The Continuum List...
Email Abbreviations & Lingo

People who use the Internet and email extensively have developed a vocabulary of abbreviations for commonly used phrases and even symbols for facial expressions. There is also "pseudo-formatting" of plain text: asterisks indicate *italic* or *bold text* (emphasis) and underscores suggest _underlined text_.

The following is a collection of email abbreviations that have been used by Continuum List subscribers.

COMMONLY USED

CC or TCC — The Continuum Concept. Also, CC used as an adjective might be thought of as "continuum-correct", i.e., in accord with the principles of The Continuum Concept.

AP — attachment parenting (similar to CC parenting)

BTW — by the way

dh, dw, dd, ds — a reference to members of one's immediate family: dear husband, dear wife, dear daughter, dear son (etc.)
yo, mo — age in years or months, e.g., "7yo" = "7-year-old", "dd (15mo)" = "15-month-old daughter"
dd#, ds# — daughter or son combined with age or birth order, e.g., "ds2" means either "my 2-year-old son" or "my second son"

FYI — for your information

e.g. — "for example" (from the Latin exempli gratia)

i.e. — "that is" or "in other words" (from the Latin id est)

IYKWIM — if you know what I mean

KWIM? — know what I mean?

IMO — in my opinion

IMHO — in my humble opinion

IMNSHO — in my not-so-humble opinion

JL — Jean Liedloff, author of The Continuum Concept

LCN — the Liedloff Continuum Network

LLL — La Leche League (international breastfeeding support organization)

LOL — laugh out loud

TCC — The Continuum Concept (see "CC" above)

TCS — Taking Children Seriously, an organization that promotes a libertarian philosophy of parenting and education. [In the early 2000s, some members of the Continuum list were integrating TCS with TCC. See: Intro to TCS.]

:-) smiling
:-( frowning/sad
;-) winking/joking

— grin, also and (very big wide grin)

Any facial expression or non-verbal sound may be spelled out and placed in angle brackets. Examples: ,

or [...] — indicates that a quote has been edited or taken out of context.

ALSO SEEN ON THE CONTINUUM LIST

a.k.a. — also known as

AR — anal-retentive (in the Freudian sense) or, more politely, absolutely rigid (perfectionistic)

BF — breastfed or breastfeed

BTDT — been there, done that

dks/dk's — dear kids

FWIW — for what it's worth

H/G — hunter/gatherer

IRL — in real life

ISTM — it seems to me

JM2c — just my two cents

MIL/FIL/SIL/BIL — mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law.

MOL — Mother OutLaw ;-)

MS — mainstream

OTOH — on the other hand

ROTFLOL — rolling on the floor laughing out loud

SAH — stay-at-home [mom/dad]

s.o. — significant other

(sp?) — "Spelling?" (indicates the previous word may be misspelled)

TANSTAAFL — "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch."

TIA — thanks in advance

TTYL — talk to you later

TTFN — "ta ta" for now (goodbye)

UC — unassisted childbirth

WAH — work-at-home [mom/dad]

WRT — with regard to

YKHII — you know how it is

YMMV — your mileage may vary

:-D big smile :-P sticking tonue out :-O gasping

If you saw an abbreviation that is not listed above, please do not use the list to request an explanation; rather, directly ask the subscriber who used the abbreviation, or request help from the listowner.

Updated May, 2000