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The FBI's Jargon List: Internet Acronyms Galore

Jason Koebler (3528235) writes Internet slang: Do you use it? If so, do it AYOR (at your own risk), because the FBI knows exactly what you're saying thanks to the agency's insane list of "Twitter shorthand." Rather than just rely on Urban Dictionary or a Google search, the agency has compiled an 83 page list of more than 2,800 acronyms. The FBI responded to a FOIA request with one of the most illegible scans of a document you'll ever see, embedded on a CD — so maybe the agency isn't all that up on its technology, or maybe it's just doing its best to KTAS (keep this a secret). Please use one of your favorites in a grammatical sentence referencing current events, and/or your favorite food, to help build up the corpus.

10 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. BFF by skgrey · · Score: 4, Funny

    According to the list, one of the translations of BFF is Big Fat Friend. Stephen Lynch would be proud.

  2. Re:Urban Dictionary by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 5, Funny

    They are not allowed to use the Internet. It is not secure.

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  3. Re:Urban Dictionary by rubycodez · · Score: 5, Informative

    the Urban Dictionary says FBI can mean "Fucking Bunch of Idiots"

  4. TL;DR by dragon-file · · Score: 3, Informative

    IMHO the article was TL;DR and IANAL so TINLA but OMFG. AFAIK the FBI CRAT. Hence they made a BFDB so they could tell their employees to RTFM.

    --
    Whenever a player quits EVE to go play WoW, the Average IQ of both games increase.
    1. Re:TL;DR by TheCarp · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > You get a shitty scan because when the request comes in, someone gets stuck with scanning an 83 page paper.

      A paper which, if you look really close, says on it the words "this sharepoint"..... so they actually had to produce an 83 page paper before scanning it.... rather than using the "print to a file" function which, would produce an easily legible document.

      Nope....this excuse doesn't even hold a little bit of water.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
  5. Re:Urban Dictionary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One reason is for long-term retention of data. They might store case files for 20+ years before someone sees them again, at which point the detective working the case might not know what all of the acronyms mean. I mean, it was one thing for the 70s to use words like groovy or tubular in common vernacular, but today's kids are using acronyms up the wazoo. It's only natural that some with become popular and just as quickly fade into obscurity.

    However, if their database is wrong(translating BFF to Big Fat Friend for example), then it's kind of moot anyway. I mean, we would hope a detective wouldn't be standing there exclaiming "What the fuck does WTF mean!?" but that too is entirely possible if WTF goes away in a few years. But there are certainly more obscure acronyms and slang being used on the internet.

    That said, their *source* for these kinds of definitions should be places like urban dictionary(especially urban dictionary!), because their entire purpose is to define commonly used terms you won't find in a standard dictionary.

  6. PG-13 by CanHasDIY · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ha, it's not even a complete list, everything is "matured-down" to kiddy levels!

    For example, I was looking to see if DILLIGAF (Do I Look Like I Give A Fuck), but instead found DILLIGAD (Do I look like I give a darn).

    Yea, it really says, "darn."

    WTFIWWYM (What The Fuck Is Wrong With You Morons)?

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  7. Hah! I speak a secret language! by stevegee58 · · Score: 4, Funny

    They'll never catch me then. I speak a secret language called "Syntactically Correct American English", an archaic language no one understands any more.

  8. LOL translation by shoppa · · Score: 4, Funny

    According to the FBI list, preferred expansion of LOL is "Lots of Love". Example usage inside the FBI complex: Your co-workers father has passed after a long illness. Suggested text message: "Heard your dad died: LOL."

  9. Re:They come by it naturally.... by hubie · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's part of Gödel's incompleteness theorem: for any list of acronyms, there will always be acronyms that are true, but that are unlisted wthin the list.