Classic Glossary

Browse 8 classic terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

8 Classic Terms

AFK
AFK stands for Away From Keyboard, an internet abbreviation indicating that someone is temporarily unavailable or not at their computer. The term originated in...
Flame War
Flame War is an online argument that has escalated from a discussion or debate into a hostile exchange of personal attacks, insults, and increasingly...
FTW
FTW is an internet abbreviation standing for For The Win, used to express enthusiastic endorsement or declare something as the best choice. Originating from...
LMAO
Laughing My A** Off — an expression of intense amusement, evolved from BBS and Usenet culture. Now so common it barely registers as actual laughter. Its...
RTFM
Read The F***ing Manual — the universal, exasperated reply to a question that is clearly answered in the documentation. An enduring artifact of hacker...
Spam
Unsolicited bulk messages, especially email. Named after the Monty Python sketch where the word 'Spam' drowns out all other conversation — which is exactly...
StackOverflowException
The runtime error thrown when the call stack exceeds its limit, almost always caused by infinite recursion. The error that gave the website its name and gives...
Sysadmin
System Administrator — the person responsible for maintaining and operating computer servers and networks. The title has been evolving toward 'DevOps engineer'...

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