someone who agrees with Paramount. I've never seen it, myself, so couldn't say.
  
  
• FBT: Frigging Blue Turtleoid. Refers to the gigantic blue six legged turtle like critter with several people tied to its back which appears on the cover of John DeChancie's novel, CASTLE ***PED. It does not appear anywhere INSIDE the book.
  
  
• FIAWOL: Fandom Is A Way Of Life
  
  
• FIJAGH: Fandom Is Just A Ghoddam Hobby (or possibly "Ghu-dam hobby" if you're into invoking fannish ghods [personally I like The Great Spider or The Church of Herbangelism - "Praise Herbie and Pass the Buck"], note also the fannish insertion of silent "h"s into things, such as "bheer".)
  
  
• FILK: Is not an acronym. It started out life as a typo of "fannish folk songs" and was adopted by the perpetrators of same. So Filksongs are fannish folksongs. (for more information ask me via e-mail, or see the FILK echo if you have it available...)
  
  
• FITB: Fill In The Blank....
  
  
• F.U.B.S. (fubs) n. [ F(ido) U(sed) B(ook) S(quad)] 1. A pack of hounds ravaging the countryside in search of a copy of _A Spell for Chameleon_. 2. A gallant band of FidoNet readers roaming Used Book Stores (UBS) around the world for books to trade with others (hopefully that the "others" want, in trade for another book, money, or gratitude). (definition by Will Purvine) Some notables include Zane Melder & Travis Butler, but a message to All with FUBS in the title will probably get you the attention you need. (Term credited to Glenn Chambers) And special blessings on Travis, Keith Stokes, and Lisa Reeves for the FUBS t-shirt they came up with.
  
  
• FUGGHEAD: Fannish term meaning roughly airhead, someone whose head is thoroughly fogged. One can also consider the "fugg" to be a substitute for the more famous four letter word beginning with "f".
  
  
• FYI: For Your Information
  
  
• GAFIATE: Get Away From It All (as in drop out of Fandom)
  
  
• GIWIST: Gee I Wish I'd Said That
  
  
• ICOCBW: I Could, Of Course, Be Wrong
  
  
• IIRC: If I Remember Correctly. "The obligatory statement of modesty before making a sweeping generalization about something read five years ago." (credited to Travis Butler)
  
  
• IITYWIMWYBMAD: If I tell you what it means, will you buy me a drink?
  
  
• IMHO: In My Humble (or Honest) Opinion. Also IMNSHO: In My Not-So Humble Opinion and IMOBO: In My Own Biased Opinion.
  
  
• INPO: In No Particular Order
  
  
• LASFS: The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, which is the oldest continuously meeting science fantasy society in this world (since Oct 17, 1934). Every Thursday at 11513 Burbank Blvd., N. Hollywood, CA 91601 telephone (818) 760-9234.
  
  
• LLTA: Lots and Lots of Thunderous (or Thundering) Applause
  
  
• LOL: Laughing Out Loud
  
  
• MLAS: Mind (or Memory) Like A Sieve (variant introduced by Joshua Kronengold, MLASBWABHII [Mind Like A Steel Bucket With A ***y Hole In It])
  
  
• NASFiC: North American Science Fiction Convention (aka North AmeriCon)
  
  
• NECROHIPPO***: Not an acronym, and probably self evident, but anyway a reference to beating a dead horse.
  
  
• OOK!: This is not an acronym - it's the abbreviated form of Ook ook slobber drool!" This started out as "Ook ook!" which Ed Buchman introduced to the LASFS claiming a strange lady told him it meant "your pleasure centers had been diddled." He soon modified it to the longer form.
  
  
• OOP, OP: Out Of Print
  
  
• OOTC: Obligatory On Topic Comment
  
  
• OOTQ: Obligatory On Topic Quote
  
  
• OYDB: Over _your_ dead body. (Sam Tuirel)
  
  
• PJF: Pre Joycean Fellowship. Steven Brust, Pamela Dean, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Jane Yolen, and Neil Gaiman and various others who consider that James Joyce did the literary world a disservice by deemphasizing plot. To quote Pamela; " We're a bunch of writers who worry about the divorce of so-called popular and so-called literary values, and hope to reconcile them. Some of us don't really blame Joyce for the breakup, and some of us do."
  
  
• POV: Point Of View
  
  
• PWTSLNAARGA: People With The Same Last Name As a Really Good Author
  
  
• RAH: Robert A. Heinlein
  
  
• ROFLASTC! (or ROFLASC!): Rolling On The Floor Laughing And Scaring The Cat. Originated, I'm told by Pamela Dean, who types with a cat on her lap. Variants include ROFL!, ROTFLH and SITCLH("ROFL Hysterically", and "Sitting in the chair LH"). Also ROFLWMCSOIA (While My Cat Stared On In Amazement), ROFLSHIFOMCASMC (So Hard I Fell Off My Chair And Scared My Cat), and any number of other things along that line.
  
  
• ROTBA: Reality On The Blink Again (scientific inaccuracy or just plain nonsense).
  
  
• RSN: Real Soon Now
  
  
• RTFM: Read The Fershlugginer Manual
  
  
• The Salmon Of Correction: A useful creature for whapping those who annoy you.
  
  
• SFBC: Science Fiction Book Club
  
  
• SFWA: Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. Sometimes abbreviated SFFWA. Pronounced "sif-wa".
  
  
• SIASL: Stranger In A Strange Land
  
  
• SMOF: Secret Masters of Fandom
  
  
• ST:TOS, ST:TNG, ST:TAS, ST:TMP, ST:DSN: Respectively Star Trek: The Original Series, The Next Generation, The Animated Series, The Motion Picture (the first one), and Deep Space Nine.
  
  
• TANJ: There Ain't No Justice
  
  
• TANSTAAFL: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
  
  
• TITLE, NUMBER/BIGGER NUMBER: Not an acronym, but a method of indicating where you are in a book. Write the title first, followed by a parenthesis, followed by the page number you are on, followed by the total number of pages in the book. For example, if you were on page 12 of Mort, it would be MORT, 12/285. Who came up with this is unclear.
  
  
• TPTB: The Powers That Be
  
  
• TRQ: To Read Queue. Also VTRQ "Virtual To Read Queue".
  
  
• TSTMATS: The Sun, The Moon and the Stars by Stephen Brust. Good book.
  
  
• TTBOMK: To The Best Of My Knowledge
  
  
• TTFN: Ta Ta For Now.
  
  
• TTYL: Type (or Talk) To You Later
  
  
• UBS: Used Book Store
  
  
• WAMKSAM: Why Are My Kids (or Kitties) Staring At Me?
  
  
• WIP: Work In Progress
  
  
• WYLABOCTGWTR, WYLASOMWTC: Would You Like A Bowl Of Cream To Go With That Remark?, Would You Like A Saucer Of Milk With That Comment? Created by Steven Brust (& common in Minneapa)
  
  
• YAHI, YAMI, YATI: Yet Another (Highlander, Mets, or Trek) Inconsistency
  
  
• YAWA: You and what army? (Sam Tuirel)
  
  
• YMMV: Your mileage may vary.
  

...rest in peace, Jo.