talk mode

n. A feature supported by UNIX, ITS, and some other OSes that allows two or more logged-in users to set up a real-time on-line conversation. It combines the immediacy of talking with all the precision (and verbosity) that written language entails. It is difficult to communicate inflection, though conventions have arisen for some of these (see the section on writing style in the Prependices for details).

Talk mode has a special set of jargon words, used to save typing, which are not used orally. Some of these are identical to (and probably derived from) Morse-code jargon used by ham-radio amateurs since the 1920s.

BCNU: be seeing you
BTW: by the way
BYE?: are you ready to unlink? (this is the standard way to end a talk-mode conversation; the other person types `BYE' to confirm, or else continues the conversation)
CUL: see you later
ENQ?: are you busy? (expects `ACK' or `NAK' in return)
FOO?: are you there? (often used on unexpected links, meaning also "Sorry if I butted in ..." (linker) or "What's up?" (linkee))
FWIW: for what it's worth
FYI: for your information
FYA: for your amusement
GA: go ahead (used when two people have tried to type simultaneously; this cedes the right to type to the other)
GRMBL: grumble (expresses disquiet or disagreement)
HELLOP: hello? (an instance of the `-P' convention)
JAM: just a minute (equivalent to `SEC....')
MIN: same as `JAM'
NIL: no (see NIL)
O: over to you
OO: over and out
/: another form of "over to you" (from x/y as "x over y")
\: lambda (used in discussing LISPy things)
OBTW: oh, by the way
R U THERE?: are you there?
SEC: wait a second (sometimes written `SEC...')
T: yes (see the main entry for T)
TNX: thanks
TNX 1.0E6: thanks a million (humorous)
TNXE6: another form of "thanks a million"
WRT: with regard to, or with respect to.
WTF: the universal interrogative particle; WTF knows what it means?
WTH: what the hell?
<double newline>: When the typing party has finished, he/she types two newlines to signal that he/she is done; this leaves a blank line between `speeches' in the conversation, making it easier to reread the preceding text.
<name>:: When three or more terminals are linked, it is conventional for each typist to prepend his/her login name or handle and a colon (or a hyphen) to each line to indicate who is typing (some conferencing facilities do this automatically). The login name is often shortened to a unique prefix (possibly a single letter) during a very long conversation.
/\/\/\: A giggle or chuckle. On a MUD, this usually means `earthquake fault'.

Most of the above sub-jargon is used at both Stanford and MIT. Several of these expressions are also common in email, esp. FYI, FYA, BTW, BCNU, WTF, and CUL. A few other abbreviations have been reported from commercial networks, such as GEnie and CompuServe, where on-line `live' chat including more than two people is common and usually involves a more `social' context, notably the following:

<g>: grin
<gr&d>: grinning, running, and ducking
BBL: be back later
BRB: be right back
HHOJ: ha ha only joking
HHOK: ha ha only kidding
HHOS: ha ha only serious
IMHO: in my humble opinion (see IMHO)
LOL: laughing out loud
NHOH: Never Heard of Him/Her (often used in initgame)
ROTF: rolling on the floor
ROTFL: rolling on the floor laughing
AFK: away from keyboard
b4: before
CU l8tr: see you later
MORF: male or female?
TTFN: ta-ta for now
TTYL: talk to you later
OIC: oh, I see
rehi: hello again

Most of these are not used at universities or in the UNIX world, though ROTF and TTFN have gained some currency there and IMHO is common; conversely, most of the people who know these are unfamiliar with FOO?, BCNU, HELLOP, NIL, and T.

The MUD community uses a mixture of USENET/Internet emoticons, a few of the more natural of the old-style talk-mode abbrevs, and some of the `social' list above; specifically, MUD respondents report use of BBL, BRB, LOL, b4, BTW, WTF, TTFN, and WTH. The use of `rehi' is also common; in fact, mudders are fond of re- compounds and will frequently `rehug' or `rebonk' (see bonk/oif) people. The word `re' by itself is taken as `regreet'. In general, though, MUDders express a preference for typing things out in full rather than using abbreviations; this may be due to the relative youth of the MUD cultures, which tend to include many touch typists and to assume high-speed links. The following uses specific to MUDs are reported:

CU l8er: see you later (mutant of `CU l8tr')
FOAD: fuck off and die (use of this is generally OTT)
OTT: over the top (excessive, uncalled for)
ppl: abbrev for "people"
THX: thanks (mutant of `TNX'; clearly this comes in batches of 1138 (the Lucasian K)).
UOK?: are you OK?

Some BIFFisms (notably the variant spelling `d00d') appear to be passing into wider use among some subgroups of MUDders.

One final note on talk mode style: neophytes, when in talk mode, often seem to think they must produce letter-perfect prose because they are typing rather than speaking. This is not the best approach. It can be very frustrating to wait while your partner pauses to think of a word, or repeatedly makes the same spelling error and backs up to fix it. It is usually best just to leave typographical errors behind and plunge forward, unless severe confusion may result; in that case it is often fastest just to type "xxx" and start over from before the mistake.