With all the online chatter out there, it’s hard to keep up with all the romance industry lingo, not to mention your everyday internet lingo. In efforts to help clear up the various combinations of the alphabet, here’s a little cheat sheet. This way you don’t have to awkwardly ask what the heck someone just said to you (trust me, it happened last week and it was awkward).
I trolled Twitter for a while picking these out, but I’m sure there’s a bunch I forgot so add your own below!
General Internet Acronyms and Meanings
aka The Basics
OMG: Oh my god/gosh
LOL: Laughing Out Loud
WTH: What the hell/heck
WTF: What the f***
BTW: By the way
IMO: In My Opinion
OT: Off topic
LMAO: Laughing My A$$ Off
ROFLMAO: Rolling on the Floor Laughing My A$$ Off
J/K: Just Kidding
TMI: Too much information
FB: Facebook
RT (on Twitter): Retweet
FF (on Twitter): Follow Friday
ETA (on a blog): Edited to Add
Romance Industry Twitter/Blog/Writing Acronyms and Meanings
H/h: Hero/heroine
HEA: Happily Ever After
HFN: Happy for Now
SWAK: Sealed with a Kiss
TBR: To Be Read
DNF: Did Not Finish
ARC: Advance Reading Copy
POV: Point of View
TSTL: Too Stupid To Live
NSFW: Not Safe For Work (typically photos)
FUBAR: - F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition (seen in military romances)
DH: Dear/ Darling Husband
WIP: Work in Progress
MS: Manuscript
TBM: The Big Misunderstanding
RWA: Romance Writers of America
FOR: Festival of Romance
RNA: Romantic Novelists’ Association
Romance Genre Acronyms and Meanings
PNR/PR: Paranormal Romance
UF: Urban Fantasy
YA: Young Adult
SFR: Sci-Fi Romance
HR: Historical Romance
ER: Erotic Romance
CR: Contemporary Romance
RS: Romantic Suspense
M/M: Male and Male Romance
F/F: Female and Female Romance
GLBT: Gay, Lesbian, Bi, or Transexual
BDSM: Bondage, Dominance, Sadism, Masochism
Specific Book Series Acronyms
BDB: Black Dagger Brotherhood (JR Ward)
NHW: Night Huntress / World (Jeaniene Frost)
HP: Harry Potter (JK Rowling)
SS: Sookie Stackhouse (Charlaine Harris)
