Lesson Transcript

Hi, everybody! Welcome back to Top Words. My name is Alisha and today, we're going to talk about 10 internet and texting phrases. These are acronyms so words that are made from the beginning letter of other words, you'll see. Let's get started. Okay!
1. LOL
The first word or the first acronym is LOL. You can read it as LOL if you want. LOL stands for Laugh Out Loud or Laughing Out Loud. We use this in text and on the internet when something is funny. You receive a funny picture, LOL. You see something funny in a video, LOL. You read something funny, LOL. So LOL is used to express laughter.
In a sentence - What a funny picture! LOL!
2. GOAT
Next is GOAT. It spells goat, but it actually means Greatest Of All Time, Greatest Of All Time, GOAT. This is this acronym, GOAT. So you can use this after something that you think is really great like the best of something, the most amazing of something. You have an amazing, I don't know, amazing lunch and you take a picture, post it on Instagram, GOAT! Like this salad, something like that.
In this sentence I made up - That Beyoncé performance! GOAT! Like greatest of all time. So you think something is the best, you can use GOAT for that, okay.
3. FYI
Next one is FYI. FYI is used in text and internet communications, but we also use it in speech. We can also use FYI in speech. It's okay in business as well. FYI means For Your Information. For your information, blah, blah, blah, just giving you some information. So anytime you want to provide extra information, you can use FYI. So FYI, the BBQ is still on tomorrow though it's going to rain or FYI, I'm leaving in 30 minutes so if you need to talk to me, do it now.
Or in this sentence - FYI, I have to leave early today.
4. BRB
The next one is BRB, BRB. BRB means Be Right Back, be right back. I'm going to go away for a moment and come back very quickly so be right back means very soon I'm coming back, be right back, BRB. Sometimes especially young people use BRB in speech as well like they're leaving the room for a moment, oops, BRB and then they come back to you. So some of these words are used actually in speech particularly among young people.
In a sentence - I'm gonna grab a snack. BRB.
5. OMG
The next one is extremely popular. The next one is OMG. OMG means Oh My God. Oh my god! Oh my god! So very, very useful expression. You can use OMG for surprise, for anger, for sadness, for any extreme emotion, causes surprise, causes some…. Whenever you want to use oh my god to express an extreme emotion, you can use this. So you see something funny. OMG! LOL. You can combine these like the first word LOL. OMG! LOL. That video, hahaha. You can use hehehe and hahaha for laughter by the way. I use that H-E-H-E-H-E or H-A-H-A-H-A. So you can use that or you can use that LOL, but OMG, oh my god, that's what we use to express that feeling, that shocked feeling, OMG.
So in a sentence, we could say - OMG, I can't believe it! Oh my god, I can't believe it! Ahh...okay.
6. WUT
The next one is WUT. Actually sorry, this one is not an acronym, this is not an acronym. It's a misspelling actually. So the pronunciation of this is, /wut/, /wut/ so a very strong U sound. This comes from the word what, W-H-A-T, what, what. But we use a misspelling on the internet and with text and stuff to imply like kind of a dumb feelinging. When you want to say, :"What?" like you're confused about something, but the situation is very, very dumb or it's hard to understand or confusing or doesn't make sense, you can use WUT? It has like a very uh...uh… like kind of dumb sound. The same U sound in dumb as in WUT so it's like WUT? Instead of "What?" which has a stronger A sound. So we use WUT in situations where, yeah, something doesn't make sense. So like my roommate didn't come home last night, WUT? So it's something that's a little bit confusing. That might be a little more of an extreme example actually.
In this sentence - Your roommate wants a dog, but doesn't want to pay for it? WUT?
So again, this is something that's used more in text. It's hard to make the sound accurately in speech I suppose. It's hard to detect, but when you spell what incorrectly, W-U-T, it gives the impression that the situation doesn't make sense, it's kind of stupid or strange and it shows you are confused, it shows something doesn't make sense to you. So this is more common… or actually this is primarily used, this is mostly used in text only. We don't use it so much in speech, okay.
7. BTW. The next one is BTW. BTW means By The Way, By The Way. Young people will use BTdubs, yeah BTdubs instead of BTW in conversation. By the way, it's just giving extra information about something. So like anytime you would use by the way in conversation, you can use BTW on the internet. I don't recommend this for business emails or business writing, but on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram so on, you can use BTW to mean by the way, very convenient.
In a sentence - BTW, can you give me back the money you owe me?
8. AFAIK
The next one is AFAIK. AFAIK means As Far As I Know, As Far As I Know. This expression means with the information I have, here is my understanding of the situation. So as far as I know means my understanding is blah, blah, blah. So as far as I know, our barbecue is going to happen at 3:00 tomorrow or as far as I know, the meeting is still on for today or as far as I know I'm dog sitting for my neighbor this weekend. So according to my information, this is the situation as far as I know, AFAIK, okay.
One more - AFAIK, we're still meeting on Sunday.
9. IIRC
The next expression or the next acronym is IIRC. IIRC means If I Recall Correctly. Recall means remember. If I recall correctly so meaning if my memory is correct, this is the situation. If I recall correctly, spider-man's real name is Peter Parker or if I recall correctly, doughnuts have no calories. LOL. So if I recall correctly, Tokyo is the capital city of Japan. So this is like if I remember correctly or if my memory is correct, this is what I think or this is the information, IIRC. So you might see this like on message boards and discussion boards in particular here.
One more sentence - IIRC, we're supposed to meet in front of the station.
10. DM
The next one is DM. DM means Direct Message, Direct Message . So this is very common on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, very common on social media and other social media portals, DM, direct message. For example on Twitter, we can send public messages among users, but to send a direct message means other people cannot see that message. So a DM is a direct message to someone. So in a sentence, you could say, DM me your email address.
So those are 10 internet and texting phrases. You could try a few of these out in the video right now if you want to, below the video, in the comment section. If you have any questions or if you know of other internet and texting phrases and you have no idea how to use them or what they mean, though be careful with a few of them, you can ask below. Thanks very much for watching this episode of Top Words and I will see you again soon. Bye!

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