The
Hippo Dictionary:
Definitions, Acronyms, Abbreviations
and Initialisms
(heck, even a few Emoticons)
Home page: www.hippos.com
Main FAQ page: www.hippos.com/faq.htm
What's an Acronym?
Here's an example of an acronym:
North Atlantic Treaty Organization = NATO
An acronym is a pronounceable word formed from each of the first letters of a descriptive phrase. An acronym is actually a type of abbreviation. Our
list contains abbreviations, acronyms, emoticons and initialisms and we make no distinction between them.
What's an "Emoticon"? a figure created with the symbols on a keyboard that is usually read with the head tilted to the left. Used to convey the spirit in which a line of text was typed. For example, :) to indicate a smile.
Listed here are some of the more common ones used in the hippos group.
To see a list of thousands of acronyms
& emoticons in common use on the 'Net, go to
http://www.freewarehof.org/acronyms.html
<g> - means "grin". Often used in emails to signify that the sender is joking, not serious.
:) - a smile (look sideways)
:( - a frown
b/c - back channel. It means to take an email conversation private, rather than through the group. For example, there might be an email posted to the group, offering something for sale. It would be proper (and courteous) to put in that email something like, "If anyone is interested, please reply b/c." That means if you are interested, to reply to that person in an email sent directly to them, not to our group. That keeps the rest of us from having to read bunches of emails of no interest to most of us.
bloat - scientific name for a group of hippopotamuses (or hippopotami; either term is correct). We often call our collections of hippos a "bloat".
BTW - By The Way
HH - hippo hugs
Hippolotofus - what we call ourselves; the name of our bloat
HTH - Hope This Helps
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
JMHO - Just My Humble Opinion
LOL - Laughing Out Loud. Often used in emails to signify that the sender is joking, not serious.
Lurk or Lurkers - when you mainly read the emails of a group, but don't contribute often, it is called "lurking". There is nothing wrong with doing this, and probably half our members lurk most of the time, only contributing when they have time, or something to say. However, try to send a message every now & then. It lets the rest of us know how you're doing.
NHC - No Hippo Content. Used in the subject line of a message to indicate that the message is not directly related to hippos.
PO (or 'po) - short for "hippo"
VBG - Very Big Grin. Similar to LOL
YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary
Have an acronym you want to add? Have
one you don't understand?
email us: stuart@hippos.com