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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>talk mode</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../T.html" title="T"/><link rel="previous" href="tail-recursion.html" title="tail recursion"/><link rel="next" href="talker-system.html" title="talker system"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">talk mode</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="tail-recursion.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">T</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="talker-system.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="talk-mode"/><dt xmlns="" id="talk-mode"><b>talk mode</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> A feature supported by Unix and some other OSes that allows
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two or more logged-in users to set up a real-time on-line conversation. It
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combines the immediacy of talking with all the precision (and verbosity)
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that written language entails. It is difficult to communicate inflection,
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though conventions have arisen for some of these (see the section on
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writing style in the Prependices for details).</p><p>Talk mode has a special set of jargon words, used to save typing,
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which are not used orally. Some of these are identical to (and probably
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derived from) Morse-code jargon used by ham-radio amateurs since the
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1920s.</p><div class="informaltable"><table border="1"><colgroup><col/><col/></colgroup><tbody><tr><td>AFAIAC</td><td>as far as I am concerned</td></tr><tr><td>AFAIK</td><td>as far as I know</td></tr><tr><td>BCNU</td><td>be seeing you</td></tr><tr><td>BTW</td><td>by the way</td></tr><tr><td>BYE?</td><td>are you ready to unlink? (this is the standard way to end a
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talk-mode conversation; the other person types
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<b class="command">BYE</b>
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to confirm, or else continues the conversation)</td></tr><tr><td>CUL</td><td>see you later</td></tr><tr><td>ENQ?</td><td>are you busy? (expects <b class="command">ACK</b>
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or <b class="command">NAK</b> in return)</td></tr><tr><td>FOO?</td><td>are you there? (often used on unexpected links, meaning also
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“<span class="quote">Sorry if I butted in &ellipsis;</span>” (linker) or
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“<span class="quote">What's up?</span>” (linkee))</td></tr><tr><td>FWIW</td><td>for what it's worth</td></tr><tr><td>FYI</td><td>for your information</td></tr><tr><td>FYA</td><td>for your amusement</td></tr><tr><td>GA</td><td>go ahead (used when two people have tried to type
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simultaneously; this cedes the right to type to the other)</td></tr><tr><td>GRMBL</td><td>grumble (expresses disquiet or disagreement)</td></tr><tr><td>HELLOP</td><td>hello? (an instance of the ‘-P’ convention)</td></tr><tr><td>IIRC</td><td>if I recall correctly</td></tr><tr><td>JAM</td><td>just a minute (equivalent to
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<b class="command">SEC....</b>
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)</td></tr><tr><td>MIN</td><td>same as <b class="command">JAM</b></td></tr><tr><td>NIL</td><td>no (see <a href="../N/NIL.html"><i class="glossterm">NIL</i></a>)</td></tr><tr><td>NP</td><td>no problem</td></tr><tr><td>O</td><td>over to you</td></tr><tr><td>OO</td><td>over and out</td></tr><tr><td>/</td><td>another form of “<span class="quote">over to you</span>”
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(from x/y as “<span class="quote">x over y</span>”)</td></tr><tr><td>\</td><td>lambda (used in discussing LISPy things)</td></tr><tr><td>OBTW</td><td>oh, by the way</td></tr><tr><td>OTOH</td><td>on the other hand</td></tr><tr><td>R U THERE?</td><td>are you there?</td></tr><tr><td>SEC</td><td>wait a second (sometimes written
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<b class="command">SEC...</b>
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)</td></tr><tr><td>SYN</td><td>Are you busy? (expects ACK, SYN|ACK, or RST in return; this
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is modeled on the TCP/IP handshake sequence)</td></tr><tr><td>T</td><td>yes (see the main entry for
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<a href="T.html"><i class="glossterm">T</i></a>)</td></tr><tr><td>TNX</td><td>thanks</td></tr><tr><td>TNX 1.0E6</td><td>thanks a million (humorous)</td></tr><tr><td>TNXE6</td><td>another form of “<span class="quote">thanks a million</span>”</td></tr><tr><td>TTBOMK</td><td>to the best of my knowledge</td></tr><tr><td>WRT</td><td>with regard to, or with respect to.</td></tr><tr><td>WTF</td><td>the universal interrogative particle; WTF knows what it
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means?</td></tr><tr><td>WTH</td><td>what the hell?</td></tr><tr><td><double newline></td><td>When the typing party has finished, he/she types two newlines
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to signal that he/she is done; this leaves a blank line between
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'speeches' in the conversation, making it easier to reread the
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preceding text.</td></tr><tr><td>YHTBT</td><td>You Had To Be There. Used of a situation which loses
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significant meaning in the telling, usually because it's difficult
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to convey tone and timing.</td></tr><tr><td><name>:</td><td>When three or more terminals are linked, it is conventional
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for each typist to <a href="../P/prepend.html"><i class="glossterm">prepend</i></a>
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his/her login name or handle and a colon (or a hyphen) to each line
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to indicate who is typing (some conferencing facilities do this
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automatically). The login name is often shortened to a unique prefix
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(possibly a single letter) during a very long conversation.</td></tr><tr><td>/\/\/\</td><td>A giggle or chuckle. On a MUD, this usually means 'earthquake
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fault'.</td></tr><tr><td><g></td><td>grin</td></tr><tr><td><gd&r></td><td>grinning, ducking, and running</td></tr><tr><td>BBL</td><td>be back later</td></tr><tr><td>BRB</td><td>be right back</td></tr><tr><td>HHOJ</td><td>ha ha only joking</td></tr><tr><td>HHOK</td><td>ha ha only kidding</td></tr><tr><td>HHOS</td><td><a href="../H/ha-ha-only-serious.html"><i class="glossterm">ha ha only serious</i></a></td></tr><tr><td>IMHO</td><td>in my humble opinion (see <a href="../I/IMHO.html"><i class="glossterm">IMHO</i></a>)</td></tr><tr><td>LOL</td><td>laughing out loud</td></tr><tr><td>NHOH</td><td>Never Heard of Him/Her (often used in
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<a href="../I/initgame.html"><i class="glossterm">initgame</i></a>)</td></tr><tr><td>ROTF</td><td>rolling on the floor</td></tr><tr><td>ROTFL</td><td>rolling on the floor laughing</td></tr><tr><td>AFK</td><td>away from keyboard</td></tr><tr><td>b4</td><td>before</td></tr><tr><td>CU l8tr</td><td>see you later</td></tr><tr><td>MORF</td><td>male or female?</td></tr><tr><td>TTFN</td><td>ta-ta for now</td></tr><tr><td>TTYL</td><td>talk to you later</td></tr><tr><td>OIC</td><td>oh, I see</td></tr><tr><td>rehi</td><td>hello again</td></tr></tbody></table></div><p>Most of these are not used at universities or in the Unix
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world, though ROTF and TTFN have gained some currency there and IMHO is
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common; conversely, most of the people who know these are unfamiliar with
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FOO?, BCNU, HELLOP, <a href="../N/NIL.html"><i class="glossterm">NIL</i></a>, and
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<a href="T.html"><i class="glossterm">T</i></a>.</p><p>The <a href="../M/MUD.html"><i class="glossterm">MUD</i></a> community uses a mixture of
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Usenet/Internet emoticons, a few of the more natural of the old-style
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talk-mode abbrevs, and some of the ‘social’ list above;
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specifically, MUD respondents report use of BBL, BRB, LOL, b4, BTW, WTF,
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TTFN, and WTH. The use of <span class="firstterm">rehi</span> is
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also common; in fact, mudders are fond of re- compounds and will frequently
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<span class="firstterm">rehug</span> or <span class="firstterm">rebonk</span> (see <a href="../B/bonk-oif.html"><i class="glossterm">bonk/oif</i></a>)
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people. The word <span class="firstterm">re</span> by itself is
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taken as ‘regreet’. In general, though, MUDders express a
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preference for typing things out in full rather than using abbreviations;
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this may be due to the relative youth of the MUD cultures, which tend to
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include many touch typists and to assume high-speed links. The following
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uses specific to MUDs are reported:</p><div class="informaltable"><table border="1"><colgroup><col/><col/></colgroup><tbody><tr><td>CU l8er</td><td>see you later (mutant of <b class="command">CU l8tr</b>)</td></tr><tr><td>FOAD</td><td>fuck off and die (use of this is generally OTT)</td></tr><tr><td>OTT</td><td>over the top (excessive, uncalled for)</td></tr><tr><td>ppl</td><td>abbrev for “<span class="quote">people</span>”</td></tr><tr><td>THX</td><td>thanks (mutant of <b class="command">TNX</b>; clearly this comes in batches of 1138 (the
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Lucasian K)).</td></tr><tr><td>UOK?</td><td>are you OK?</td></tr></tbody></table></div><p>Some <a href="../B/B1FF.html"><i class="glossterm">B1FF</i></a>isms (notably the variant spelling
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<b class="command">d00d</b>) appear to be passing into wider use
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among some subgroups of MUDders.</p><p>One final note on talk mode style: neophytes, when in talk mode,
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often seem to think they must produce letter-perfect prose because they are
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typing rather than speaking. This is not the best approach. It can be
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very frustrating to wait while your partner pauses to think of a word, or
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repeatedly makes the same spelling error and backs up to fix it. It is
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usually best just to leave typographical errors behind and plunge forward,
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unless severe confusion may result; in that case it is often fastest just
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to type “<span class="quote">xxx</span>” and start over from before the mistake.</p><p>See also <a href="../H/hakspek.html"><i class="glossterm">hakspek</i></a>,
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<a href="../E/emoticon.html"><i class="glossterm">emoticon</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="tail-recursion.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../T.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="talker-system.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">tail recursion </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> talker system</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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