Old Internet Slang We Will Never Admit To Using (But Totally Did)

The internet during the 90s and early 00s was a dark, scary place. Not just because creepy men tried to pick up underage girls in chat rooms, but also because we used the most obnoxious slang known to man. You can mock kids who say "bae" and "DKM" all you want, but we were the generation who said "ROFLcopter." So really, who are the ones that should be mocked?

This was the most popular internet slang from back in the day and don't lie, you used it.

1. LAWL

This wasn't even short for anything. Lawl is just the phonetic way to say "lol." Typing it out was one thing, but when your friends (or you) started saying it out loud in normal conversation, that's when things got messy.

2. XD

Is it in pain? Is it smiling? Is it dead? Is it short for Xtreme Dancing? Who knows? What I do know is that it was overused and should never be seen again

3. 1337

It's come to my attention that this was not only a thing people wrote, but that it stands for "leet" as in "elite." The elite would know better than to change their letters into numbers. This is not algebra class.

4. haxx0rz

Hackers. Again, we're making things more difficult than they need to be.

5. 1337 haxx0rz

Combine two of the most cringe-worthy words and you get the ultimate "no thank you."

6. pwned

To get pwned is to get owned, but even harder. The term originated in World of Warcraft when a designer screwed up, so when the computer beat a player, instead of saying "you have been owned" it said "you have been pwned." It's the same as when your friend makes a typo now and you don't let them ever forget it.

7. ::poof::

This meant you were gone, like a magic trick. You probably weren't gone, though. You just wanted to get out of whatever lame conversation you were having with a weird person.

8. n00b

Do NOT confuse newb with n00b. A newb is a newbie, new at the game. A n00b is someone who may be good, but is a total jerk about it. Internet culture believes that being called a n00b is one of the most derogatory names. Yikes.

9. rawr

"rawr means i luv u in dinosaur" is something we all shared, said, and accepted as a normal thing.

10. kewl/wkewl

Apparently typing out the four-letter word "cool" took to long (even though two of the letters are the same,) so we converted it to "kewl." If something was way cool, you typed wkewl, which honestly just sounds like a sneeze.

11. QOS

This one was actually kind of necessary, but still cringey. "Quality of service" meant you were probably having connectivity problems and you may cut out. Ah, the good ol' days.

12. WYSIWYG

Used in chat rooms, it stands for "what you see is what you get." And what you get is someone who can't be bothered to type out real words. It also meant that the document you were looking at would print exactly as you saw it.

13. TMOT

"He totally likes you back and that's why he's ignoring you, TMOT." If you didn't guess it, it stands for "trust me on this."

14. S!MT!!OE!!!

Okay, so this one was controversial in the office because NO ONE had heard of it, but apparently it's a thing people said?? It stands for "Sets! My teeth!! On edge!!!" The increasing number of exclamation points really gets the point across, I guess.

15. woot

This was an expression of excitement, and if you were REALLY excited, it was "woot woot!" Admittedly one of the more harmless terms, but we're still glad it didn't stick around.

16. ROFL

Rolling On The Floor Laughing meant it was funnier than an LMAO, but you still were probably staring blank-faced at your screen. It was also the predecessor to the worst slang term of any generation.

17. ROFLcopter

This meant you were laughing so hard you were on the ground spinning around in circles like a helicopter, which you NEVER were.

Which slang term was the worst?