*WHAT*, praytel, are you talking about?

As some of you may know, my first internet experience goes back to the mid '90s. I won't go into too many details, but back when the online dating world was total societal taboo, I was there front and center getting an article published about an experience that was featured in the Sunday paper insert, Parade Magazine insert.

Most people seemingly outgrow childish/juvenile phases, but oh no. Not me. I have fully embraced that aspect of my life. Even now, I feel like the rest of the world has caught onto the gem I found in the internet long ago. It's gotten a little bit better even now as social networking sites such as Facebook have made it incredibly easy to streamline friendships.

So, one of the things I eventually broke off and pursued was the world of online forums. Having been a part of a very large family website for almost nine years now, I have learned how to say what I want to say {thank you John Mayer - click on the iTunes link to listen } without really having to say it all. And all while typing out acronyms at the speed of light, other friends can enjoy my messages while quickly deciphering my codes.

LOL has been around quite a while. In fact, some might say it has become the ultimate in internet lingo cliche. I disagree. You *can* abuse it, but when used appropriately and sprinkled throughout, it has the ability to really emphasize your emotions; particularly if you are not prone to much laughter. A friend of mine and I started to debate theology {or the lack therof} quite a bit and in our exchanges we weren't able to do much for bolding, italicizing, underlining, etc. so she introduced the *xyz* asterisks as a way to bold without bolding. Funny, I have seen it catch on in the past year or so. Call it laziness if you will. I just kept on using it because it's *far* easier than to stop typing and grab the mouse to click on bold.

So, while I try to be polite while blogging {because not everyone is "in the know" about internet lingo}, there may be times when I use it. For those reasons, I think it would be nice to share with you some common internet acronyms I use. And I know there are a *lot* more out there. For the purpose of this blog entry, I'll just keep it to the ones I am most likely to use in my online discussions, not all necessarily ones I would use here.

DH - dear husband
DC - dear child/ren
DS - dear son
DD - dear daughter
MIL - mother-in-law
FIL - father-in-law
BIL, SIL - you get the idea
IMO - in my opinion
IMHO - in my humble opinion
HTH - hope this helps
KWIM - know what I mean?
BTW - by the way
ROTFL{MAO} - rolling on the floor laughing {I'll let you fill in the last letters ;)}
IIRC - if I recall correctly
BTDT {GTTS} - been there, done that, got the t-shirt
FWIW - for what it's worth
IRL - in real life
ITA - in total agreement/I totally agree
JJ/JK - just joking
LO - little one
MYOB - mind your own business
OMG - oh my gosh
PP - previous poster
OP - original poster
SAHM/SAHP/SAHD - stay at home mom/parent/dad
TMI - too much information
TIA - thanks in advance
PITA - pain in the {well, you get the idea} ;-)

To learn more you can visit THIS or THIS {as recommended by Goofydaddy} website and dust off the old acronyms you used to use or hey, introduce a few more to your repertoire.