Some things Man was never meant to know.
For everything else, there's Google."
Some things Man was never meant to know.
For everything else, there's Google."
The Language Of The Computers and the Internet
Internet and computer language and terms explained for beginners
Whether you're just surfing the web or chatting in chatrooms, you need to understand the language and etiquette. The internet has it's own language and if you don't understand it you might be missing something important.
The most important rule of email and the internet:
This is by far, the most important rule in email or chatrooms - if you haven't learned anything else on our web site, please, for the love of god and all that is holy, REMEMBER THIS:
TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK KEY WHEN YOU SEND EMAIL OR ARE IN A CHAT ROOM!
Why It Helps To Turn Off Your CAPS LOCK
You see, when you're chatting or sending an email and you TYPE EVERYTHING WITH YOUR CAPS LOCK ON LIKE THIS IT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE A DORK. Notice I said a dork, and not a geek. You don't want to go around the internet making yourself look like a dork, do you? Let's hope not.
The next thing to learn is chatroom lingo.
Below is a list of acronyms commonly used in chatrooms, instant messaging, and text messaging. Geeks use this shorthand instead of typing out the entire word because it's faster and makes them look more cool to those that don't understand the lingo.
List of computer chat acronyms
AFAIK As Far As I Know
ASAP As Soon As Possible.
BAC By Any Chance.
BBIAF Be Back In A Few.
BBL Bye Back Later.
BBS Be Back Soon/Shortly.
BRB Be Right Back.
BTW By The Way.
L8R See You Later.
CYA See Ya.
FAQ Frequently Asked questions.
FWIW For What It's Worth.
GR8 Great.
GTG Got To Go
HFS! Holy F***** Sh** !
HB Hurry Back
IMHO In my Humble Opinion.
JFC! Jesus Fu**** Christ!
LTNS Long Time No See.
MMWI My Mom (just) Walked In
MorF? Male or Female.
LOL Laugh(ing) Out Loud.
LMAO Laughing My Ass Off
MYOB Mind Your Own Business.
OMG Oh My God!
OMFG Oh My F*** God!
ROTFL Rolling On The Floor Laughing.
ROTFLOL Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud.
ROTFLMAO Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off.
RUG2? Are You Gay too?
STFU Shut The F*** Up!
TOS Terms Of Service
TTYL Talk To You Later
WB Welcome Back
WTG Way To Go
Glossary Of Computer Technology Terms
AGP
Accelerated Graphics Port is a type of expansion card slot on the mother board that is optimized to work with high performance video cards. They enable better viewing of 3D graphics and full motion video on your display.
BIOS
Basic Input Output System is code used when a PC first starts up. It contains configuration information about all the Input and Output devices in the PC.
BIT
This is binary digit and is the smallest piece of information a computer uses. A bit is always in one of two states ON or OFF (0 or 1).
BYTE
A byte is eight bits. All instructions for a computer are combined into bytes
BROWSER
Software used to view web pages on the internet. Click here for our page on 'safe' browsers to use with Windows.
CABLE MODEM
Used for connecting a PC to the high-speed internet service provided by cable-TV companies.
CACHE
A small amount of very fast memory used for storing data that is accessed frequently by a CPU or hard disk system. Using a CACHE can speed up system performance significantly.
CPU
The Central Processing Unit is the heart (or brain) of any computer.
Drag and Drop
Also: Drag 'N Drop
Drag and Drop refers to using your mouse to move a file, icon or other item on the computer screen from one location to another. For example: To move or copy a file from one location on your screen to another location, you click and 'hold' it with your mouse button then Drag and Drop it to the new desired location on your screen. The word drop refers to letting go of the mouse button that you were pressing and holding while dragging
DOMAIN NAME
A unique name used to identify internet addresses. Example: grownupgeek.com, google.com, and whitehouse.gov are all Domain Names
FIREWIRE
Technically known as IEEE 1394 and also called iLink. Used to connect a computer to external devices such as video cameras or hard drives. Firewire can transmit data at 400mbs or 800mbs.
IDE
Integrated Drive Electronics. Most hard drives are connected to a computer and controlled by IDE
OS
Operating System: Every computer has a basic 'system' that controls all the input/output for hard disks, memory, video, etc. Examples are Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Mac OS X, or Linux.
R.A.I.D. (RAID): See our RAID explained page.
Safe Computing
Or Practice Safe Computing
See our Practice Safe Computing Page.
SERVER
A computer used to store data for others to access.
USB
Universal Serial Bus: used to connect printers, memory sticks, cameras, etc. to a computer.
WYSIWYG "What You See Is What You Get". Refers to editing programs such as word processors or web page editing software that displays text or graphics on your screen exactly as it will appear when printed or viewed on the internet.
Complete dictionary of internet terms: Netlingo.com
What is a Grown Up Geek?: What is a Geek
Re: The Language Of The Computers and the Internet
Submitted by Anonymous on January 9, 2008 - 6:20am.
There are 2 different types of hackers
1. White hut hackers are the ones that are helpful and protect ppl (thats 1 common lingo ) from new viruses, protect banks from been robed and other stuff like that (long list)
2. Black hut hackers are the ones that steal money from banks make new viruses to crash pcs (cos there are some "good viruses",witch is another mater anyway) and they also crack programs to give them for "free" but at the same time stealing from the companies (by making them lose on customers)
These are the 2 different types of hackers, but at the end of all they are both very skillful ppl at the area of computers
Re: The Language Of The Computers and the Internet
Ahh, the beautiful language of tech-speak. Music to my ears. 
Also commonly used:
RAM - Random Access Memory
HD - Hard Drive
TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
~A.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit. -Aristotle
Re: The Language Of The Computers and the Internet
Submitted by porkchoppy on February 22, 2007 - 9:38am.
its a shame i didnt kno i lot of that stuf i knew it but forgot i copied and pasted and im puttin it ova my cpu yaaaaaaaay!
Re: The Language Of The Computers and the Internet
hahaha...heeey i've never seen this page! and don't feel bad porkchoppy, i didn't know alot of these either!! LOL!
Re: The Language Of The Computers and the Internet
I know my mom could use those tech, terms. She doesnt even know how to hook up her printer!
Re: The Language Of The Computers and the Internet
This is why I love this website. For us "moms" or just plain parents these are things we need to know. Kids grow up so fast and if your not out there to protect them then bad things could happen. Thanks Geek for making it easy for us parents to become alittle more wiser.
Re: The Language Of The Computers and the Internet
This is my first post, and im using a semi-fixed keyboard, so apologies for any typos...
The lingo of the internet has changed, things that mean things these days, meant something different not so long ago. Ie: Hacker. In the old days in meant someone who coded or created their own programs or circuit boards for their use and enjoyment. These days its someone who breaks into secure systems and sometimes wrecks havoc on said systems. Having typed all that (this keyboard seems to be working, yay!) terms are likely to change again.
Regards,
Louis