The FBI has a hilarious guide to define acronyms like ‘LOL’ and ‘TTYL’

TORONTO – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is down with Internet slang – well, sort of.

An internal FBI document titled “Twitter Shorthand,” obtained through a freedom of information request (FOI) through FOI website MuckRock, has unveiled the agency’s list of nearly 3,000 Internet shorthand definitions.

While it’s unclear why the FBI compiled the list – other than to understand what those crazy kids are saying these days – it’s most likely a guide for intelligence agencies overseeing communication on social media.

Needless to say, it’s pretty entertaining.

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In addition to explaining that “<3” is meant to represent a heart, the guide points out that “COP” could mean “close of play” or simply a police officer.

Here are some of the best entries:

“JC”: Jesus Christ/Just curious/Just chilling

“LOL”: Laugh(ing) out loud

“BFP”: Bad for pictures/Big fat positive (i.e. pregnant)

“NSFV”: Not safe for viewing/vegetarians/vegans

“2”: To, Too, Two

“BMUS”: Beam me up Scotty

“ASL”: Age? Sex? Location?

“BBM”: BlackBerry messaging

“SW”: So what/Star Wars/Street worker

“BIBO”: Beer in, beer out

“HGH”: Haters gonna hate

“BSOD”: Blue screen of death (MS Windows)

If you want to use the FBI’s handy Twitter shorthand guide, you can read the entire thing here.