What does A/S/L mean?
Age, sex, location. Someone would type “a/s/l?” and expect an answer like “25/f/Ohio.”
It was the most common opening line in 90s chat rooms, because a list of screen names told you nothing else about who was there. It also became a warning sign: A/S/L from a stranger is a request for personal details, and the child-safety problems that closed the MSN and Yahoo rooms often started with questions like it. You never have to answer it, and in Arynwood’s rooms “no thanks” is a fine reply.
What did chat room abbreviations like BRB and AFK mean?
They saved typing in a fast-moving room. BRB was “be right back,” AFK “away from keyboard,” and WB “welcome back” when you returned.
| Shorthand | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A/S/L | Age, sex, location | The standard opening question to a stranger. You never have to answer it. |
| BRB | Be right back | |
| BBL | Be back later | A longer absence than BRB. |
| AFK | Away from keyboard | Still common in gaming. |
| GTG or G2G | Got to go | |
| WB | Welcome back | What the room says when you return. |
| LOL | Laughing out loud | |
| ROFL | Rolling on the floor laughing | |
| J/K | Just kidding | |
| IMO, IMHO | In my (humble) opinion | |
| BTW | By the way | |
| IRL | In real life | As opposed to online. |
| TTYL | Talk to you later | |
| NP | No problem | |
| POS | Parent over shoulder | Someone is reading the screen; change the subject. |
| IM, PM | Instant message, private message | A one-to-one conversation outside the room. |
*waves* | An action | Words between asterisks describe what you’re doing. |
:) ;) :P | Emoticons | Sideways faces typed with punctuation. |
What were lurkers, newbies and trolls?
The people in a room. A lurker read without talking, a newbie was new, a regular was always there, and a troll posted to provoke.
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Lurker | Someone who reads the room without talking. Lurking first is good manners. |
| Newbie | Someone new, to the room or to the internet. |
| Regular | Someone who is in the room most days and knows everyone. |
| Screen name | AOL’s word for your username. |
| Troll | Someone who posts to provoke. |
| Flame | An angry, insulting message. A long exchange of them is a flame war. |
| Shouting | Typing IN ALL CAPS. |
| Scrolling, flooding | Sending many lines fast to push everyone else’s messages off the screen. |
| Netiquette | The manners of online conversation. |
What do IRC commands like /me and /join do?
On IRC, a line that starts with a slash is a command. /join enters a room, /nick changes your name, and /me turns your line into an action.
you type: /me waves hello room sees: * night_owl waves hello
| Command or term | What it means |
|---|---|
/join #room | Enter a room. On IRC, rooms are called channels and start with #. |
/nick newname | Change your nickname. |
/me waves | Post an action: it shows as * yourname waves. |
/msg name hi | Send a private message. |
/away reason | Mark yourself away; /away alone marks you back. |
| Op (@) | A channel operator. Ops can set the topic and remove or ban people. |
| Voice (+) | Permission to talk in a room set to moderated. |
| Topic | The line at the top of a room saying what it’s for. |
| Kick, ban | Being removed from a room, and being kept out of it. |
| Idle | Connected but not talking. |
| Lag | The delay between sending a line and everyone seeing it. |
| Netsplit | Two IRC servers lose their link, so everyone on the far side seems to quit at once, then rejoins when the link comes back. |
| Ping timeout | The server stopped hearing from your connection and dropped it. |
| NickServ, ChanServ | Services bots that register nicknames and rooms so they stay yours. |
| Bot | A program sitting in a room: greeting people, running games or posting news. |
IRC channel operators, topics and kicks go back to the protocol’s first specification, RFC 1459 (1993). The IRC beginner guide lists more commands.
Which 90s chat terms are still used?
Most of the short ones: LOL, BRB, AFK, BTW, IRL and IMO are everywhere in texting and gaming. A/S/L, POS and “screen name” mostly stayed in the 90s and 2000s.
Spellings varied from room to room and year to year, so you’ll see G2G next to GTG and IMHO next to IMO. The meanings here are the common ones.
Where can I use 90s chat lingo today?
In any IRC room. Every command on this page works in Arynwood Chat, which opens in your browser.
Open #public, pick a nickname, and try /me waves. Someone may even say WB.
Sources and how I checked
The IRC commands are standard across networks, including Arynwood’s (irc.arynwood.com, InspIRCd 3 with Anope services, checked September 24, 2026). The 90s abbreviations are common usage from the period. Dates and figures below each link to where they come from. If you spot an error, email [email protected] and it will be corrected and dated.