
What's the best place to define acronyms?This is a kind of mundane question, but I constantly bump into acronyms and jargon that I don't understand, whether it's in group email, Twitter, or on people's blogs or blog comments. Where can I find answers? TAGQ. Uh, that's a good question. Actually, my default place to look up the definition for acronyms is Google, believe it or not. The key is to know that one of the secret attributes you can use on a search is define:, so you can get the definition of any word or, yes, acronym. For example, I recently saw a tweet that ended with "NFTU". What the heck? A quick Google search for define:nftu and I found out that it means "Notes from the Underbelly is an American sitcom that debuted on ABC as a midseason replacement. The series is based upon the novel of the same ...and pointed me to a Wikipedia entry. Curious about possible meanings for ROFL? It's pretty interesting: ![]() Notice in particular that this word / phrase / acronym matches possible definitions in other languages too, so if you're curious about what "rofl" means in Italian, say, just click on "Italian" and you'll learn that one meaning is rotolare per terra dal ridere, abbreviazione usata nei messaggi di posta elettronica e nelle chat per indicare una forte risata. .... Whatever that means. There are plenty of other places you can look for acronyms, of course, but my first place to turn is always Google, as it is with so many other things. :-)
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Never miss another useful Q&A article again! Subscribe to AskDaveTaylor with Google Reader. I happen to prefer AcronymFinder -- http://www.acronymfinder.com -- but that's just a personal preference. I like how it can narrow down a search by category, such as only computers or only business and finance. That, and Google doesn't know "YKYBHTLW". :-) Posted by: Ken B at March 6, 2009 11:31 AMI would suggest dictionary.com ,it would link you to other sites to find exactly what you are looking for. Posted by: Steve at March 18, 2009 1:03 PMI have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...
I do have a comment, now that you mention it!
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