In the United States alone, more than 135 million people play games for at least an hour each month. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for gamers to have their own shorthand language. After all, you may need both hands to play your games.
Many geeky terms and shorthand speak used by gamers have become so popular that they have spread to general use by the Internet community and in some cases, real life. Here at Newegg, we’ve compiled our list of our top 10 favorite geeky terms:
- 1337, l33t – From the word “leet,” derived
from the word elite. 1337 is used to show superiority over someone or something. L33t speak is just replacing vowels with numbers or symbols.
Example: “My computer is l33t! Just got a brand-new GTX 690 graphics card!” - AFK – Away From Keyboard. Used to indicate that the user will be unable to respond.
Example: “Gotta go eat, afk.” - GG – Good game. Used at the end of near the conclusion of a gaming match.
Example: “I gotta go…gg.” - Newbie, Noob, n00b – an inexperienced user of a system or game, or an annoying person.
Example: “Learn how to fight you n00b.” - IRL – In Real Life.
Example: “I’m actually a girl irl.” - Pwn, pwned – A misspelling of “own.” To “own” is to win spectacularly, either at a game or at life in general.
Example: “I didn’t even know we had a test today…I got pwned.” - QFT – Quoted for truth. Used on internet message boards to show agreement from a previous message.
Example: “QFT. This is exactly what I think too.” - SMH – Shaking my head. Usually used when someone finds something so stupid, no words can do it justice.
Example: “You’re 50 years old and you believe in unicorns? SMH.” - TL;DR – Too Long; Didn’t Read. Used when encountering an email or forum comment consisting of a wall of text.
Example: “Yeah, I saw that comment, but…tl;dr.” - Troll, trolling – Someone who posts a deliberately provocative message with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.
Example: “You’re nothing but a fanboy!” “Stop trolling.”
Which terms do you like? Are we missing any geek terms you use? Let us know in the comments below!
